Business ethics is a form of ethics that examines ethical principles and problems that arise in the business environment (Sheena, 2004, p.15). It is an important aspect in businesses because it affects the daily life of the individuals and the organization where these individuals belong. It is concerned with the conduct of the individuals and organizations as a whole. The ethical environment in which many organizations operate is quite complex because it is changing everyday and out of their control. For an organization to emerge successfully, all the individuals in it must act ethically. This helps avoid ethical dilemmas where individuals find themselves in situations where it is hard to make a decision. Failure to act ethically leads to ethical issues in the organizations.
Ethical Issues
Discrimination
Ethical issues are those that come as a result unethical behaviors in an organization. Discrimination is one of the issues that greatly affect the community and the organization. Up to date discrimination is still common in many organizations where individuals from certain groups are discriminated against when vacancies exist in organizations Peg, 2006, p.228). Racial discrimination is one of the discrimination where individuals from certain races such as the African Americans do not stand equal opportunities if there is a vacancy in an organization. Another form of discrimination is gender discrimination where individuals from a certain gender such as women do not assume equal positions with men in organizations. Discrimination also comes in promotions where individuals from certain groups that are regarded as minor are not promoted regardless of their performance in an organization. This affects the community in that individuals who are discriminated against fail to have the necessary resources to sustain their lives. They live in poverty regardless of their qualifications. When an organization discriminates against individuals from certain races, it hinders diversity which is beneficial to an organization if given the right approach.
Whistleblowing
Whistleblowing refers to the process by which an employee releases some information to the public regarding some wrong actions by his or her employer (Peg, 2006, p.66). The information released could be regarding a violation of law, fraud, healthy safety violations, corruption and many others. A whistleblower may release the information to other employees within the organization or to the media, law enforcement agencies, or regulators. Whistleblowing is an ethical behavior and individuals have the option to blow the whistle or remain quiet. Deciding whether to blow the whistle or not is a bit hard because of some conflicting interests. Before blowing the whistle, the whistleblower should first look at the benefits of blowing the whistle especially to the public. If the whistle blower decides to blow the whistle, he or she protects the public and the organization by saving some funds which could have been misappropriated and also protect future cases of violations. In some countries such as the United States, whistleblowers are protected by the law.
Executive Compensation
Another ethical issue that still exist concerns executive compensation where the financial compensation that the top executives within an organization is not proportional to the one given to ordinary employees. The compensation to individuals in the executive are increased frequently whereas the ordinary employees do not get these compensations. The boards of directors in organizations are the ions that determine the compensation to be given to the employees in an organization. As compensation to executives is revised, they should also consider revision of compensation to ordinary employees.
References
Sheena, C. (2004). Business Ethics: The New Bottom Line. London: Demos, 15-19.
Peg, T. (2006). Ethical Issues in Business: Inequalities, Cases, and Readings. New York: Broadview Press, 66-89, 227-236.