In recent years, managers of many top companies have been charged for unethical practices in business. WorldCom, Tyco, Enron, are some examples of such companies. Day by day businesses are adopting unethical means to increase their profits. They manipulate their accounts and financial statements with unimaginable figures. The scams today are not just mere internal scams of the organisation, but they are big and affect the complete economy of a nation.
Many times when these scams are discovered, the stocks reduce and even the shareholders lose their money that they had invested in the company. Any unethical business practice harms the business as well as the complete economy that was involved in the company. The employees lose their career opportunities and face a sudden unemployment which results in pressure on them and their families.
Proper conduct in business is of utmost importance for all business owners. The right and ethical path ensures success in the long term. But today everyone s wants everything to be quick and fast and therefore adopt the means that make them rich in a short span. For any long-term success of any business, the managers should set a milestone for their employees to work ethically. They should become an example for their employees by making fair deals, honesty and ethical working environment.
There should be a fair code of conduct that should govern every business. Ethical training in regular intervals is also very important. This ensures that the employees work in the right manner. The training of business ethics should be taken by professional that can be hired from outside by the company. The owners must be aware about the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which makes it mandatory for businesses to audit and report procedures of the organizations to stay compliant.
Small and large scale businesses have different set of rules to follow, but ethical behaviour remains the same for success of every business.