This paper examines the dual imperatives of sustainability and business ethics in modern corporations. It defines sustainability as the balance of economic growth, environmental stewardship, and social accountability—essential for preserving resources for future generations. The paper traces unsustainable practices from the Industrial Revolution through the Great Acceleration and discusses contemporary examples like green dyeing techniques. It then analyzes business ethics as a professional discipline rooted in moral principles, exploring key ethical challenges including sexual harassment, discrimination, and conflicts of interest. The paper argues that managers play critical roles in upholding both sustainability and ethical conduct, and that policy formation is essential for organizational success and stakeholder trust.
In our fast-paced world, it is important to consider environmental impact at all times. Sustainability is a combination of economic growth principles, environmental stewardship, and social accountability. The main principle behind sustainability is to endure, support, and supply earthly necessities without depleting resources in ways that prevent their replenishment and without crossing thresholds that are potentially harmful to the ecosystem and life itself.
A sustainable business, also referred to as green business, is an organization that brings about no negative effects regarding society, economy, or the local or global environment. Such a business practices environmentally friendly procedures that address current environmental concerns while maintaining business profitability. In other words, green business addresses the needs of the present without compromising future generations' abilities to address their own needs. Although corporate sustainability is not new, many companies do not practice it. However, companies like Adidas and Nike have led by example by recently developing a safe method of dyeing clothes and shoes using carbon dioxide rather than water.
This revolutionary technique is believed to save significant energy and large amounts of water each year. The previous process involved chemicals that contaminated water, leading to wastage and depletion of fresh water supplies. Such constant depletion would eventually lead to crossing the water supply threshold, resulting in scarcity. Companies taking these steps understand the need to preserve the environment for future generations. It is essential to understand the effects our individual and business activities have on the Earth.
Unsustainable business activities during the Great Acceleration and the Industrial Revolution have led to current environmental problems, such as global warming due to depletion of the ozone layer. This began during the Industrial Revolution when human labor was replaced with mechanization and rapid coal consumption to run machines. After World War Two, the Great Acceleration began as countries focused more on business and investment. The population tripled, while the world's resources were being depleted through unsustainable activities. This trend continues, and with the population still rising, resources to satisfy human needs will eventually become scarce or totally depleted.
Looking back in time, business activities such as agriculture did not negatively affect the environment. This does not imply that business is inherently bad, but rather that the business model concerned only with producing in bulk as quickly as possible is flawed. Businesses should focus on production methods that do not deplete our resources. We must recognize that business activities, personal activities, and the environment are intertwined—if one aspect is neglected or considered unsustainable, it affects all other factors in this web.
Consider global warming as an example: companies emit large volumes of carbon dioxide to develop products, thereby affecting general factors of sustainability by polluting water bodies and causing the death of plants and marine life. This reduces the Earth's ability to dispose of carbon dioxide, trapping it in the atmosphere and raising temperatures. Global warming further leads to melting glaciers and polar caps that release methane gas, further polluting the environment. From this example, we see that one consequence leads to another; ignoring one factor is equivalent to ignoring all factors.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, it is possible to maintain sustainability at certain levels. The use of this term began in 1987 after the World Commission on Environment and Development report, also known as the Brundtland Report. In 2009, environmental scientist Johan Rockström and his group stated that sustainability could only be achieved through safe operations involving land use, nitrogen cycle, phosphorus cycling, ozone depletion prevention, freshwater use, and ocean acidification management. This was based on scientific research performed at the Australian National University, which claimed that the Industrial Revolution is the root cause of all current environmental problems. It further states that at some point, human activity will pass a certain threshold called a planetary boundary, where abrupt and irreversible environmental changes will occur.
A business is considered sustainable if it meets the following criteria:
Although making profits is important, organizations must remain mindful of the environment and ensure that business activities do not reduce the survival chances of future generations.
