Ethics Reflection
A prudent business should establish an ethical standard that indicates its belief system and social responsibility. Most companies’ ethical standards are usually disclosed in their Code of Conducts (COC); an open source to where internal and external customers can obtain ethical information about organizations. This paper will illustrate the role of ethics and social responsibility when establishing a strategic plan.
Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility
Ethics and social responsibility are fundamental in establishing an organization’s strategic plan and decision making (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Ethics is a crucial tool to help owners, managers, and employees of the company understand how they must conduct themselves in a workplace environment. Usually, companies state their values and expectations of everybody in their mission statements. Treating employees with respect and showing concern for their personal issues builds employees loyalty and increases their work morale. It saves cost to retain good employees than paying to train new employees.
The company’s values and standards must coincide with the managers’ and employees’ values to avoid fraudulent practices and ensure the company’s success. For example, Amazon.com has become one of the number one market places for selling new and used products all over the world. Amazon.com contributes its success to their daily customers but has also made sure to keep strict records and public files in order to prove their promise to be ethically responsible to their sellers, buyers and the public.
Amazon and other businesses should be aware of ethical issues like stolen identity and unauthorized credit card usage. Cyber crimes are nightmares to online shoppers. Criminals are able to use computer software to hack online shoppers’ personal information, assume their personalities by securing their credit cards, and use up the funds in customers’ bank accounts etc. Amazon understands that these issues are ethically unacceptable and can deflect online shoppers’ confidence in doing business with any company that does not offer security measures (Amazon, 2014).
Amazon ensures the safety and security of its shoppers by safeguarding its website against cyber invaders. With this in mind, shoppers can be confident of doing business with Amazon because it complies with safeguarding personal information customers use on its website. For an organization to gain and keep its customers, business must avoid ethical dilemmas such as the most famous 2002 Enron scandal which demoralized investors trust in the