BUSS 207 BUSINESS AND IT ETHICS

LECTURETHREE:
3.1 Introduction
Welcome to the third lecture in this course. In this lecture we shall discuss ethics at the
workplace place and some issues on ethics in business.
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3.2 Specific Objectives

At the end of the lecture you should be able to:
 Understand the importance of ethics at the workplace
 Describe the six pillars of character
 Describe the ethics framework

3.3 Lecture One Outline

3.3.1 Ethics Framework
3.3.2 Business Ethics
3.3.3 Ethics at the Work place
3.3.4 Managing Ethics at Workplace
3.3.5 The nature of moral rights and responsibilities in the workplace
3.3.6 Personnel policies and procedures
3.3.7 The Six Pillars of Character

3.3.1 Ethics Framework

1. Setting the Ethical Tone

Senior accountability for the ethics system reassures your employees that ethical issues are taken
seriously within the organisation. Think about whether your organisation has the right:

 governance arrangements
 style of supervision
 role models.

Every organisation should appoint a senior executive Corruption Prevention and Integrity
Champion to lead and coordinate work within their organisation and to share good practice.
Making appropriate expectations around integrity front and centre in all performance agreements
helps embed high ethical standards throughout the organisation.

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2. Planning the Elements of an Ethics System

You will need to assign an ethics officer or an ethics committee to design, implement and
maintain the ethics system. Their tasks will include:

 conducting an ethics audit to identify ethical risks that must be addressed by the ethics
system
 setting up and advising you and the executive team on the design and operation of the
ethics system.

3. Managing the Ethics System Day to Day

The senior accountable officer or committee oversees a system for rewarding and encouraging
ethical behaviour and deterring unacceptable behaviour. Their tasks include:

 monitoring information from surveys, turnover data and other sources

 informing and involving employees in discussions about the values and principles
 developing policies and procedures in consultation with employees
 incorporating the values and principles in induction and other staff development
programs
 rewarding, recognising and promoting employees who exemplify the values and
principles
 enabling employees to raise concerns about application of the values and principles.

4. Developing Ethical Skills

Ethical behaviour means always taking the high road when making decisions. For managers it
also means leading when managing yourself and your staff. There are tips for sustaining an
ethical workplace so that ethics become a natural function of your organisation. Try these
activities:

 lead your team in discussing a workplace problem in your next team meeting
 start a discussion about the values and principles the next time you make a major decision
 read the code of conduct, examine your own behaviour and challenge misconduct in the
workplace
 speak to HR about how you can develop a values-based organisation

Put the values and employment principles on display, not only through your behaviour, but also
by hanging posters in your foyer, lunch room or workplace.

3.3.2 Business Ethics

Ethics is a subjective topic, but it is nevertheless of great importance across all areas of business.
From the way in which sales and marketing is handled through to product development and
customer service, and even to some extent finance, ethics has a significant role to play in
ensuring business success and ultimately living up to the corporate social responsibility. Thus

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adopting a ethics-specific approach to doing business is critical towards ensuring a legitimate

business model with long term potential. Business ethics is especially important in dealing with
customers. Maintaining integrity in the customer facing side of your business is crucial to
building client relationships, to assisting the overall branding efforts.
Likewise, it's an important step in minimising returns and protecting business goodwill, which
will have a tangible effect on the success or otherwise of your business.
Ethics wise, it's also important to consider how to deal with customer issues and customer
service. On the administrative and strategic side of business, it's also important to adopt an
ethical approach which takes account of various responsibilities as a business - to shareholders,
employees and the community at large.
Ethics can be installed through training, through creating business policies and even through
careful selection at the HR stage, although it's important that there are also enforcement
mechanisms within the business concerned, and that ethics remain a forefront consideration in
day-to-day trade to ensure a unified, morally sound approach to doing business. The importance
can be illustrated as under:

