Ten
Principles of professional or business ethics by Dr E. Humbert
- There is no real difference
between doing what is right in business, and playing fair, telling the
truth and being ethical in your personal life.
- Business ethics is based on
fairness. If both sides negotiate in good faith and carry on the
transaction in “level playing field,” then, the basic principles
of ethics are being met.
- Business ethics requires
integrity, which means wholeness, reliability and consistency. Ethical
business practices treat people with respect, honesty and integrity.
They make one keep up commitments.
- Business ethics
requires adherence to truth. The days when a businessman could sell a
defective product and hide the “buyer aware” defense are long
gone. Truth in advertising is not only the law; business ethics
require it.
- Business ethics
requires dependability. If your company is new, unstable, about to be
sold, or going out of business, ethics requires that you let client
and customers know this. Ethically run businesses can be relied upon
to be available to solve problems, answer questions and provides
support.
- Business ethics
requires a business plan. A company’s ethics are built on its image
of itself and its role in the vision of the future and its role in the
community.
- Business ethics
applies internally and externally. Ethical businesses treat both
customers and employees with respect and fairness. Ethics about is
respect in the conference room, negotiating in good faith, keeping
promises and meeting obligations to staff, employers, vendors and
customers. The scope is universal.
- Business ethics
requires a profit. Ethical businesses are well run, well managed, have
effective internal controls and clear expectations of growth. Ethics
is about how we live in the present to prepare for the future (or a
plan to create them) is not meeting its ethical obligations to prepare
for the future well being of company, its employees and customers.
- Business ethics
is values-based. The law, and professional organizations, must produce
written standards that are inflexible and universal. While they may
talk about “ethics,” these documents are usually prescriptive and
refer to minimal standards.
- Business ethics
come from the boss. The leadership sets the tone. In every area of a
business. Lower level staffs always rise, or sink, to the level of
performance they see modeled above them.
Ethics,
ultimately, is about the quality of our lives, our service, and about the
bottom line. Treating employees, customers, vendors and the public in an
ethical, fair and open way is not only the right thing; in the long run,
it is only way to stay in business.
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