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Business ethics is an interesting branch of business theory, primarily because of the fact that they are inherently interesting in a market economy. People tend to be extremely distrustful of corporations in market economies and the bigger they are, the worse that problem of trust usually gets. Business ethics therefore are politically charged in many different circumstances and that in turn serves to make them interesting. Aside from this academic interest however, business ethics are also important for a company and its success. Here are some ways in which this is true.

Public Image

It is impossible to discuss business ethics as a branch of academia without taking a look at the relationship between business ethics and public image. Each corporation has a particular public image, which represents the way in which the public views the corporation. Wal-Mart, for example, has a terrible public image. Toyota, on the other hand, has a very positive one. These public images are the result of a number of different things, but they are primarily the result of the way in which a corporation acts with respect to the different things around it.

A corporation’s environmental policy, the way they treat their employees and the way they treat the communities they exist in are all part of their overall behavior and this in turn is the principle factor in determining their public image. As proof of this, you will notice that even though Wal-Mart makes products that have a decent quality and an extremely low price, they still have a negative public image.

Since public image is largely a result of company behavior, business ethics play a large role in determining public image since they determine behavior. And public image is important to success in most cases, which is one of the reasons as to why business ethics are important to a company’s overall success.

Investment

Another reason that business ethics are important is the relationship they have to investment. When a person or an entity is considering investment in a particular stock, there are a number of things they take into account. Aside from the quantitative factors surrounding a company’s profit margin a future prospects, consideration is also given to a particular company from the point of view of the qualitative aspects such as their public image and the products that they happen to sell. All of these things are taken into account before the final investment is made.

Therefore, a company that would like to encourage extra investment is a company that has a strong sense of business ethics. Part of business ethics is responsibility to the investor and for that reason companies with strong reputations in the field of ethical business behavior are also companies that tend to attract more investment from people that are new into the market. Investment is most definitely important to success.

Partnerships

In the business world, joint ventures happen all the time. They happen all the time because they are ultimately of great importance to the bottom lines of businesses. A business can be made or broken on just one joint venture and part of the reason that joint ventures are successful is that they combine the forces of two extremely powerful companies on occasion.

If you want your company to do well in joint ventures, then you need to have good partners. The only way to get good partners is to have a good reputation both in terms of a track record and in terms of your business overall. And of course, the best way to get a good reputation is to ensure that your company has a strong tradition of ethical business behavior.

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Integrity in business, especially on the internet, seems to be a quality that, unfortunately, is rarely found nowadays. The internet marketing world has become so glutted with hype, scams and empty promises that even the most trusting of us have become skeptical about the claims we’re subjected to on a daily basis. So when we find a company or a person with real integrity, we’re impressed, and much more likely to do business with them.

Integrity is the basing of one’s actions on an internally consistent framework of principles. Integrity is also the cornerstone of every truly successful business. It is the idea of living consistently so your actions are in harmony with your professed principles and beliefs. It is one of the building blocks of earning and maintaining trust.

Integrity is described by Webster as the state of being sound or complete, being upright, honest, and sincere. It is primarily a virtue that comes from within, and the best way each of us can promote integrity is to exemplify it, to lead lives that embody our beliefs and our sense of moral values. Integrity, in short, is doing the right thing, doing the next right thing and doing things right, knowing that even if nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not, the rewards you will receive are much greater in the long run. It is the first step to true greatness.

Moving through life with integrity is freeing because there is nothing to cover up, no guilt, and a clear guideline for how to respond in every situation. The greatest fallout from a lack of integrity is the loss of trust, both from those we work with and, ironically, even within our own subconscious. A lack of integrity can have a subtle, but powerful, effect on our psychological state, which, in turn, affects our ability to be successful in the long term. Unfortunately, integrity is an old-fashioned virtue that, for many, has become a low priority in the quest for increasing profits, maximizing market share, or acquiring votes or tenure.

True integrity is more of a journey than a destination. It’s not something you do once and you’re finished. It’s an ongoing series of personal choices that we make as we go through our lives. If you’re running a home-based business, personal integrity is as important as the products you sell or the services you offer. As an entrepreneur, a reputation for integrity is your most valuable commodity.

