SCOPE OF BUSINESS ETHICS
Ethics in Compliance
Compliance is about obeying and adhering to rules and authority. The motivation for being
compliant could be to do the right thing out of the fear of being caught rather than a desire to be
abiding by the law. An ethical climate in an organization ensures that compliance with law is
fuelled by a desire to abide by the laws. Organizations that value high ethics comply with the laws
not only in letter but go beyond what is stipulated or expected of them.
Ethics in Finance
The ethical issues in finance that companies and employees are confronted with include:
• In accounting – window dressing, misleading financial analysis.
• Related party transactions not at arm’s length
• Insider trading, securities fraud leading to manipulation of the financial markets.
• Executive compensation.
• Bribery, kickbacks, over billing of expenses, facilitation payments.
• Fake reimbursements
Ethics in Human Resources
Human resource management (HRM) plays a decisive role in introducing and
implementing ethics. Ethics should be a pivotal issue for HR specialists. The ethics of human
resource management (HRM) covers those ethical issues arising around the employer-employee
relationship, such as the rights and duties owed between employer and employee.
The issues of ethics faced by HRM include:
• Discrimination issues i.e. discrimination on the bases of age, gender, race, religion,
disabilities, weight etc.
• Sexual harassment.
• Affirmative Action.
• Issues surrounding the representation of employees and the democratization of the
, workplace, tradeization.
• Issues affecting the privacy of the employee: workplace surveillance, drug testing.
• Issues affecting the privacy of the employer: whistle-blowing.
• Issues relating to the fairness of the employment contract and the balance of power
between employer and employee.
• Occupational safety and health
Ethics in Marketing
Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind
the operation and regulation of marketing. The ethical issues confronted in this area include:
• Pricing: price fixing, price discrimination, price skimming.
• Anti-competitive practices like manipulation of supply, exclusive dealing arrangements,
tying arrangements etc.
• Misleading advertisements
• Content of advertisements.
• Children and marketing.
• Black markets, grey markets.
Ethics of Production
This area of business ethics deals with the duties of a company to ensure that products and
production processes do not cause harm. Some of the more acute dilemmas in this area arise out of
the fact that there is usually a degree of danger in any product or production process and it is
difficult to define a degree of permissibility, or the degree of permissibility may depend on the
changing state of preventative technologies or changing social perceptions of acceptable risk.
• Defective, addictive and inherently dangerous products and
• Ethical relations between the company and the environment include pollution,
environmental ethics, and carbon emissions trading.
• Ethical problems arising out of new technologies for eg. Genetically modified food
Ethics in Compliance
Compliance is about obeying and adhering to rules and authority. The motivation for being
compliant could be to do the right thing out of the fear of being caught rather than a desire to be
abiding by the law. An ethical climate in an organization ensures that compliance with law is
fuelled by a desire to abide by the laws. Organizations that value high ethics comply with the laws
not only in letter but go beyond what is stipulated or expected of them.
Ethics in Finance
The ethical issues in finance that companies and employees are confronted with include:
• In accounting – window dressing, misleading financial analysis.
• Related party transactions not at arm’s length
• Insider trading, securities fraud leading to manipulation of the financial markets.
• Executive compensation.
• Bribery, kickbacks, over billing of expenses, facilitation payments.
• Fake reimbursements
Ethics in Human Resources
Human resource management (HRM) plays a decisive role in introducing and
implementing ethics. Ethics should be a pivotal issue for HR specialists. The ethics of human
resource management (HRM) covers those ethical issues arising around the employer-employee
relationship, such as the rights and duties owed between employer and employee.
The issues of ethics faced by HRM include:
• Discrimination issues i.e. discrimination on the bases of age, gender, race, religion,
disabilities, weight etc.
• Sexual harassment.
• Affirmative Action.
• Issues surrounding the representation of employees and the democratization of the
, workplace, tradeization.
• Issues affecting the privacy of the employee: workplace surveillance, drug testing.
• Issues affecting the privacy of the employer: whistle-blowing.
• Issues relating to the fairness of the employment contract and the balance of power
between employer and employee.
• Occupational safety and health
Ethics in Marketing
Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind
the operation and regulation of marketing. The ethical issues confronted in this area include:
• Pricing: price fixing, price discrimination, price skimming.
• Anti-competitive practices like manipulation of supply, exclusive dealing arrangements,
tying arrangements etc.
• Misleading advertisements
• Content of advertisements.
• Children and marketing.
• Black markets, grey markets.
Ethics of Production
This area of business ethics deals with the duties of a company to ensure that products and
production processes do not cause harm. Some of the more acute dilemmas in this area arise out of
the fact that there is usually a degree of danger in any product or production process and it is
difficult to define a degree of permissibility, or the degree of permissibility may depend on the
changing state of preventative technologies or changing social perceptions of acceptable risk.
• Defective, addictive and inherently dangerous products and
• Ethical relations between the company and the environment include pollution,
environmental ethics, and carbon emissions trading.
• Ethical problems arising out of new technologies for eg. Genetically modified food