1. Stop Business Malpractices : Some unscrupulous businessmen do business malpractices

by indulging in unfair trade practices like black-marketing, artificial high pricing,
adulteration, cheating in weights and measures, selling of duplicate and harmful products,
hoarding, etc. These business malpractices are harmful to the consumers. Business ethics
help to stop these business malpractices.
2. Improve Customers' Confidence : Business ethics are needed to improve the
customers' confidence about the quality, quantity, price, etc. of the products. The
customers have more trust and confidence in the businessmen who follow ethical rules.
They feel that such businessmen will not cheat them.
3. Survival of Business : Business ethics are mandatory for the survival of business. The
businessmen who do not follow it will have short-term success, but they will fail in the
long run. This is because they can cheat a consumer only once. After that, the consumer
will not buy goods from that businessman. He will also tell others not to buy from that
businessman. So this will defame his image and provoke a negative publicity. This will
result in failure of the business. Therefore, if the businessmen do not follow ethical rules,
he will fail in the market. So, it is always better to follow appropriate code of conduct to
survive in the market.
4. Safeguarding Consumers' Rights : The consumer has many rights such as right to
health and safety, right to be informed, right to choose, right to be heard, right to redress,
etc. But many businessmen do not respect and protect these rights. Business ethics are
must to safeguard these rights of the consumers.
5. Protecting Employees and Shareholders : Business ethics are required to protect the
interest of employees, shareholders, competitors, dealers, suppliers, etc. It protects them
from exploitation through unfair trade practices.
6. Develops Good Relations: Business ethics are important to develop good and friendly
relations between business and society. This will result in a regular supply of good
quality goods and services at low prices to the society. It will also result in profits for the
businesses thereby resulting in growth of economy.

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7. Creates Good Image : Business ethics create a good image for the business and
business men. If the businessmen follow all ethical rules, then they will be fully accepted
and not criticised by the society. The society will always support those businessmen who
follow this necessary code of conduct.
8. Smooth Functioning : If the business follows all the business ethics, then the employees,
shareholders, consumers, dealers and suppliers will all be happy. So they will give full
cooperation to the business. This will result in smooth functioning of the business. So, the
business will grow, expand and diversify easily and quickly. It will have more sales and
more profits.
9. Consumer Movement : Business ethics are gaining importance because of the growth of
the consumer movement. Today, the consumers are aware of their rights. Now they are
more organised and hence cannot be cheated easily. They take actions against those
businessmen who indulge in bad business practices. They boycott poor quality, harmful,
high-priced and counterfeit (duplicate) goods. Therefore, the only way to survive in
business is to be honest and fair.
10. Consumer Satisfaction: Today, the consumer is the king of the market. Any business
simply cannot survive without the consumers. Therefore, the main aim or objective of
business is consumer satisfaction. If the consumer is not satisfied, then there will be no
sales and thus no profits too. Consumer will be satisfied only if the business follows all
the business ethics, and hence are highly needed.
11. Importance of Labour : Labour, i.e. employees or workers play a very crucial role in
the success of a business. Therefore, business must use business ethics while dealing with
the employees. The business must give them proper wages and salaries and provide them
with better working conditions.There must be good relations between employer and
employees. The employees must also be given proper welfare facilities.
12. Healthy Competition : The business must use business ethics while dealing with the
competitors. They must have healthy competition with the competitors. They must not do
cut-throat competition. Similarly, they must give equal opportunities to small-scale
business. They must avoid monopoly. This is because a monopoly is harmful to the
consumers.

3.3.3 Ethics at the Work place

If your workplace lacks ethical standards, your employer risks losing valuable employees and
customers and possibly even more. Federal laws impose heavier penalties on employers
convicted of criminal wrongdoing if they cannot prove that they’ve made efforts to implement
ethical measures to prevent and deter illegal conduct. Some of the primary forms of employee
misconduct or unethical behavior include the following:
 Misrepresenting time or hours worked;
 Lying to supervisors;
 Lying to co-workers, customers, vendors, or the public;
 Misuse of your employer’s assets; and
 Lying on reports or falsifying records.
There is a widespread need for ethics in your workplace. A code of ethics can provide guidelines
for your conduct and help improve the overall atmosphere of your workplace.

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Your employer’s workplace ethics policy deters employee misconduct, avoids conflicts of
interest, helps keep you and your co-workers honest, provides you with guidelines for resolving
sensitive issues, and helps make clear that all employees are responsible for their unethical
behavior.

