During the Annual Enterprise Board Meeting, few small and medium scale businessmen asked me “What Business Ethics should we follow?” This question caught me off guard and after replying to it, the look I received from them was Priceless!
To answer their question I took a pause as I wanted to give them very practical answer and I started as –
Business ethics are the one which keeps you out of federal prison. People have started giving time for themselves to define their personal morals hence the theory of Business Ethics has evolved under intense scrutiny. One of the best examples I can give you in support to this would be the Enron scandal in 2001, which was indulged in irregular business practices. Many reputed and high profile businessmen were continuously in the news when they were accused for their greed, corruption and deceit. Since then, many business communities for small and large businesses began to focus on ethical behavior and encouraged their employees to follow the same.
Although, the government to some extent can regulate your ethical behavior by passing numerous laws and make you take unethical actions, but act professionally towards them as there could be a way out if you take an action sensibly.
No doubt, profit should always be the foremost focus of any corporation in order to stay in business, but you should not be following anything unethical to earn profit that is beyond the threshold. If you want to build up strong ethics and values then you should develop a positive image and concentrate on your reputation and integrity. If you follow them on day-to-day basis in your business and your daily life, you will be filled up with positive energy with positive returns. Here is the list of key ethical principles that you should consider -
Openness: By giving disclosures of policies, practices and relevant accounting, you can appeal your existing and new clients.
Impartiality: By maintaining your relationships, avoiding conflicts and being neutral, you can reach a fair solution for each and every problem.
Trustworthiness: Develop trust amongst your clients and employees as everybody would like to work with the people whom they trust.
Compliance: Follow the accepted rules and regulation adhering to the environmental policies and your business confidentiality requirements.
Respectfulness: If you treat others with respect, you and your business will get back the same respect upbeat.
Why don’t most of the small businesses survive? After much research and discussions, I found the answer. Most of them still follow the same old-fashioned leadership techniques – the ‘leadership-myths’.