Ethical Issues
2.0 INTRODUCTION
We are exposed to ethical issues in our daily life. Ethics is like our ‘skin’, it is part of us. Everyday we deal with situations that require us to think and decide what to do. Should our decisions affect the people or environment around us or any innocent bystanders, then we ought to give a deep thought about ethical practices. No organizations can afford unethical behavior. Ethical standards and practices are a necessity for every organization in order to avoid cost and risks of improper conduct.
3.0 WHAT IS BUSINESS ETHICS?
Doug Wallace and Jon Pekel Twin cities based consultants, in the Fulcrum Group explains that, attention to business ethics is critical during times of fundamental change -- times much like those faced now by businesses, both nonprofit or for-profit. (extracted from http://www.managementhelp.org/ethics/ethxgde.htm on 20/8/08.
4.0 WHY ETHICS IS IMPORTANT?
Breach of ethics can result in a profound loss of customers, credibility, reputation and valued employees. The Enron story was perfect for the dotcom-driven stock market boom of the '90s. At its peak, Enron was worth about $70 billion, its shares trading for about $90 each. All that came crashing down after the company admitted that it had misstated its income and equity value. Arthur Andersen, the company that audited Enron's books, neglected to recognize the company's problems. At worst, investigators now say, the auditor was complicit in perpetrating one of the biggest frauds in corporate history. On Dec. 2, 2001, Enron declared bankruptcy. Thousands of people were thrown out of work, and thousands of investors including company's employees lost billions of dollars as Enron's shares shrank. Company officials willfully ignored internal warnings about the accounting irregularities even as they pocketed millions of dollars in stock-market gains (Enron Scandal extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron on 20th August,...
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