Ethical objectives

Ethical objectives
See also
Shareholder theory Corporate social responsibility Strategic issues Corporate objective Quality management principles Strategic human resource management Importance of business ethics Management by values Forced distribution method

Ethical objectives - a concept of acceptable behaviors and a set of organization's goals that comply with fair business practices, ethical guidelines and established moral principles. Thee rules identify what is considered ‘wrong’ and ‘right’ in the company, but are not necessarily lawfully required. These set objectives that underpin business behavior within and outside of the company must be attached to the context of the times and the society in which the business operates. Ethical objectives should be considered as both, internal and external goals.

Benefits of setting ethical objectives

There are a few main advantages of implementing ethical objectives to the company's set of principles. From the company perspective it:

• helps to build employees, investors and customers loyalty
• creates a positive company image
• increases employees motivation
• helps to attract potential candidates for employees
• reduces social pressure
• helps to avoid or reduce legal prosecutions (consumer rights, labor law)

Corporate social responsibility and responsiveness

Corporate social responsiveness (CSR$_{2}$) refers to how businesses and their representatives actively interact with and manage the environment in which they operate, or simply how they respond to social issues. In contrast, corporate social responsibility (CSR) represents the direct efforts made by a business to improve aspects of society by the firm as compared with the responsibilities that every company have with respect to their employees, customers, investors and suppliers. The term accentuates the ethical obligations that the company has to society and aims to contribute to the societal goals of a philanthropic, activist, or charitable nature or by take part in or support volunteering and other ethically-oriented practices .

References

• Agle B. R.(eds.), (2014), Research Companion to Ethical Behavior in Organizations: Constructs and Measures Edward Elgar Publishing
• Davies P.W.F., (1997), Current Issues in Business Ethics, Routledge, New York
• Halbert T., Ingulli E. (2014), Law and Ethics in the Business Environment, Cengage learning, Mason, Ohio
• Shaw L., (2012), SAGE Brief Guide to Business Ethics, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California
• Sims R. R., (2003), Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Giants Fall, Greenwood Publishing Group
• Swanson L., (2012), SAGE Brief Guide to Corporate Social Responsibility, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California

Author: Anna Strzelecka