Reflection on Business Ethics
Business ethics entails the study of the business practices and policies, which all the participants should adhere to ensure healthy business operations (Salehi, Saeidinia, & Aghaei, 2012). Business people should act ethically by distinguishing between what is right and what is wrong. Business ethics form the large part of the societal ethics. Therefore it is crucial for the individuals both at a personal and organizational level to embrace the concept of the business ethics to develop a morally upright society. However, different organizations have their business principles that sets out the standards and core values to be followed and thus all the business ethics are not the same. It is fundamental to note that each one ranging from individual consumer to Chief Executive Officer is affected by business ethics in one way or the other in the course of his her life. Therefore, it is crucial for the individuals to have the strong personal moral background to adhere to the organizational ethics effectively. For comprehensive and extensive reflection of the business ethics, this paper seeks to address ethical principles, organizational and personal issues in the self-assessment of the Baldrige quality training course. It is an argumentative and reflective paper. 
The Concept of Business Ethics in Learning
Reflection on business ethics is vital because ethics are integral part of any organization (Loumbeva, 2008). Students and managers unfamiliar with business ethical regulations and behaviors may find themselves unsuitable to operate successfully in business industries such as retailing, marketing, human resource management, accounting or finance. It is mandatory for the today’s managers to conform to ethical issues as engaging in unethical behavior will tarnish the business reputation and create legal risks as well as discourage the employees and customers (Salehi, Saeidinia, & Aghaei, 2012). Business ethics are primary aspects of business education. Therefore, a student who is familiar with business ethics concepts will find it easy to deal with business ethical dilemmas both locally and internationally.
Ethical Principles
Organizational ethical principles strengthen and reaffirm business requirements and the behavior expected from each stakeholder. In the event of meeting economic goals, businesses also have the responsibility of following the organization ethical business principles. The observance of the ethical principles is crucial whether in the small company or the international corporation. The scholars argue that among all the principles integrity prevails as the primary ethical principle. Individuals with integrity tend to have other values such as compassion, personal responsibility, respect, honesty, and dependability. Similarly, from personal experience I have learned that all other principles revolve around the concept of integrity. Integrity refers the act of consistency, reliability, and wholeness. Business persons who possess the principle of integrity treat others with honesty and respect. Additionally, they are faithful to their commitments and work towards meeting their commitments.
Ethics Organizational Issues
Ethics at organization level portray the organizational culture (Salehi, Saeidinia, & Aghaei, 2012). It is vital for the top management to observe the ethics at the organizational level so as to get each stakeholder on board in realizing the company desired goals. Ethical practices ensure that the interests of all the stakeholders more so the shareholders are protected. The collapse of the giant corporations such as Enron of the USA and Parmalat of Italy was due unethical practices by the board which facilitated other companies to adopt ethical training as the primary part of their business. Ethical issues at organization vary from one business to another. However, there are ethical issues which are common and have to be embraced by the all the organizations. This paper discusses some of these issues briefly.
Transparency: Accounting scandals and the collapse of businesses have created an urge for the organizations to operate in transparency and openness. For big corporations especially public limited companies, transparency include honest, correct and complete reporting of the financial information to all stakeholders. On the other side, the small organizations are supposed to avail all the information that will enable the stakeholders to determine the objectives of the business.
Employee Working Conditions: employees are the critical resources for any organization. Therefore, the employers should provide a friendly working environment to facilitate optimum delivery by the employees. In addition to favorable working environment, the employers should also ensure that the employees are compensated adequately for all the hours worked.
Employee Behavior: Ethical problems arising from this aspect are founded at promotion. Frequently, supervisors recommend for the employee promotion basing on their behavior while in the workplace. It will be legally ethical for the employees to portray work behavior at the organizational level to receive a justified promotion.
Personal and Organizational Learning
Personal learning of ethics is self-driven, and it can hardly be influenced by external forces such as training or teaching. On the other hand, organizational learning entails analyzing the stakeholders and environment views on the ethical issues of the organization (Loumbeva, 2008). Additionally, it looks on how the business ethics suits the organization on its process of meeting the corporate social responsibility. This evaluation is followed by adopting necessary methods such as peer assists, focus groups, and stakeholder engagement to facilitate the learning of business ethics by all parties. Conclusion
Ethical business behavior is essential in determining the success of the business. They form the foundation of judging the business whether it is good or bad. For business ethics to be embraced by the all stakeholders the base value actions of the leadership fully is needed from the top management. The managers and the board altogether should act with openness and continuously apply efforts to ensure the improvement in the compliance to organization business ethics. To achieve this managers should possess strong personal ethics to help in decisions and designing policies for the organization.
References
Loumbeva, N. (2008). Business Ethics as an Enabler of Corporate Social Responsibility: An Organisational Learning and Knowledge Management Approach to Participatory Business Ethics. Geneva: University of Geneva.
Salehi, M., Saeidinia, M., & Aghaei, M. (2012). Business Ethics. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 2(1), 1-5.