Ethical implementation in values-driven management practices

¶ … Ethical Pay?

Creating an ethical foundation is crucial for success within a changing consumer environment (Driscoll & Hoffman 2000). As more and more consumers become concerned with organization's social and environmental responsibilities, organizations with clear unethical or deviant behaviors are seeing sharp declines in terms of consumer reputations. The modern market place is dictating higher standards for corporate responsibility and organizational ethics weaved within the framework of businesses. This is the reasons why Trudel & Cotte describe companies with greater ethical foundations as being more productive in terms of charging higher premiums. Essentially, consumers are willing to pay more for ethical products; "It seems that once companies hit a certain ethical threshold, consumers will reward them by paying higher process for their products" (Trudel & Cotte 2008). Consumers clearly notice the effort of creating an ethical foundation within production efforts (Lecture 1). Yet, the levels of ethical responsibility placed into that product only have to go beyond a certain level. The more ethics go in the production of a product does not dictate that its price should automatically rise as well.

So, it is clear that it many ways it is paying off for a company to choose more ethical practices. Consumers are willing to reward companies with accepting higher premiums. These trends should help push organizations that would have otherwise not included ethical practices in their production based on the potential of financial reward

"For corporations, social responsibility has become a big business" (Trudel & Cotte). This is seen as positive, for it will positively influence companies to act more ethically. Companies can improve their consumer reputation and reap the benefits of higher profits along the way.

Yet, this also places a new spin on the connotation of this generation being a "Decade of greed" (Lecture 1). Essentially, it is greed that is driving ethical activity. Trudel & Cotte (2008) showed that companies using 25% organic cotton were listed at similar price points by customers in comparison to companies using fully organic cotton. This is a clear indication that many organizations will use consumer trends to increase premiums without really increasing ethical actions by all that much. 25% of organic material costs a lot less than 100%, and yet the companies are still cashing in on the same profits associated with an ethical trend. This could be construed as taking advantage of consumer attitudes, without really taking a more ethical approach.