3.3.4 Managing Ethics at Workplace

Many people are used to reading or hearing of the moral benefits of attention to business ethics.
However there are other types of benefits, as well. The following list describes various types of
benefits from managing ethics at the workplace:

1. Attention to business ethics has substantially improved society:

The society reacted to injustices and demanded that businesses place high value on fairness and
equal rights. Anti-trust laws were instituted. Government agencies were established. Unions were
organized. Laws and regulations were established.
2. Ethics programs help maintain a moral course in turbulent times:
During times of change, there is often no clear moral compass to guide leaders
through complex conflicts about what is right or wrong. Continuing attention to ethics in the
workplace sensitizes leaders and staff to how they want to act -- consistently.
3. Ethics programs cultivate strong teamwork and productivity: Ethics programs align
employee behaviors with those top priority ethical values preferred by leaders of the
organization. Ongoing attention and dialogue regarding values in the workplace builds openness,
integrity and community - critical ingredients of strong teams in the workplace. Employees feel
strong alignment between their values and those of the organization. They react with strong
motivation and performance.
4. Ethics programs support employee growth and meaning: Attention to ethics in the
workplace helps employees face reality, both good and bad -- in the organization and themselves.
Employees feel full confidence they can admit and deal with whatever comes their way.
5. Ethics programs are an insurance policy -- they help ensure that policies are legal: There
is an increasing number of lawsuits in regard to personnel matters and to effects of an
organization's services or products on stakeholders. As mentioned earlier in this document,
ethical principles are often state-of-the-art legal matters. These principles are often applied to
current, major ethical issues to become legislation. Attention to ethics ensures highly ethical
policies and procedures in the workplace. It's far better to incur the cost of mechanisms to ensure
ethical practices now than to incur costs of litigation later. A major intent of well-designed
personnel policies is to ensure ethical treatment of employees, e.g., in matters of hiring,
evaluating, disciplining, firing, etc.
6. Ethics programs help avoid criminal acts "of omission" and can lower fines: Ethics
programs tend to detect ethical issues and violations early on so they can be reported or
addressed. In some cases, when an organization is aware of an actual or potential violation and
does not report it to the appropriate authorities, this can be considered a criminal act, e.g., in
business dealings with certain government agencies,
7. Ethics programs help manage values associated with quality management, strategic
planning and diversity management -- this benefit needs far more attention: Ethics
programs identify preferred values and ensuring organizational behaviors are aligned with those

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values. This effort includes recording the values, developing policies and procedures to align
behaviors with preferred values, and then training all personnel about the policies and
procedures. This overall effort is very useful for several other programs in the workplace that
require behaviors to be aligned with values, including quality management, strategic planning
and diversity management. Total Quality Management includes high priority on certain operating
values,
e.g., trust among stakeholders, performance, reliability, measurement, and feedback.
Ethics management programs are also useful in managing diversity. Diversity is much more than
the color of people's skin -- it's acknowledging different values and perspectives. Diversity
programs require recognizing and applying diverse values and perspectives -- these activities are
the basis of a sound ethics management program.
8. Ethics programs promote a strong public image: Attention to ethics is also strong public
relations admittedl, managing ethics should not be done primarily for reasons of public relations.
The fact that an organization regularly gives attention to its ethics can portray a strong positive to
the public. People see those organizations as valuing people more than profit, as striving to
operate with the utmost of integrity and honor. Aligning behavior with values is critical to
effective marketing and public relations programs.
9. Overall benefits of ethics programs:
Managing ethical values in the workplace legitimizes managerial actions, strengthens the
coherence and balance of the organization's culture, improves trust in relationships between
individuals and groups, supports greater consistency in standards and qualities of products, and
cultivates greater sensitivity to the
impact of the enterprise's values and messages. Formal attention to ethics in the workplace is the
right thing to do.

3.3.5 The nature of moral rights and responsibilities in the workplace

Workers want to be paid well, have safe work conditions, be rewarded for their productive work,
have a chance to get promotions, have a chance to do something important, have free speech,
privacy, and so on. There was a time when workers had almost no legal rights in the workplace,
but an employer must now treat minorities as equals, pay employees the minimum wage, pay
employees more for overtime,
and provide relatively safe work conditions. However, the law doesn't
guarantee that employees will be treated with respect. Employers could have a moral
responsibility to their employees beyond what the law requires. That means that employers have
a responsibility to provide employees with safe working conditions and managers have a
responsibility not to be abusive to their employees. This could include an employee's right not to
be verbally abused, assuming that verbal abuse is harmful.
Employers can also be tempted to be disrespectful of employees because it can cost money to
pay more for wages, to create safer working conditions, and so on. However, employers have a
moral reason to be respectful of employees, and it can be in the best interest of the company.
Being respectful of employees can increase productivity by raising morale, help a company hire
better employees by making a business more attractive to applicants, and keep productive
employees from looking for better

