Ethics In Business Ethics

1423 Words6 Pages
Honesty, fairness, responsibility, respect, transparency; these are only a few of the words that come to mind when the subject is ethics. What exactly is ethics? Valdemar Setzer once said “Ethics is not definable, is not implementable, because it is not conscious; it involves not only our thinking, but also our feeling” (Valdemar V. Setzer). The Mariam-Webster dictionary defines ethics as, “rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad; an area of study that deals with ideas about what is good and bad behavior; a branch of philosophy dealing with what is morally right or wrong; a belief that something is very important” (Merriam-Webster). The subject of business ethics is said to be one the most complicated and controversial…show more content…
If that firm wants to be successful, they must follow rules not only for legality reasons, but also for morality reasons. ‘Ethics’ most often refers to a domain of inquiry, a discipline, in which matters of right and wrong, good and evil, virtue and vice, are systematically examined. ‘Morality’, by contrast, is most often used to refer not to a discipline but to patterns of thought and action that are actually operative in everyday life. In this sense, morality is what the discipline of ethics is about. And so business morality is what business ethics is about (Goodpaster, 1992). Business ethics relates to how an organization conducts its business in order for it to make a profit or to achieve other goals. Is it possible for a business to be ethical in practice, but not ethical in marketing? Business ethics and marketing ethics go hand in hand. In order for a business to be truly ethical, they must practice ethics in everything they do, and the way in which they market their business is no exception. One simply cannot exist without the other. Is Marketing Ethics an…show more content…
Norms are established standards of conduct that are expected and maintained by society and/or professional organizations. Values represent the collective conception of what communities find desirable, important and morally proper. Values also serve as the criteria for evaluating our own personal actions and the actions of others. As marketers, we recognize that we not only serve our organizations but also act as stewards of society in creating, facilitating and executing the transactions that are part of the greater economy. In this role, marketers are expected to embrace the highest professional ethical norms and the ethical values implied by our responsibility toward multiple stakeholders (AMA Publishing). There have been strides made in efforts to prevent or encourage the reporting of unethical behavior. Most firms and businesses know the importance of being ethical in their marketing, or at least, as ethical as possible. Advertisements for reputable companies almost never lie. They have to be able to prove what they say to their own corporate counsel, the ad agency's lawyers, and the network's approval committees and to any number of regulating bodies like the FDA and the
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