Ethics Reflection Paper 1

Ethics Reflection Paper Strategic Planning and Implementation/STR 581

Ethics Reflection Paper Ethics and social responsibility are key elements when planning ones personal life or planning for the success of their business. When organizations develop strategic plans, they must

Ethics Reflection Paper 2 consider what role ethics will play and how social responsibility will affect the plan keeping stakeholders need in the front of the planners minds. If individuals and organizations are making a conscious effort to display ethical behavior, ethical perspectives and beliefs should develop over time much like what has happened in the masters of business administration (MBA) program. The meaning of "ethics" is hard to pin down, and the views most people have about ethics are different. Most people tend to associate ethics with their feelings, but being ethical is clearly not a matter of following one's feelings. A person following his or her feelings may withdraw from doing what is right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate from what is ethical. An organization's strategic planning decisions and capital budgeting have the potential to affect a group of people called stakeholders. A stakeholder is an individual or any group who call the affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives. When a code of ethics, which will specifically, addresses the capital, budgeting or strategic planning decisions will significantly raise the awareness of social responsibility during the long-run planning process. Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility in Strategic Planning Ethics are guidelines, which are used to help an organizations management, employees conduct themselves according to the standards, and values set forth by the organization. To ensure employees understand the rules and make good ethical decisions, a companys plan should embody the values and beliefs that the business and their employees view most important. These values and beliefs can be detailed in an organizations vision, mission, and philosophy statements, which provide an organization purpose, direction, and a clear understanding of an organizations behavioral expectations and decisions made by the stakeholders. When

Ethics Reflection Paper 3 maintaining to, the vision and mission statements can be the baseline for goal-setting and strategic planning while keeping ethics at the core of all decisions. The textbook stated, central to the belief that companies should be operated in a socially responsive way for the benefit of all stakeholders is the belief that managers will behave in an ethical manner. (Pearson and Robinson 2004) Even with a plan in place and ethical guidelines established, unethical behavior is always a possibility, which could occur at a management or subordinate level. Too many top-level management and executives have acted inappropriately and have violated company policies. In another words, it is most likely to describe as the commitment of corporate top-level management and executives to contribute to the society in order to maximize the benefit to all the related stakeholders. The stakeholders include the owners, investors, employees, customers, government, suppliers, competitors and the community. Business ethics can be both a standard and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily standard. The quantity and range of business ethical issues reflects the degree in which the business perceives to be, they are at odds with noneconomic social values. Historically, in the 1980s and 1990s the interests in business ethics changed dramatically, in both the major corporations and the academic. For example, most corporate websites will emphasis on their commitment to promoting non-economic social and ethical values under a many headings for example ethics codes, social responsibility charters. In many cases, corporations have redefined their main values in the light of business ethical considerations. Many ethical conflicts develop from conflicts between the differing interests of organization owners and their customers, workers, and surrounding community. Corporate top-

Ethics Reflection Paper 4 level management and executives must balance the ideal against the practical the need to produce a reasonable profit for the organization's shareholders with honesty in business practices, safety in the workplace, and larger environmental and social issues. Ethics can be viewed as the standards that individuals set in regard to their opinions of what is right or wrong. These perspectives will and can vary from person to person. Some view ethics as involving the concepts of identifying, differentiating, and defending their personal values of right and wrong. The components that produce ethical perspectives are character, obligation, results, and equity. By properly balancing these four components of a persons ethical perspective, they will benefit not only themselves but their organization as well. I have identified as having the obligation perspective when making ethical decisions. Base ethical perspectives on individual duty know the obligation perspective or obligation to do what is right. Ethical behavior is learning at a young age then what people should morally do would be a part of their conscience. To determine if people's actions are ethical or not one would looks behind his or her actions and not the result of the actions. Organization and people care about ethics in the society, therefore being socially responsible, ethical, and a good organization citizen, is important to meet and exceed the expectations of any organization's stakeholders. Today's organizations recognize the importance of developing and sustaining a reputation that is built on doing the right things and doing things right as viewed by their key stakeholders, the issues surrounding business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and stakeholder management. An organization exists in a society. In this respect, it has a definitive social responsibility in discharging its duties and conducting its operations. Ethics are certain rules and procedures that

Ethics Reflection Paper 5 outline as to what is good or bad behavior. An ethic-centric organization follows ethical tenets in conducting business and overseeing its day-to-day operations. Such an organization incorporates ethics in its strategic planning process. This also helps the organization in being socially responsive. Creation of shareholder wealth, this was once considered the ultimate corporate objective and yardstick of organizational value, is slowly becoming overshadowed by a broader conception of organizational success. I have gained a lot of insight and perspective through the dialogue papers and responses about ethics. When I first started this process of higher learning I believe that ethics was about feels, now I believe ethics is more about examining principles and moral of ethical problems that arise in a business environment. Working in groups, lets you get to know others and express your work ethics in a group and teamwork. When I took the Ethical Awareness Inventory Assessment, my ethical profile most closely aligned with Character and least closely aligned with Equity. According to my ethical perspective I tend to base my ethical perspective on what is to be, rather than what is good to do (The Williams Institute, 2008). I believe that ethics should focus on ways to help people achieve moral excellence (The Williams Institute, 2008) When asked to judge whether an individual actions are ethical, I look beyond the actions to examine the individuals character. (The Williams Institute, 2008). Uprightness and integrity are key factors in my assessment. (The Williams Institute, 2008) I look for evidence of virtue in people, including such traits as honor, justice, and benevolence, believing that a virtue is not just an abstract principle (The Williams Institute, 2008)

Ethics Reflection Paper 6 Ethics deals with moral principles and what society views as right and wrong. Ethics are established in the home and carried onto ones individuals daily life including their workplace. Ethics are very important within organizations. A number of top companies have failed because they lacked ethics; organizations with strong ethical values are more likely to succeed. Therefore, the role of ethics and social responsibility when developing a strategic plan, musat consider stakeholder needs.

Reference BusinessDictionary.com (2009) Ethics. Retrieved November 19, 2009 from: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/ethics.html

Ethics Reflection Paper 7 Pearce, J.A., & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. The Williams Institute . (2008). Ethical Awareness Inventory Assessment. Retrieved from The Williams Institute , STR581 website.