Business Ethics in action

When organization set their laws and regulations then they have to ensure that all employees of the different department should perform their operations ethically. Some key ethical issues are their that can degrade the performance of the firm. Some of these are compliance, decision making, fundamental and diversity issues (Chang, 2011). Decision making issues are related to the consumer rights and protection. It is the responsibility of the manager to make an ethical decision so that their level of satisfaction can be increased. Fundamental issues are related to the trust that should be build among all the people who are working in the enterprise.

The present report is based on Waitrose which is a retail industry who perform their operations in united Kingdom. Supermarket have to perform their operations on the basis of the ethical principles so that their overall performance can be improved. Below mentioned report is based on the business ethics which explains the stakeholder analysis and normative theories so that overall issues can be resolved.

STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

Stakeholders are the group of people, an individuals and the organization who have interest in the business activities. These people can affect the operations of the enterprise and along with this they also get affected due to the activities of the company. As per the view point of Swanson and Frederick, 2016, he said that there are some internal and external stakeholders.

Internal stakeholders are employees, managers, executives and so on. These people can affect the performance of the company. The manager has to change the objectives of the enterprise so their overall performance can be improved and they will be able to increase their profits. Along with this, these have to follow the principles and rules that are made by Waitrose so that their brand image get improved in the country than any other competitors (Giacalone and Promislo, 2013). These stakeholders are:

Employees: These are an important asset of the firm who help them in achieving their objectives and goals. When they performed their operations then they have to follow all the legislative laws and rules so that smooth functioning can be ensured in the market. The manager has to provide tasks in team so that trust can be build among all the people and through this the overall performance of the firm can be improved. Along with this, they should not give priority to an employee over other through this demotivation can be increased among other workers ((What Is Business Ethics?. 2017)).

Managers and leaders: These are the people who will direct their followers so that overall performance can be improved. They have to make an effective decision so that overall rights of the staff members can be ensured. Sometimes, the ethical issues can be occurred related to the decision making process of the higher authority (Choi and Pae, 2011).  Further, they can ask the views of their staff members and implement those so the overall performance can be improved.

There are some of the external stakeholders such as government, customers, suppliers, competitors and so on. These can influence the performance of the companies so objectives should be made as per the need of the people who are associated with the firm. These people are:

Customers: These are the external stakeholder of the company who can affect the activities of the business organization. Waitrose should identify the need and demand of their customers so their overall performance can be improved and they will be able to get the success in the market.

Competitors: There are many rivals of Waitrose such as Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Mark and Spenser. These all make the strategies and use the promotional activities in order to attract number of customers towards their services.

Suppliers: These are the one from whom the firm purchase their raw material so they have to maintain their relations with them in order to get the resources on time. Suppliers have to follow all ethical principles then only the retail industry will make purchase.

Government: They are the one who make some laws and regulations so that all business organization perform their operations in an efficient manner. For example, Tesco uses unethical practices in order to get the land and make the building for their new stores. They don't follow the laws and regulations that are made by the government.

NORMATIVE THEORIES

Normative theories are used by the supermarkets of UK so that they can resolve their all ethical issues. Through these, they will be able to know that how things can be done in right or an efficient manner so their overall performance can be improved. Giacalone and Promislo,  2013 says that normative is the study of the ethical actions which are performed by the organization. Along with this, it says that the firm have to perform their actions on the basis of the principles and code conduct so that their growth can be improved (What is normative ethics?. 2017). Some of these theories are:

Utilitarianism: This theory is based on the consequences of the actions that are performed by the Waitrose in their business environment. DesJardins and McCall, 2014, he said that actions are correct if their consequences are in the favour of the company. Along with this, all the operations that are performed by the firm should produce pleasure for those who are associated with those actions. For example, For example, Sainsbury is following employability practices in their working environment so that they will be able to provide a healthy and safe environment to the workers. Through this, a peaceful environment can be created where staff members will feel safe while doing their tasks. Some of the enterprise perform such practices that are not beneficial for them but in order to spread the happiness so that overall performance can be improved.

Egoism: This is related to the practices that are performed by the business organization for their self interest so that they can increase their profits in the market than any other market players. They are not taking care of the happiness and pleasures. It has been critically argued by Audi, 2012 that this theory is not applicable for all people because all humans are not selfish. Along with this, it is not a theory that can increase the morale of others. For example, Tesco which is a supermarket in UK they pay less to their suppliers in order to increase their profits.

