Knowing what's ethical helps you and your employees make appropriate decisions. Too many ethics discussions are theoretical. Here are six very practical steps for ethical decision making. It seems every day there are new stories about businesses and organizations being accused of or investigated for ethical violations. These events around the world have heightened everyone's awareness of ethical business practices.
Investigations of many high-profile companies accused of unethical conduct show that most had elaborate ethics policies or guidelines. It was the people at the companies, however, who did not pay attention to the policies. A key point to remember about business ethics is that in spite of the codes of ethics, ethics programs and special departments, corporations do not make ethical decisions. Individuals make the ethical choices. A business should provide the environment or atmosphere for acting ethically, but it is the people of the business that put ethics into practice. To help you determine if your actions are ethical, compare them to these six basic guidelines for ethical business operations.
