Socially responsible and ethical behavior in business

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOR IN BUSINESS Name Institution Affiliation Course Date of Submission Socially Responsible and Ethical Behavior in Business Ethics are those standards and principles of human conduct that govern the behavior of an individual or groups. Ethical behavior is anchored on a set of values and principles, indeed ethical behaviors is more than just mare belief, it encompasses actions of the individuals, groups or organizations. We can therefore say that ethics is about the standards, principles and norms of conduct that govern an individual or group. Social responsibility encompasses how organizations manage their business process so as to produce an overall positive impact in stakeholders or society for that matter. An organization that is socially conscious recognizes its responsibilities in several levels which include; ethical, legal, ethical and even philanthropic responsibilities. As such, ethical behavior is one aspect of a socially responsible company. An organization cannot be said to be socially responsible if it has more leaning towards its ethical and legal responsibilities and overlooking the other levels of social responsibilities. A company must go out of its way as opposed to behind confined to what the law expects and consider what is ethical. This is particularly true for those organizations whose activities are spread in many countries some of which may have varying legal responsibilities. It is very important for companies to operate under some ethical standards above and beyond what we can call bare minimum legal requirements (Doodson, 2013). Ethical behavior is an element of a socially responsible company; for how would a company be if it strives to be ethical, but not to be socially responsible. As the company strives towards implementing its ethical practices, thereby will it predictably make decisions that will be more socially responsible. This is especially true if this organization is bent towards ensuring that it provides ethical treatments of its shareholders beyond shareholders. If an organization considers the community just like it considers the employees in the process of decision making and considers them as stakeholders, then decisions that will be reached at will be decisions made in a way that diminishes the negative and enhances the positive outcomes of each stakeholder. Therefore the actions of the organization can thus become more and more socially responsible. Ethical behavior is then one fundamental facet of a socially responsible company. An organization which elects to be socially responsible then that organization will indeed be driven to make more socially responsible decisions; they will make decisions through an ethical lens. Social advocates and consumers contend that businesses should not be bent on maximizing their profits but should also be considerate of the social implications of their activities (Grow and Lee, 2011). Social responsibility is the obligation of the business to maximize its positive impacts yet minimizing its negative impacts in the society. The meaning of these two terms ethics and social responsibilities when they are used interchangeably is wrong because they really do not mean the same thing. Like stated, business ethics business ethics are those decisions that individual or work groups make which the society evaluates either right or wrong. Social responsibility on its part is the broader concept which concerns the impacts that the activities of the entire business have on the society. From the ethical perspective for instance, it would concern us when a healthcare practitioner or organization overcharges the provincial government for medical services. However, if we were to look at the social responsibility perspective of the same issue, what would concern us is the general impact of this overcharging, how it will affect the ability of the healthcare system to provide the services to the citizens. Many of the basic ethical and social responsibility concerns have formed the basis of some of the laws and regulations that that encourage organizations to conform to the standards, values and attitudes of the society. Managers are thus expected as a minimum to adhere to these laws and regulations. Many legal issues do arise as choices that the society consider unethical, irresponsible, or unaccept...