Explain the need/benefits of ethics

Need / Benefits of Ethics :

Ans.    In today’s competitive business world, every businessman expects that his organization need to be abide by ethics or rule of law, engage themselves in fair practices of competition; all of which will benefit the consumers, the organization and finally to the society

Primarily it is the individual, the consumer, the employee or the human, social unit, the society who benefits from ethics. Following are the benefits of ethical practices :

i)       Satisfying Basic Human needs : Being honest, fair, and ethical is one of the basic human needs. Every employee desires to be such himself of work for an organization that is fair and ethical in its practices.

ii)      Creating credibility : An organization that is believed to be driven by moral values is respected in the society even by those who may have no information about the working and the businesses or an organisation. Infosys, for example is perceived as an organisation for good corporate governance and social responsibility initiatives. This perception is held far and wide even by those who do not even know what business the organisation is into.

iii)     Uniting people and Leadership : An organisation driven by values is respected by its employees too. They are the common thread that bring the employees and the decision makers on a common platform. This goes along way in aligning behaviours within the organisation towards achievement of one common goal or mission.

iv)     Improving Decision Making : A man’s destiny is the sum total of all the decisions that he / she takes in course of his life. The same hold true for organisations. Decisions are driven by values. For example, an organisation that does not values competition will fierce in its operations aiming to wipe out its competitors and establish a monopoly in the market.

v)      Long Term Gains : Organisation guided by ethics and values are profitable in the long run. Though in the short run they may seem to loose money. Tata group, one of the largest business conglomerates in India was seen on the verge of decline at the beginning of 1990’s, which soon turned out to be otherwise. The same Co.’s TATA NANO car was predicted as a failure, and failed to do well but the same is picking up fast now.

vi)     Securing the Society : Often ethics succeeds law in safeguarding the society. The law machinery is often found acting as a mute spectator, unable to save the society and the environment. Technology, for example is growing at such fast pace that by the time law comes up with a regulation, we have a newer technology with new threats replacing the order Lawyers and public interest litigations may not help a great deal but ethics can.