Ethics Awareness Inventory Ethical Choices Workplace Assessments

¶ … Ethics Awareness Inventory Ethical Choices Workplace assessments assess values. Write a paper 700 words

Ethics and social responsibility play a key role in the development of a strategic plan for organizations within today's contemporary global economy. In fact, these two considerations also greatly relate to addressing the needs of stakeholders for organizations. The primary way in which social responsibility and ethics directly impact the cultivation of a strategic plan for enterprises today is in helping to determine the methods by which they go about achieving their objectives. The specific business objectives of an organization will relate to its industry. However, the way that an organization attempts to fulfill those objectives is largely determined by the code of ethics it embraces. Additionally, more and more organizations are realizing that they have a responsibility to society at large to not only attain their own ends, but also to protect the interests of society in doing so.

From a purely ethical perspective then, organizations must make sure that they compartmentalize and respect the rights of both individuals (mostly in the form of employees) and collectives (largely in the form of respective departments and of the organization as a whole) while denoting how they pursue and allocate resources. Fundamental ethical concerns related to both of these issues involve making sure that neither one is effectively exploited. This issue is particular salient when applied to individual laborers. As such, when denoting specific job functions and tasks, it is necessary to do so in a way in which enterprises are not only able to compartmentalize and align responsibilities in a manner that is advantageous towards its objectives, but also to the specific individuals who are employed to carry out those responsibilities. Ideally, organizations should seek to create a synthesized approach to reaching their strategic goals in which doing so benefits both themselves as well as the individuals who are actively working to fulfill such goals. In such a way, they treat "customers, associates, communities and vendors" like partners.

One of the ways that my ethical perspective has evolved throughout this program is by expanding my conception of ethics. Going into the program, I thought that ethics was important for organizations at both the individual and collective level. I had not given a great deal of previous thought to the social responsibilities that organizations have. However, with the daily realization of the proverbial global village that today's international marketplace has become, I see that it is more valuable than ever for the enterprise to consider the effects of its operations and business processes on the surrounding environment. Specifically, it is essential to do so from a long-term sustainable perspective which not only protects, but ultimately benefits the world, the ecosystem, and the various inhabitants of both. Sustainability and the concept of 'going green' is a lot more than a marketing ploy to get customers to prefer a particular brand or product. It is actually a way of life that ethical companies need to embrace in order to conduct business in the future while "maintaining distinctions between economic efficiency and equity" (Pezzey and Toman, 2002, p. ii). I did not realize how great an effect multinational companies had on the surrounding world. However, there are a number of eminent ethical concerns related to the way that they operate -- which employee base they select, how well they treat those employees and the resources that fuel their company regardless of their location -- that myself and others in the contemporary global marketplace must consider and account for in an effort to be ethically responsible.