Business Ethics Reflection Essay I have always thought of business ethics in its true form, which is that moral characteristics in making decisions that affect humanity. However, this course has impacted my thought process on how ethics work in business. The continuously changing global environment is supposed to make businesses become more aware of ethics, and thus strive to make better decisions that affect humanity positively. However, the reverse is the case. Corporations only enter into business to make maximum profit. In the course of keeping strong their business aims and objectives, they renege on the ethics on which the business was founded, so as to make favourable gains in business. Due process and layoff are key issues that would forever play a key role in business ethics. Following due process is ethical in its sense, as the right way to achieve goals is meant to have some moral backing. However, the changing global environment doesn’t really help the situation. Employees are sometimes employed or dismissed without due process. It is morally wrong to set a standard when it comes to ethics related to business, and then circumvent the process just because you can. It doesn’t leave a good impression on corporations when they engage in such. Many business ethics suggest a period of notice before the termination of contracts between employees and corporations. Sometimes a soft landing is given in the absence of that notice, maybe a month’s wages forfeiture or payment on the part of the employee or employer. This is not the case in today’s business environment. Corporations are hell-bent on keeping production costs to the barest minimum while racking in maximum profits. To keep at this, a lot of hiring and firing is done in areas of production. These areas of production are situated in countries with cheap labour. Countries like China, Indonesia, and India become destination points for manufacturing stations. Due to the poor work conditions, poor remuneration, and lack of unionism, ethics are thrown to the wind. Since it’s a large corporation, there are little or nothing employees can do about it. Another issue that trends in the world of business ethics relates to brand image and advertising. Corporations engage in deliberate acts against business ethics, just to make a sale. Across large areas here in Nigeria, a lot of businesses advertise products with multiple functions. These brands engage in false claims as regards their products. The biggest culprits are the ones in the alternative medicine sector. They prepare substandard alternative medicines and go ahead to insinuate its effectiveness on several types of ailments. Most times, these ailments are not related to one another within the same curative circle. The sole aim of these brands is to make sales. They put aside business ethics and do not mind the effects of their actions. The agencies set up to regulate these brands end up not being accountable. This is so because they have left the ethics of being accountable to the people they are meant to act on their interests. The brands make ambiguous claims, conceal facts, and end up getting away with a lot of pain inflicted on the consumers. Prior to taking this course, I always thought corporations upheld these moral codes upon which they started the business. I know they set out to make a profit but I was confident government parastatals always put them in check so they are accountable. With this knowledge, I would be certain to make sure any brand I start out with would uphold its ethics. Brands that get caught end up folding up as there is no trust after a major scandal. I think it is better to be truthful about a product’s composition so consumers take care to know if there is a negative effect on them if they consume those products. People are now aware of their health capabilities; hence they should be able to make a decision on consuming a product on their terms, and not on the terms spelt on during the ad campaign. Organizations should become more transparent in their dealings so as to help uphold ethics in the world of business.