Business ethics, also called corporate ethics, is a type of professional ethics concerning principles and problems that occur in business environments. It is based on moral principles that guide the behavior of businesses. Generally, acting ethically involves making the right choice between right and wrong. Our intuition regarding what is wrong and right forms the basis of ethical behavior. In the workplace, factors leading to the evolution of ethics include sexual harassment, conflicts of interest, and discrimination. In business, ethics are often measured by standards, business behavior, and professionalism. Ethics apply to individuals as well as entire organizations and can be classified as descriptive or normative. Normative ethics refers to corporate practice and career specialization, while descriptive ethics applies to academics trying to understand behavior in business (Cooney, 2009).
The issue of business ethics arose in the 1980s within corporations and learning institutions. Most corporations promote their non-economic values through social responsibility charters and ethical codes. Governments use regulations and laws to guide business behavior in the right direction, largely due to a lack of sensitivity between corporations and the community. Business ethics has intellectual roots in corporate social responsibility and business-society literature from the early and mid-20th century. The concept has come to mean identifying right or wrong actions in the workplace with regard to product and service effects on stakeholders.
According to Pekel and Wallace, the practice of business ethics is now more important than ever to all businesses, whether nonprofit or for-profit. These businesses are run by managers, who play key roles in upholding business ethics. They encounter daily decisions and must lead by example, ensuring that their actions are reasonable, fair, and honorable to all stakeholders. The main challenge facing ethical issues is diversity in personality and working style based on dimensions such as gender, race, ethnicity, education, religion, and socioeconomic status (Lockwood, 2005). Managers have the obligation to formulate company policies and procedures; therefore, their ethical behavior is essential to staff.
The aim of every business is to make profits, but the manner in which it conducts itself determines its ethical character. For this reason, organizations should spend adequate time and money developing guidelines that control and monitor employee ethical conduct. Employees must be aware of these guidelines and act in accordance with them.
The key factors that led to the evolution of ethics include sexual harassment, discrimination, and conflict of interest. Acts of sexual harassment include sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or verbal pestering that causes discomfort during work. More often than not, this ethical challenge affects highly ranked officials who target junior employees. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, organizations should have sexual harassment policies to ensure that all employers and employees are cautious regarding their actions and words. A notable example is the scandal involving Bill Clinton, which received global media attention (DeGeorge, 2010).
Discrimination is the act of treating someone as belonging to a lesser category than oneself. It often occurs when senior workers undermine the abilities of junior employees due to their age. The idea of reporting to or working for a younger person creates challenges, even if the younger individual has higher qualifications. Similarly, younger employees tend to assume that older employees are out of touch and do not understand trending issues such as technology. Organizations should establish policies that address this ethical issue, which causes significant losses in lawsuits and morale.
Conflict of interest occurs when one's judgment is compromised. This situation can arise when a client entertains you for the purpose of persuading you to change or alter a current decision. Such scenarios have led to organizational downfalls, such as Enron in 2001. Organizations must be mindful to avoid scenarios that lead to heavy losses. Policy formation against these ethical issues is the only proven working solution.
Managers of businesses play an indispensable role in upholding both sustainability and business ethics. They must understand that good business ethics lead to good relations with stakeholders and, ultimately, higher profits. The integration of ethical behavior into organizational culture requires deliberate leadership and consistent communication of values.
By establishing clear policies and procedures, managers set expectations for all employees. They must model ethical behavior themselves, as staff look to leadership for guidance on appropriate conduct. Training and awareness programs help ensure that all organizational members understand both the ethical standards and the reasons behind them. Additionally, regular review and enforcement of policies signal organizational commitment to ethics beyond mere written statements.
When managers take ethics seriously and hold themselves and others accountable, the entire organizational culture shifts toward greater responsibility. This not only protects the organization from legal and reputational harm but also attracts employees and customers who value principled business practices.
In conclusion, organizations should ensure that their businesses are sustainable and do not deny future generations the chance at life. In addition, they should observe business ethics in order to ensure good relations between business and its stakeholders. Managers of businesses play an indispensable role in this and should lead by example. After all, good business ethics lead to good relations and higher profits.
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