Ethical Behavior vs Unethical Behavior Essay

There really isn’t one way or another to be able to ensure ethical behavior in any business all the time. There are things that can be done to help encourage and increase the likely hood of a business acting ethically all the time. The two strongest influences for ethical behavior in the professional world are the regulations that are set by the government and committees like the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), and to have good ethical behavior being modeled from top management (lead by example). The federal laws for social responsibilities for business represent the minimum standards of social responsibility that businesses must adhere too. If a company is acting socially responsible then more than likely they are acting ethically. It is currently up to each business leader to decide how far beyond the minimum standards they go when performing in their business. There really isn’t room for unethical behavior in the professional world; there is no greater impact on stakeholders than a company/business performs unethically. We have already witnessed what can happen when businesses have employees who act unethically, i. . : Enron. The Enron situation actually brought on more regulations for companies to follow to promote/ensure ethical behavior. Companies obviously still aren’t always acting ethically but there certainly seems to be less unethical behavior in the professional world than before Enron. When people are aware of the consequences of what could happen to them if they act in a certain way they are less likely to do that action, unless the consequence is a positive one. With unethical behavior it is very unlikely to have a positive consequence unless they don’t get caught. Personally I think that having regulations for ethical behavior is a must, but it is not the only tool or resource we, as stakeholders, need businesses to use moral principles to guide their business down a moral and ethical path. However, without regulation there is no way businesses would act nearly as socially responsible as they do now, so it is definitely one of the best ways to ensure ethical behavior. It just needs to be combined with other tools such as a code of ethics, an employee handbook, ethics training, or other ethical programs that are designed specifically for the business using it. There are multiple reasons why someone might consider acting unethically when performing their duties; the most obvious and common reason is self interest/greed then short cuts or easy way out. Some individuals, regardless of their profession, will always look for some form of personal gain, even if it means conducting themselves in an unethical manner. With this being the case there will continue to be unethical behavior in the professional world where regulations may not be strict enough or not have the capacity to catch the unethical behavior. For instance in the case of Shell in Nigeria, Nigeria does not have nearly as strict rules/standards for oil companies as those set by the international laws. Shell is able to get away with more pollution, gas flares, and aiding the militant government in harming the communities. For the most part Shell is following the regulations of the country they are drilling in it makes this difficult to enforce ethical behavior from Shell in this type of instance. In other situations regulations can help keep a company acting ethically, for example thanks to Enron there are quite a few regulations on how a company can produce, and present their financial information. If a company doesn’t follow these standards set forth by the government there can be some serious consequences. With these regulations companies are less likely to submit false financial statements. As you can guess, one can lean either way on this; regulations are helpful at times and not at others. But more often than not regulations do help ensure ethical behavior in the professional world.