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jobs elsewhere. Our moral rights and responsibilities are merely minimal moral standards and
only reflect a minimal level of respect. It's possible for a work environment to respect employees
beyond moral requirements.
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3.3.6 Personnel policies and procedures
Personnel policies and procedures determine how a company handles hiring, firing, promoting
etc
1. Hiring
Hiring often involves, screening, testing, and interviewing—and each of these steps of a hiring
process have unique moral implications
2. Screening – Sometimes many people apply for a job and screening helps a company
reduce the list of eligible applicants to be more manageable. People should be screened
on the basis of their qualifications rather than discriminate on the basis of race, gender,
and so
3. Tests
Tests can measure an applicant's skills in an attempt to make the applicant pool smaller and
efficiently decide which applicants are most qualified for a job. Employers have a duty to make
sure that tests are valid, reliable, and fair.
4. Valid – Valid tests are relevant to the job. It would usually be unfair to require computer
programmers to be sociable or to require diplomats to be good at computer programming.
5. Reliable – Reliable tests make sure that the scores properly assess the applicant's abilities
6. Fair – Fair tests must be relevant to job performance and must not discriminate against
anyone who is qualified for the job. Assuring that tests are valid and reliable can be
expensive, but it's morally necessary to protect the rights of applicants, to hire the most
qualified employees, and to protect the interests of stockholders.
7. Interviews Interviews allow employers to assess the qualifications of an employee
through personal communication, but they are one more opportunity to discriminate
against people. An interviewer's negative attitude around minorities can be an
opportunity to get minorities to decide they don't want to be hired. ―Interviewers must
exercise care to avoid thoughtless comments that may hurt or insult the person being
interviewed
8. Promotions Deciding who gets promotions is a decision with moral implications quite
similar to hiring new employees. Additionally, seniority, inbreeding, and nepotism are
tempting reasons to give people promotions despite not necessarily being good reasons to
give a promotion. These three factors must compete with the actual qualifications of an
employee and who is likely to do the best job.
9. Seniority – Seniority determines how long someone has worked for a company. A
qualified person can be insulted if they are passed up for promotion time and time again,
but not everyone with seniority are most qualified for a job. It is important that employers
reward loyalty, but seniority doesn't always indicate loyalty either .
10. Inbreeding – Inbreeding is when people who work for a company tend to be considered
for promotions rather than hiring people from outside of the company. Inbreeding is a
relevant consideration to giving promotions to the same extent as seniority—it's
important that employees have a chance for advancement and the prolonged contributions
employees give to a company are worth something.

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11. Nepotism – Nepotism is showing favoritism towards family and friends. Nepotism can
be a legitimate factor in justifying a promotion when a company exists primarily for the
interests of a family, but employers must not disregard the actual qualifications, loyalty,
opportunities for advancement, and actual contributions of other employees.
12. Discipline and discharge: Discipline and discharge are necessary measures to make sure
that employees stay productive. Discipline involves punishment and discharge involves a
separation between an employee and the company, such as being fired. Moral
implications to discipline and discharge include the following:
 Employees should be notified of infractions privately rather than publicly or not at
all Chastising employee in public can be humiliating and is disrespectful.
 Employees should have chances to correct their behavior rather than being fired
for the first minor infraction.
 Discipline and discharge should be given for ―just cause,‖ meaning they should be
relevant to job performance.
 How a person behaves outside of work is generally not relevant to job
performance, but it can occasionally have a relevant impact on the business .
 The job should provide workers with due process—fair and consistent sanctions
 Employers must carefully analyze the reasons for dismissing an employee, and
―wrongful termination‖ is a common cause of lawsuits .The reasons for discharge
should be outlined in an ―employee handbook, collective bargaining agreement,
or corporate policy agreement‖
 Employers should be careful how they dismiss employees

3.3.7 The Six Pillars of Character

These are applicable to employees and employers. The Six Pillars of Character are ethical values
to guide our choices. The standards of conduct that arise out of those values constitute the
ground rules of ethics, and therefore of ethical decision-making. The Pillars can help us detect
situations where we focus so hard on upholding one moral principle that we sacrifice another —
where, intent on holding others accountable, we ignore the duty to be compassionate; where,
intent on getting a job done, we ignore how.

1. Trustworthiness

When others trust us, they give us greater leeway because they feel we don’t need monitoring to
assure that we’ll meet our obligations. They believe in us and hold us in higher esteem. That’s
satisfying. At the same time, we must constantly live up to the expectations of others and refrain
from even small lies or self-serving behavior that can quickly destroy our relationships.