Integrity, like most other good things, begins at home. Little things make a big difference. Developing a habit of honesty will set you free in ways that most people don’t even begin to realize. If we’re honest with ourselves, it is always easier to be truthful. For one thing, if you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything. The greatest homage we can pay to ourselves and others is to walk with integrity. Making morally clear life choices is actually much easier and much more profitable in the long run. Do the right thing and speak the truth.

Whatever business you’re doing, it’s important to practice integrity in the way you operate on a daily basis. Serve others. Avoid making claims or promises that are not true. Offer real value through the products or services that you market. If you do these things, it is inevitable that you will succeed. If not, you’ll just get lost in the crowd.

Tim Wright, Ph.D. is a freelance writer and busy internet entrepreneur living in Virginia.
Visit his website at: http://godcenteredwealth.com

You may think that business ethics pertains to OTHER people. You learned good ethics at your mother’s knee. Well, what did she tell you about conflicts of interest?

As a former Director, Ethics and Compliance for a $1.5B publicly traded organization, I learned a few important bits of information I would like to share with you.

1. A conflict of interest is when someone puts their own interest above those of the organization they work for. I found this to be the most commonly misunderstood concept in business ethics.

Here is an example: You sometimes buy lunch for your staff. As it turns out, your wife recently invested in a nearby sandwich shop which will deliver lunch. Isn’t it okay to throw your lunch business her way? Well, probably not. But no answer is absolute. It may be that she can bid on delivering lunches just like any other nearby sandwich shop, and she may get the business now and then like her competitors.

But, if she becomes your exclusive provider, thereby enriching your household income, you have just put your interest above that of the company’s. To avoid this situation, just ask yourself, “Will I personally profit from this decision, to the detriment of the company I work for?” If the answer is yes, it is probably best to just avoid the action you are considering.

2. Theft is when you take something that isn’t yours; that is obvious, right? Like taking some money from the company till.

Well, theft — of time — can also be taking time to do personal work on company time. This doesn’t mean making a phone call to arrange a dental appointment, it means picking up your laundry, getting your hair cut, and talking to a friend for a good long chat while being paid by the company. Theft is also taking a handful of pens or notepads home to your kids when school starts in the fall. Both of these examples constitute theft. Not outrageous, but theft all the same.

3. Gifts are a tricky matter. You’ve worked hard to get a contract signed and the vendor is appreciative so he offers you two tickets to the local professional football team game, worth about $350.00. Can you accept the gift?

Check your company’s Code of Ethics or Code of Conduct. There may be a limit or prohibition from accepting (or offering) gifts. Just check to be sure. It may simply be a matter of declaring receipt of the gift, or getting permission to accept it from your boss. It is also possible that you can not accept the gift.

4. Federal Sentencing Guidelines: What the heck are THOSE? The Federal Sentencing Guidelines were issued by the US Sentencing Commission, and encourage actions to help a company avoid fines and penalties for ethical wrongdoing.

Examples of actions to avoid fines and penalties include communicating standards and procedures around ethics and compliance, and requiring participation in related training programs. Your company may have some obligation to adhere to these guidelines or similar ones depending on whether your company is public or private sector. The part that applies to you is that the company should promote a culture of ethical behavior. Your obligation as an employee is to do your level best to behave in an ethical manner.

5. A Code of Ethics sets the tone for company regarding ethical behavior. Many companies have such a document. At the very least, the Securities and Exchange Commission requires a Code for officers of a publicly traded corporation.

If your company has a Code of Ethics (or Conduct), it is probably on your internal web, or may be housed in Human Resources or the Legal Department. Inform yourself about it and plan to live up to it. If you have questions, find out who to ask so you can stay on the right side of ethics.

As a final thought, why wouldn’t you want to be ethical? If you have a good reason for not being ethical, please write and let me know your thoughts.

