A Role of Ethics and Social Responsibilities in Management. Ethics can be defined as a process of evaluating actions according tomoral principal of values(A. Alhemoud). Throughout the centuries people weretrying to choose between profit and moral.
Perhaps, some of them obtain both,but every time it could have roused ethical issues. Those issues concernfairness, justice, rightness or wrongness; as a result it can only be resolvedaccording to ethical standards. Setting the ethical standards for the way of doing business incorporation is primarily task of management. Corporations have to maintain thesame standards as an individual person and, in addition, corporations, asorganizational units, have their own social responsibilities toward customers,employees and society.
However, any business should keep it’s original purposeof functioning – making profit. Balancing the traditional standards ofprofitability and burden of social responsibilities is not an easy task. Inrecent years it has been a trend of setting standards of corporate ethicsaccording to high degree of morale. To be able to keep the ethical standards management must follow the law. However, there are some complications in enforcing it. The law affects and isaffected by social forces and prevailing ethical standards.
“Although the lawcan codify societies ethical ________________________________________________________________________ Alhemoud, Ali ” Management Ethics is Smart Business. “values, ethical decision making transcends the law in that 1) the law deals withactions not with thoughts, and therefore it does not (and cannot) codify allethical requirements; and 2) an individual or a group may perceive a given lawas immoral, not as a guide to ethical behavior. ” ( A. Alhemoud).
How, then, acompany can ensure that its code of ethics is both followed and enforced ? ” . . . Defense firm such as General Dynamics and TRW, and an information company, Dun& Broadstreet, have appointed internal ethics officers or ombudsmen.
Whetheremployees have faith in these safeguards against corporate retaliation is hardto tell, though it is one step forward (The Economist August 19 1995)The ethical codes of corporations that that get so important nowadaysalso did not come into being at once. They emerged from individual ethicalstandards and corporate consciousness. Moreover, the public demand forprosecution of any violations of corporate, professional and business ethics hasbeen increased. Finally, mass media made possible for society reveal secretsthat were kept from public before.
So, the business conduct regulations werecreated to “draft guidelines for ethical conduct, develop a process formonitoring business practices and recommend ways to correct questionableactivities. ” (J. Byrne) All these measures were taken to balance various socialresponsibilities with the high degree of moral and sense of attainment. Unfortunately, cooperation of unethical behavior of a manager with ajournalist may lead to an undesirable results. “Early in December 1995 , SmartMoney’s editor-at-large James J. Cramer wrote an article for his monthly column;Unconventional Wisdom, __________________________________________________________
