Organizationsal Ethics

An organization or business foundation without ethics is like a house built without any nails. No matter how solid it looks, it will slowly crumble. The culture of ethics is what connects people, although sometimes invisible, it makes the whole organization stronger. In today’s day and age, public trust has eroded, making ethics more important than ever. Trust is no longer something that is given freely by the public. Thinking about the bank and mortgage loan issues, all the botched recalls and profit-driven decisions and environmental tragedies, people often assume organizations don't care about them. The assumption is they are only in it for themselves and the money, or in some cases people call it corporate capitalism. After an organization has earned the public's trust, it’s the connection built that becomes their most valuable asset. Being in the office administrative field and working for a law firm we have many ethical issues we have to uphold to make sure that the business works properly. Ethical decision making fosters employee morale, boosts company reputation, and encourages loyalty in customer and employees. Later we will be talking about the relationships between legal and ethical issues. What roles external social pressures have in influencing organizational ethics and how these issues are relevant to organizations and personal decisions.

There are some big differences between legal and ethical issues in my line of work. Not only do I work in the administrative department but I also work for a law firm. The main difference between ethical and legal business practices is that the law doesn't fully address all ethical dilemmas that businesses face. Something might be legal, for example, but unethical. Legal practices refer to processes and policies to abide by the law, such as honesty and transparency. Ethical practices refer to efforts to meet stakeholder expectations for business activities. Essentially, legal business practices are enacted because of the inherent legal requirement that the company behave or act in certain ways. Companies often have staff or contracted lawyers to help ensure compliance with business and industry-related laws. Ethical practices offer a bit more choice, technically. A business doesn't necessarily have to recycle plastics and other materials unless local laws dictate it. However, many companies do practice environmental recycling and reuse for ethical purposes and to meet public and customer expectations. There is such a big between the ways both concepts are applied. A legal act can be considered applicable to all people in a society that implements a particular set of laws. On the other hand, any ethical part is considered as a voluntary and personal act of an individual all based on that individual’s perceptions or idea right and wrong.