Ethics Paper

Ethics Paper

Any business that expects to not only turn a profit but have longevity in the market has to operate ethically. A publically traded company has more than the bottom line of earning money, but a responsibility to be a good steward of those profits for their employees, stakeholders and clients. Along with ethics is the social aspect of business which go hand and hand if a business doesn't act ethically responsible then the social ramifications will be poor as well.

When a company forms it is a foundation built from an idea a person has and transforms into a business and if that idea blossoms then the business grows. When a business reaches a stage of soliciting stakeholders a strategic plan needs to be in place, part of that plan is developing a model for the business to operate under. Part of running a business is having a plan that will incorporate what the company's mission, vision and code of conduct as well as ethics is. That code of ethics and conduct is what the company expects from their employees and what a company will do if those policies are violated (McNamara).

A code of ethics is a guideline of expectations and the values the company holds important. When a company has employees that question if something is wrong or not then the code of ethics can be a useful guide but doubles as an orientation tool to show employees what the repercussions are of violating those rules. In today's failing economy it is obvious to see the repercussions of unethical behavior and how not just the company, the employees and the stakeholders are affected but how that failing of a major business ripples into the general population. There is no greater example of unethical behavior than the lesson that can be garnered from the company Enron.

Exactly what was the problem with Enron and where did it all go astray with the greed that over took the Chief Operating Officer and continued on down the corporate ladder. Enron was a company that operated electricity, energy, commodities, pulp, and paper products and while the company was based in Houston Texas. In an article written by Manuel Velasquez an ethics professor for the Santa Clara University, comments that many things went wrong and much of it has to do with the system we have in place by our own federal government. Those regulations include a company having a set of ethic but being able to manipulate the system if need be or bend the rules as it were. Also Enron had high ranking management that had businesses outside of Enron and used those business' to meet Enron's vendor needs which is ethically wrong because