Ethics of duty: It is the responsibility of all individuals to perform their duty in an efficient manner while following all the laws and regulations. All staff members have to perform their tasks on the basis of the ethical actions with the right intention so that overall performance can be improved. Along with this, it has been analysed that good outcomes can be achieved if all actions are doing from the right intention (Trong Tuan, 2012). For example, Mark and Spenser faces some of the issues related to their clothing brand and their prices so they will not be able to increase their market share. The theory ethics of duty is not clear as through the manager will not be able to know about the intentions of the people who are doing their work in firm.

Ethics of rights: This theory is related to the rights of an individual. Some of the rights may be related to the legal and some are natural. So, every organization should follow the laws such as consumer protection law, employment act and so on. Through their their level of satisfaction can be increased in an efficient manner (Singh, 2011). There are many supermarkets in UK who following these laws so they can increase their growth and their brand position at global level. Along with this, through these the firm will be able to sustain their competitive advantage in the market. It has been critically argued that through these laws the firm will not be able to spread the happiness and pleasure in the firm.  

Virtue ethics: This theory is based on the behaviour of the people rather than their actions. This is also based on the view that actions will be performed on the basis of the behaviour of an individual. Along with this, this theory is less emphasis on the laws and regulations. It has been criticized that an human should develop the traits in order to increase their efficiency and their performance in the enterprise. It is same as consequentialist theory that all the actions are based on their consequences (Stanaland, Lwin and Murphy, 2011).

According to the view of Crane and Matten, 2016, all business organisation have to perform ethical practices in their work environment so that overall performance can be improved. When some ethical dilemmas are occur then they can use some of the strategies in order to resolve all issues. Fassin, Van Rossem and Buelens, 2011 says that companies should perform their actions on the basis of the principles and morale so that competitive advantage can be achieved. Through the ethical practices, the supermarket of UK such as Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury can generate more revenues.

When any firm perform their operations in the business environment then their performance is get affected due to some internal and external factors (Bishop, 2013). Through these factors, the enterprise have to face some of the ethical dilemmas. In order to resolve all the issues, they can hire experts who can help them in improving their performance. For this, the expert can an appropriate approach which involve some of the steps. In first step, the expert will analyse the situation that why these issues are occur in the firm. After analysing the situation they have to gather the facts and figures so that proper solution can be generated. For this, they can generate alternative solutions and on the basis of that they can select a best solution. In the second step, the person have to identify the consequences of their actions so that happiness can be spread in the enterprise. In the last stage, the expert should make their actions on the basis of their consequences so that overall performance can be improved and Waitrose will be able to get success in the market.

CONCLUSION

From the above mentioned report it has been concluded that all the organizations should follow the ethics practices in order to get success in the market. These business ethics are based on the key principles and values so that they will be able to know how they have to perform their operations in the market. Along with this, there are some ethical issues such as fundamental, decision making, compliance and diversity. The manager have to focus on these problems so that their overall performance can be improved. Some of the organization such as Tesco, Morrisons can use normative theories in order to resolve the ethical dilemmas that are occurred in the enterprise. Some of these theories are utilitarianism, egoism, ethics of duty, ethics of right and virtue ethics. Utilitarianism theory is based on the consequences of the actions that should be favourable for the business organisation. Egoism is based on the self interest of the employee and virtue theory said that all actions are based on the behaviour of the people. Along with this, there are some internal and external factors that may affect the performance of the business organization. For this, Waitrose can hire an expert so that overall ethical dilemmas can be resolved and performance can be improved.    

REFERENCES

• Audi, R., 2012. Virtue ethics as a resource in business. Business Ethics Quarterly. 22(02). pp.273-291.
• Bishop, W.H., 2013. The role of ethics in 21st century organizations. Journal of Business Ethics. 118(3). pp.635-637.
• Chang, C.H., 2011. The influence of corporate environmental ethics on competitive advantage: the mediation role of green innovation. Journal of Business Ethics. 104(3). pp.361-370.
• Choi, T.H. and Pae, J., 2011. Business ethics and financial reporting quality: Evidence from Korea. Journal of Business Ethics. 103(3). pp.403-427.
• Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
• DesJardins, J.R. and McCall, J.J., 2014. Contemporary issues in business ethics. Cengage Learning.
• Fassin, Y., Van Rossem, A. and Buelens, M., 2011. Small-business owner-managers’ perceptions of business ethics and CSR-related concepts. Journal of Business ethics. 98(3). pp.425-453.

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