Business and professional ethics

Every organization should have a set of moral principles, values and standards of conduct to guide its operations. These principles are referred to as business ethics and usually provide a benchmark of ensuring that the corporation operates in a fair, legal, and ethical manner to its stakeholders including investors, customers and employees. On the other hand, professional ethics go beyond business standards to include personal standards of behaviour that are guided by a person’s moral principles. Without professional ethics it is difficult to conform to business ethics. Today we deviate from the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Wages Regulations 2024 to touch on business and professional ethics.

Two components that are responsible for individuals’ and organizations’ conduct.

The absence of good business ethics results in damaging business reputation and poor public image. Investors are wary of companies that do not practice good business ethics, and bad reputation hinders strategic partnerships. Customers lose trust and confidence in organizations that do not practice good business ethics and leave as soon as a suitable alternative is available. Customers tell their friends and families of their experience and, often, friends and families are inclined to stop patronizing those businesses too.

Employees, especially qualified and experienced ones, do not remain with unethical employers, and many of those who remain because of a lack of options become disengaged.

Quite often organizations do not see employees as customers and brand ambassadors. However, especially in small communities, if every employee who leaves an organization stops patronizing that organization and influences at least one person to do the same, the company’s bottom-line will be negatively impacted. The basis of business ethics is professional ethics, and in cases where the law is silent, someone with high integrity will not seize the opportunity to take advantage of the weak in pursuit of wealth. Professional ethics keeps one intact in the midst of uncertainty.

The hallmark of professionalism is the ability to be ethically responsible because stakeholders, including investors, customers and employees depend on practitioners’ judgement. Every employer requires its employees to commit to certain ethical practices to ensure that the organization is not less off as a result of the employment relationship.

Furthermore, there are usually established consequences for unethical behaviours. It is important to note that employees are the first judges of an organization’s ethical standards and if what is expected of employees is not practiced by the employer, there are employees who will follow the example set by the employer.

Imagine you are in the following ethical dilemma: You are an accountant who is being pressured to falsely classify a large amount of fraudulent transaction in operating expenses as assets.

Failing to comply will likely result in termination, and complying means laying aside your professional ethics. Or imagine you are an office clerk, you currently have a dire financial need, and a colleague has offered to assist you out of your financial difficulties if you turn a blind eye to the colleague’s false reimbursement of claims. If you accept the financial help, you will be relieved of your financial stress, but it also means that you would have broken the law.

The Hong Kong Business Ethics Development Centre developed an ethical decision making tool to help business practitioners resolve ethical dilemmas at work. It has two parts. Part one includes six significant steps in the thinking process, and part two includes four key factors to consider in deciding what to do.

Here are the six significant steps to follow:

• “Establish the relevant facts and identify the ethical issues at stake.
• Take stock of all the stakeholders involved.
• Have an objective assessment of each stakeholder’s position.
• Identify viable alternatives and their effects on the stakeholders.
• Compare and evaluate each alternative with the Plus Standards
• Select the best course of action.”

Join us next week for the PLUS standards – Four key factors to consider.

“Ethical behaviour is doing the right thing when no one else is watching even when doing the wrong thing is legal.” Aldo Leopold https://hkbedc.icac.hk/edm/en/ethics_process

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