Ethics

Ethics
Even though many executives in corporate America believe a corporation conducts business to maximize stockholder profits regardless of the social or ethical implications, ethics plays an important role in developing a business’s strategic plan relating to business behavior in addition to social responsibilities and stakeholder needs. A balanced approach to stakeholder needs and a business’s support of social responsibility requires an ethical approach to developing a strategic plan while providing the framework for business and employee behavior. Executives must incorporate an ethical code of conduct within the strategic plan to deter the temptation for employees to act in a manner contrary to the industry standard.   I will describe the function of moral principles and community accountability in developing a strategic plan while considering stakeholder needs. Enron exemplifies a company violating ethical boundaries to ensure the company meets or exceeds stakeholder’s agenda’s.   I will identify the steps necessary to prevent executives from companies such as Enron from violating ethical boundaries.
The extent that a business has a social responsibility or obligation to the community or society in general will always receive scrutiny from those that believe a business has a social responsibility and those that believe that a business’s only concern should equate to profits. For example Milton Friedman does not believe a business has any social responsibility or obligation. “A business person who acts “responsibly” by cutting the price of the firm’s product to prevent inflation, or by making expenditures to reduce pollution, or by hiring the hard-core unemployed, according to Friedman, is spending the shareholder’s money for a general social interest” (Wheelen & Hunger, 2010, p. 72). On the other side of the argument, Archie Carroll, Archie believes business executives have a social responsibility. In fact, Archie Carroll believes organizations have four...