Simply refraining from deception is not enough. Trustworthiness is the most complicated of the
six core ethical values and concerns a variety of qualities like honesty, integrity, reliability and
loyalty.

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i. Honesty: There is no more fundamental ethical value than honesty. We associate honesty
with people of honor, and we admire and rely on those who are honest. But honesty is a
broader concept than many may realize. It involves both communications and conduct.
Honesty in communications is expressing the truth as best we know it and not conveying
it in a way likely to mislead or deceive. There are three dimensions:

 Truthfulness. Truthfulness is presenting the facts to the best of our knowledge.

Intent is the crucial distinction between truthfulness and truth itself. Being wrong
is not the same thing as lying, although honest mistakes can still damage trust
insofar as they may show sloppy judgment.
 Sincerity. Sincerity is genuineness, being without trickery or duplicity. It
precludes all acts, including half-truths, out-of-context statements, and even
silence, that are intended to create beliefs or leave impressions that are untrue or
misleading.
 Candor. In relationships involving legitimate expectations of trust, honesty may
also require candor, forthrightness and frankness, imposing the obligation to
volunteer information that another person needs to know.

ii. Integrity: The word integrity comes from the same Latin root as "integer," or whole
number. Like a whole number, a person of integrity is undivided and complete. This
means that the ethical person acts according to her beliefs, not according to expediency.
She is also consistent. There is no difference in the way she makes decisions from
situation to situation, her principles don’t vary at work or at home, in public or alone.
iii. Reliability When we make promises or other commitments that create a legitimate basis
for another person to rely upon us, we undertake special moral duties. We accept the
responsibility of making all reasonable efforts to fulfill our commitments.
iv. Loyalty :Loyalty is a responsibility to promote the interests of certain people,
organizations or affiliations. This duty goes beyond the normal obligation we all share to
care for others.Friends, employers, co-workers and others may demand that we rank their
interests above ethical considerations. But no one has the right to ask another to sacrifice
ethical principles in the name of a special relationship. Indeed, one forfeits a claim of
loyalty when he or she asks so high a price for maintaining the relationship. Loyalty
requires us to keep some information confidential. When keeping a secret breaks the law
or threatens others, however, we may have a responsibility to "blow the whistle."
Employees and public servants have a duty to make all professional decisions on merit,
unimpeded by conflicting personal interests. They owe ultimate loyalty to the public.

2. Respect

People are not things, and everyone has a right to be treated with dignity. We certainly have no
ethical duty to hold all people in high esteem, but we should treat everyone with respect,
regardless of who they are and what they have done. We have a responsibility to be the best we
can be in all situations, even when dealing with unpleasant people. The Golden Rule — do unto
others as you would have them do unto you — nicely illustrates the Pillar of respect. Respect

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prohibits violence, humiliation, manipulation and exploitation. It reflects notions such as civility,
courtesy, decency, dignity, autonomy, tolerance and acceptance.

i. Civility, Courtesy and Decency: A respectful person is an attentive listener , although his
patience with the boorish need not be endless (respect works both ways). Nevertheless,
the respectful person treats others with consideration, and doesn’t resort to intimidation,
coercion or violence except in extraordinary and limited situations to defend others, teach
discipline, maintain order or achieve social justice. Punishment is used in moderation and
only to advance important social goals and purposes.
ii. Dignity and Autonomy: People need to make informed decisions about their own lives.
Don’t withhold the information they need to do so. Allow all individuals, including
maturing children, to have a say in the decisions that affect them.
iii. Tolerance and Acceptance: Accept individual differences and beliefs without prejudice.
Judge others only on their character, abilities and conduct.

3. Responsibility

Life is full of choices. Being responsible means being in charge of our choices and, thus, our
lives. It means being accountable for what we do and who we are. It also means recognizing that
our actions matter and we are morally on the hook for the consequences. Our capacity to reason
and our freedom to choose make us morally autonomous and, therefore, answerable for whether
we honor or degrade the ethical principles that give life meaning and purpose. Ethical people
show responsibility by being accountable, pursuing excellence and exercising self-restraint. They
exhibit the ability to respond to expectations.