Sally Rhys, MS, coaches and consults on business ethics. As the former Director, Ethics and Compliance at a $1.5B publicly traded company, her expertise will help you increase both your business knowledge and professionalism. Contact her at http://www.coachingforperspective.com

Wow — every day seems to bring us a new story about business ethics wrongdoing! Is America headed to hell in a hand basket because of a serious lack of ethics at the highest level in American business? Or, it is just that ethical transgressions are more visible now? Or is it that the media reports more? Whichever it is, I urge you to be concerned about business ethics, even if simply for yourself.

A few facts will raise your awareness about the current state of ethics in American business. The Ethics Resource Center notes that the number of ethics programs is on the rise in corporate America. Unfortunately, the center also notes that ethical misconduct is high. (Google “The National Business Ethics Survey” for more details.) Other research shows that a majority of people in America have quit a job due to an ethical concern at sometime in their lives. (Google “lrn” for more details.)

You may believe there isn’t much you can do about ethics in American business. But, you can choose to follow a high standard of ethics for yourself.

Here are three simple tips to stay in Integrity with Yourself:
1. Listen to your gut. If it doesn’t smell right, it probably isn’t. Don’t risk your reputation by going along with something that is fishy. Sometimes in the work place, what the policy says to do and what people are doing are two different things.

For instance, if you go to lunch with a co-worker to discuss business and you each spend $11.95, which is all you can claim on your business expense forms. But, your coworker may encourage you to submit a claim for $23.95 (since the policy says you don’t have to submit a receipt until the amount is over $25.00, per IRS rules.) Your coworker may even say everyone pads their expense report. This action would be a quick way to double your cash back, but you know it isn’t right. Don’t cave-in to the peer pressure or temptation. Just don’t do it!

2. Ask questions. Sometimes what you know is not the whole story. Ask questions to fill in the gap. Don’t assume. Something you don’t know may make what looks wrong actually be a good thing. As the former Director, Ethics and Compliance for a $1.5B company, I learned to ask questions before forming a judgment.

For instance, I know of a case where a manager became aware that his employee had lied about his whereabouts during the work day. One appropriate action would have been to discipline the employee or maybe even fire him. Another appropriate action would have been to extend a little compassion for the employee, who was under some external stresses, and work more closely with the employee to help him manage his time better. Asking a few simple questions revealed the external stresses, which opened doors to alternative resolution of the problem.

3. Keep an open mind. There is rarely an unequivocal right or wrong answer in any ethical issue.

For instance, an employee reported to me that he believed a co-worker was falsely claiming an important professional certification. I asked him why he thought that, and he said that the person didn’t seem to demonstrate the knowledge base required for certification. He also said he had checked the certifying agency’s website to find the co-workers name without success. Since falsification of job qualifications is a serious offense, I went to the website to check for the name too, and asked an internal recruiter to verbally check with the certifying agency.

As it turned out, the person under suspicion had registered at the website with his formal name, not the nickname he used at work; as a result his name wasn’t recognizable at the website. Only by triple checking the website and making a phone call to the certifying agency were we able to get the whole story.

Stay in integrity — do what YOU think is right and stay in good conscience.

Sally Rhys, MS, coaches and consults on business ethics. As the former Director, Ethics and Compliance at a $1.5B publicly traded company, her expertise will help you increase both your business knowledge and professionalism. Contact her at http://www.coachingforperspective.com

The UK is fast becoming the Health and Safety nightmare of the modern world. There are those who work in the care sector who are not allowed to come into physical contact with the people they care for fear of breaching some health and safety law, there are those in childcare who are not allowed to so much as apply a sticky plaster without a signed waver from the parent.

Of course, to counteract all these nonsense rules we have health and safety training. You can go on a course if you want to be certified to apply plasters to grazes which always comes in handy when you’re working in a playschool. If the teachers are away on health and safety training courses then they have stand in teachers. If the children should graze themselves during this time, there is no need to worry. They will simply call out a parent who can then drop what they are doing at work and run and fix their broken child.

If you think this is crazy then look to the UK’s compensation culture to appoint blame. For fear of being sued in the event of a plaster reaction and a rash appearing, teachers are stepping back from taking any action that involves physical contact and could result in a law suit.

I have a family member with a disabled teenager. His mother has no health and safety training yet she continues to lift this eighteen year old boy backwards and forwards to the bathroom. This is because the council housed her in a place that had a step down into a tiny bathroom with no wheel chair access.

