SOURCES OF BUSINESS ETHICS

SOURCES OF BUSINESS ETHICS

 

In every society there are three sources of business ethics-

Religion, Culture and Law.

 

Religion: Religion is considered the oldest source of ethical inspiration. These are considered the ethical base of majority of people in the world. It is believed that nearly one lakh religious groups are existing across the whole world, with their own cultural and ethical practices and values.

Every religion gives an expression of what is wrong and right in all walks of life including business. However, all of them are in agreement on certain fundamental principles of ethics. The Principle of reciprocity towards one’s fellow beings is found in all the religions. Religions preach the necessity for an orderly social system and emphasize upon social responsibility with an objective to contribute to the general welfare.

 

Culture: Culture is the set of important understandings that members of a community share in common. It consists of basic set of values, ideas, perceptions, preferences, concept of morality, code of conduct etc. which creates distinctiveness among human groups.

Culture differs from society to society. Moreover, culture is passed from generation to generation. Most of the cultural practices found in the world, advise the generations to be committed towards certain values, over and above one’s individual self-interest. Every business should frame their ethics, based on the culture of the country, in which the business situates.

Culture encourages the members of the organizations to give priority to organizational goals over and above their personal interests. Culture also serves as a, ‘sense-making and control’ mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes and behaviour of people.

 

Law: The legal system of any country, guide the human behaviour in the country. Law can be considered as legalised ethics. The society expects the business to abide by the law. Whenever there is an attempt from the part of business to violate law, it becomes not only against Law but against ethics also. Tax evasion, hoarding, adulteration, poor quality of products, high pricing of products, environment pollution etc. are against the law as well as against the ethics.