Ethical Behavior and Corporate Social Responsibility

Ethical Behavior and Corporate Social Responsibility

Ethical behavior and corporate social responsibility go hand in hand. Business ethics is very similar to normal every day ethics in that it involves being fully aware of what we are doing, including the complications and consequences of our actions. Being aware of ethics in business requires us to be aware of two things. First, we have to have a need with complying with rules, such as laws, customs and expectations of the community, the principles of morality and the policies of the organization and such general concerns as the needs of others and fairness. Second, we should know how the products and services of the business are going to affect the employees, customers and society.

The days are gone when companies maximized its profits while ignoring the impact on the employee experience, the impacted customers and the environment. Corporate social responsibility encompasses not only what companies do with their profits, but also how they make them. It goes beyond philanthropy and compliance and addresses how companies manage their economic, social, and environmental impacts, as well as their relationships in all key spheres of influence: the workplace, the marketplace, the supply chain, the community, and the public policy realm.

Today’s companies consume so many resources like energy, paper and chemicals that ignoring effects of the consumption and waste is detrimental to their employees, consumers and society. Companies have the enormous impacts on society and the environment. By following a company’s code of ethics and thinking how their actions will impact the next generations, these impacts can be positive on employees, communities and the environment. The following quote is from the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy and also the mantra of a company I admire called Seventh Generation: “In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”