i. Accountability: An accountable person is not a victim and doesn’t shift blame or claim
credit for the work of others. He considers the likely consequences of his behavior and
associations. He recognizes the common complicity in the triumph of evil when nothing
is done to stop it. He leads by example.
ii. Pursuit of Excellence: The pursuit of excellence has an ethical dimension when others
rely upon our knowledge, ability or willingness to perform tasks safely and effectively.
iii. Diligence. It is hardly unethical to make mistakes or to be less than "excellent," but there
is a moral obligation to do one’s best, to be diligent, reliable, careful, prepared and
informed.
iv. Perseverance. Responsible people finish what they start, overcoming rather than
surrendering to obstacles. They avoid excuses such as, "That’s just the way I am," or "It’s
not my job," or "It was legal."
v. Continuous Improvement. Responsible people always look for ways to do their work
better.
vi. Self-Restraint: Responsible people exercise self-control, restraining passions and
appetites (such as lust, hatred, gluttony, greed and fear) for the sake of longer-term vision
and better judgment. They delay gratification if necessary and never feel it’s necessary to
"win at any cost." They realize they are as they choose to be, every day.

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4. Fairness

Fairness it involves issues of equality, impartiality, proportionality, openness and due process.
Most would agree that it is unfair to handle similar matters inconsistently. Most would agree that
it is unfair to impose punishment that is not commensurate with the offense. The basic concept
seems simple, even intuitive, yet applying it in daily life can be surprisingly difficult. Fairness is
another tricky concept, probably more subject to legitimate debate and interpretation than any
other ethical value. Disagreeing parties tend to maintain that there is only one fair position (their
own, naturally). But essentially fairness implies adherence to a balanced standard of justice
without relevance to one’s own feelings or inclinations.

i. Process : Process is crucial in settling disputes, both to reach the fairest results and to
minimize complaints. A fair person scrupulously employs open and impartial processes
for gathering and : evaluating information necessary to make decisions. Fair people do
not wait for the truth to come to them; they seek out relevant information and conflicting
perspectives before making important judgments.
ii. Impartiality: Decisions should be made without favoritism or prejudice.
iii. Equity: An individual, company or society should correct mistakes, promptly and
voluntarily. It is improper to take advantage of the weakness or ignorance of others.

5. Caring

If you existed alone in the universe, there would be no need for ethics and your heart could be a
cold, hard stone. Caring is the heart of ethics, and ethical decision-making. It is scarcely possible
to be truly ethical and yet unconcerned with the welfare of others. That is because ethics is
ultimately about good relations with other people. It is easier to love "humanity" than to love
people. People who consider themselves ethical and yet lack a caring attitude toward individuals
tend to treat others as instruments of their will. They rarely feel an obligation to be honest, loyal,
fair or respectful except insofar as it is prudent for them to do so, a disposition which itself hints
at duplicity and a lack of integrity. A person who really cares feels an emotional response to both
the pain and pleasure of others. The highest form of caring is the honest expression of
benevolence, or altruism. This is not to be confused with strategic charity. Gifts to charities to
advance personal interests are a fraud.

6. Citizenship:

Citizenship includes civic virtues and duties that prescribe how we ought to behave as part of a
community. The good citizen knows the laws and obeys them, yes, but that’s not all. She
volunteers and stays informed on the issues of the day, the better to execute her duties and
privileges as a member of a self-governing democratic society. She does more than her "fair"
share to make society work, now and for future generations. Such a commitment to the public
sphere can have many expressions, such as conserving resources, recycling, using public
transportation and cleaning up litter. The good citizen gives more than she takes.

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3.4 Activities
1. What are some common unethical behaviors in the workplace
2. What about your conduct outside the workplace
3. Identify examples where the six pillars of character can apply

3.5 Summary
 Ethics is a subjective topic, but it is nevertheless of great importance across all areas of
business. From the way in which sales and marketing is handled through to product
development and customer service, and even to some extent finance, ethics has a significant
role to play in ensuring business success and ultimately living up to the corporate social
responsibility.
 If your workplace lacks ethical standards, your employer risks losing valuable employees
and customers and possibly even more. Federal laws impose heavier penalties on employers
convicted of criminal wrongdoing if they cannot prove that they’ve made efforts to
implement ethical measures to prevent and deter illegal conduct. Some of the primary forms
of employee misconduct or unethical behavior include the following:
o Misrepresenting time or hours worked;
o Lying to supervisors;
o Lying to co-workers, customers, vendors, or the public;
o Misuse of your employer’s assets; and
o Lying on reports or falsifying records.
 Six pillars of character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Caring, Citizenship, Responsibility,
Fairness

3.7 Notes extracted from

1. Ethics at the workplace by Victorian Public Sector Commission
2. Business Ethics by Vardhaman Mahaveer Open University, Kota
3. Notes on Business Ethics by James W. Gray

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