The Role of Ethics Essay

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The Role Of Ethics
Jauwanna Pitts
STR 581
April 8, 2013
Robert J. Mascarenas

The Role Of Ethics Ethics is defined as a moral philosophy or code of morals practiced by a person or group of people (Merriam-Webster, 2013). Ethical considerations for a company’s stakeholders must be accounted for when creating a strategic plan. The following paragraphs will focus on the role ethics plays in creating a strategic plan and how those ethical considerations affect the company’s stakeholders. In addition, an analysis of how my own ethical considerations have changed in the course of taking the MBA program will also be discussed.
Role of Ethics

Core values and expectations the company has for its employees should be outlined in a company’s strategic plan. The ethical standards set forth in the strategic plan should embody the beliefs its upper management and customers hold dear. This is done by developing a well thought out and written mission and vision statement. These statements will define where the company plans to go and how it plans on achieving those goals. A company’s strategic decision makers must ensure that the mission statement express how the company intends to contribute to the societies that sustain it. Central to the idea that companies should be operated in socially responsible ways is the belief that managers will behave in an ethical manner (Pearce, J., & Robinson, R. B. (2011). Managers must also recognize the rights of others who are or can be affected by decisions and beliefs of an organization. Groups that are outside of stakeholders and employees are customers, suppliers, governments, unions, competitors, and local communities. A well thought out written mission and vision statement should take a great deal of thought, planning and input before launching. These statements will define where the company plans to go and how it plans on achieving those goals. The statements keep ethical considerations at the center and can be utilized in goal-setting and strategic planning (Pearce, J., & Robinson, R. B. (2011).

Social Responsibility

Managers should consider four types of social responsibility; economic, legal, ethical and

discretionary. Economic responsibility requires managers to maximize profits whenever

possible. Corporations should also be committed to providing goods and services to society at a

reasonable cost. Organizations have a legal responsibility to make sure that the businesses and

their employees comply fully with the general civil and criminal laws that apply to all

individuals and institutions in the country.

Ethical responsibilities reflect the company’s notion of right and proper business behavior. Ethical responsibilities are obligations that transcend legal requirements. Firms are expected, but not required, to behave ethically. Discretionary responsibilities are those that are voluntarily assumed by a business organization. Companies that adopt the good citizenship approach actively support ongoing charities, public service advertising campaigns, or issues in the public interest. A commitment to full corporate responsibility requires strategic managers to attack social problems with the same zeal in which they attack business problems (Pearce, J., & Robinson, R. B. (2011).

My Ethical Perspective Evolution

The results of my ethics awareness inventory and ethical choices in the workplace assessments were very surprising. My scores for the ethics awareness showed that my thoughts are that of obligation. The core beliefs under obligation are commitment to duty , primacy of universal principles of right and wrong, reliability, dignity, personal fortitude, rational thought, respect for individual decision making ,equal respect for others and excellence in principles and duty (Pearce, J., & Robinson, R. B. (2011). I agree with most of the results but I thought my thought process fell under ethical more so equity. I scored low on equity. I have