The council refused to put in hoists because they needed to move house and didn’t want the expense. They asked for help from social services with help to bathe him and although there are social workers who have had health and safety training to lift weights, he was over a certain weight to be lifted without a hoist. And they won’t fit a hoist because….

So, with diabetes and two major heart attacks under her belt, his mum continues to lift him without health and safety training and does what the majority of us do - she just gets on with it.
Care workers all need health and safety training. To lift another human, however frail, can cause difficulties and especially back problems. Of course, people have done this for years without complaining but, as I said, in this age of compensation claims no company can afford to slip up in the training to approach things with common sense, apparently.

There are work places where health and safety training makes common sense. The building site, for instance. Nobody would expect an inexperienced person to go into such an environment without some form of training and expectations of good practice. The same applies to handling dangerous chemicals. It is common sense to make sure those that do that type of job are highly qualified people with the knowledge that will keep them safe.

But do we really, really need health and safety on how to use a desk and chair properly? Do we need a whole training course dedicated to the correct use of a ladder? Apparently so! This is because no one wants to take personal responsibility for their actions anymore and any chance of making a quick buck that will also see them taking six months paid holiday from work and this is what leads companies to cover their backs with health and safety training.

Employment expert Catherine Harvey looks at the way health and safety training has become such a neccessity in the workplace.

When it comes to the use of office furniture there are several etiquette rules that should be observed and these rules will differ from office to office. What is acceptable in one place will be your downfall in another. Suss out the rules of your new office early on and you will be welcomed with open arms if you observe them in the decent way.

Open plan offices take a great deal of delicate handling. Office furniture is often laid out in a manner where all workers are in fairly close proximity and all types of rules should be applied. You will not, ever, get away with making just one coffee. If in doubt, offer those in your immediate vicinity a drink when you make your own. If this is not the way things are done in that particular office, at least it will make you look good.

Another tip for open plan office furniture is that of keeping your own house in order. Do not allow your paperwork to spill onto the desks of others and never leave your bag on the floor where others can trip over it. If you have a cough or cold, always stay at home. Open sneezing causing spattering of nasal secretions on those around you will incur the wrath of that foam in your coffee not being from extra vigorous stirring.

Some offices will be open plan but have partitions as part of their standard office furniture. These are to allow a little privacy and division of work places. They are not sound proof. An argument with your wife over the phone will be heard and dutifully embroidered upon and spread by those around you until, by the time you leave work for the day, your colleagues from the next office are commiserating with you on your divorce.

Partitions are not smell proof either. For the women, over powering perfume is annoying to your colleagues and for the men, it really is only you that finds your personal bodily gases entertaining and fragrant. Please limit all aromas to coffee or fresh laundry and you will be more popular.

Computers are the staple of any office furniture and as such should be treated with the utmost care. Any punching or slamming of office equipment that doesn’t do what you want when you want it will be frowned upon, as will using computer equipment as projectiles.

Emails should always be kept professional as bosses that are good at delegation often find they have quiet spots in their day and will fill them with checking up on who’s sending what to whom and if people are talking behind his back. Any bitching about colleagues or the boss should be saved for the ladies loos and not bandied about via emails.

Lunching on office furniture is always a delicate subject. If you must eat at work, nobody wants to smell your lunch so keep the spices for at home. Similarly, nobody wants to be leaning in your lunch if you happen to share a desk so always clear up crumbs behind yourself and never, ever, drop food in the keyboard. Anything nasty growing out of it in a few weeks time could spread germs and see you getting scorn poured from above.

Networking is an important aspect of office life. If a lunch is held in honour of new contacts and any alcoholic beverage is served, please remember that office furniture is not a prop to be used when flirting. In fact, just don’t flirt at all. This will not further your career, only get you a bad reputation.

For those moments in the day when you feel yourself flagging, do not fall asleep at your desk. Office furniture is never comfortable and walking around an hour later with qwerty stamped on your face is a bit of a give-away. If that forty winks is absolutely necessary, try the stationary cupboard.

Office expert Catherine Harvey looks at the best use of office furniture and what to avoid.