Because ethical principles such as honesty and integrity serve the ends of _______, we value them.

A set of universal standards or a personal ethic code can serve as the guide for judging between right and wrong in your daily life. Business ethics are similar in principle to standard ethics, but have much broader consequences. From the worker on the sales floor to the business executive in the corner office, decisions made on the job are typically judged by a much larger number of people than personal decisions. Thus, the fate of an employee, and perhaps the organization's fate, may rise or fall according to the perceived integrity of decisions made in the workplace.1

For example, by engaging in unfair or questionable business practices purely for the sake of profit, an overly ambitious business executive with little regard for business ethics is courting disaster. Although the bottom line may improve in the short-term, the long-term fallout from organizational and possibly public disapproval may prove fatal to the executive's reputation and the organization's sustainable success. As American investor and business magnate Warren Buffet advises, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”2

Ambition, competitiveness and market-savvy are important characteristics for success, but must be guided by a strong inner core of ethical principles.1 To achieve lasting, sustainable success, organizations need all of their personnel to make ethically sound decisions regarding job performance and personal behavior. This is especially difficult when the stakes are high and no one else is watching.3

To help establish company expectations, an executive with an inherent appreciation for ethical values can help promote a benevolent environment in which ethical behavior is encouraged and nurtured. In fact, business leaders committed to personal and organizational excellence are often called upon to define a company-specific set of ethical business practices to help employees understand the principles by which they will be judged. Once developed and implemented, this set of principles offers a path to lasting, sustainable success.4,5

Below, the 12 ethical principles in business are presented to help provide strong guidance for ethical business practices.4 Included with these principles are details that focus on the ways in which each principle can be demonstrated by both businesses as a whole and by individual employees.

All personnel must be committed to telling the truth in all forms of communication and in all actions. This includes never purposely telling partial truths, selectively omitting information, making misrepresentations or overstatements. Honesty also means reliably sharing both good and bad news with equal candor.

All dealings and relationships must be founded on a conscious commitment to fairness, treating others as you would like to be treated. Fairness requires treating all individuals equally and courteously, never exercising power arbitrarily and never exploiting weaknesses or mistakes for personal or corporate benefit.

Demonstrated by a conscious effort to set a positive example of ethical behavior, leadership is a commitment to excellence through ethical decision-making. Businesses and business executives maintain their leads by constantly improving operational efficiency, worker satisfaction and customer approval.

Organizations and personnel demonstrate integrity through a consistency between actions and words that inspires trust and credibility. Integrity also means keeping promises, honoring commitments, meeting deadlines and refusing to participate in unscrupulous activities or business dealings.

Fostering a business environment of empathy and compassion requires a commitment to being kind and caring toward all personnel, business partners and customers. Business goals must be benevolent, ensured by spending enough time to understand the needs and sensitivities of others, including the local community.

Respect is demonstrated by a full commitment to the human rights, dignity, autonomy, interests and privacy of all personnel. It means recognizing that everyone deserves equal respect and support for sharing ideas and opinions, without fear of any penalty or form of discrimination.

Employees exhibit responsibility by taking full ownership of their jobs, striving to be conscious of the emotional, financial and business consequences of their actions. Taking their responsibilities seriously also demonstrates employee maturity and ability to do a job without needing strict supervision.

Loyalty is proven by never disclosing information learned in confidence and by remaining faithful to coworkers, clients, business partners and suppliers. Loyal employees avoid conflicts of interest, help build and protect the good reputation of their company and help boost the morale of their coworkers.

Organizations must fully comply with all applicable laws and codes from local, state and federal agencies. Law-abiding businesses and personnel also adhere to industry and trade regulations, marketplace standards and any additional mandatory organizational policies, practices and procedures.

Accountability requires a total commitment to the ethical quality of all decisions, actions and relationships. High expectations for ethical behavior drive business practices when an organization and its personnel are held accountable to fellow employees, consumers, the local community and the wider public in general.

Committing to transparency requires making business information and policies available to appropriate groups, such as financial investors, personnel and consumers. It includes, for example, sharing criteria for price hikes, wages, hiring, granting promotions, addressing workplace infringements and firing employees.

Organizations and personnel demonstrate a commitment to the environment by helping mitigate the effects of global climate change. Beneficial actions include reducing the negative environmental impact of doing business by improving energy efficiency to help lower carbon emissions, reducing water usage and reducing waste.

Organizations are more focused than ever on recruiting and retaining personnel committed to moral integrity and ethical business practices.3

If you are interested in becoming a confident leader with a strong inner core of ethical principles, ready to face any business challenge, consider an affordable online MBA from the Marquette University Graduate School of Management.

With no on-campus or in-person requirements, the 100% online MBA from Marquette University offers you the leading-edge skill set needed to develop and implement ethical business principles that can immediately guide you and your organization to lasting success.

1. Retrieved on 17 March 2021, from standardizations.org/bulletin/?p=133
2. Retrieved on 18 March 2021, from inc.com/marcel-schwantes/warren-buffett-explains-how-1-mistake-could-ruin-your-reputation.html
3. Retrieved on 18 March 2021, from recruiter.com/i/how-to-recruit-and-retain-ethical-employees/
4. Retrieved on 17 March 2021, from indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/ethical-principles-in-business
5. Retrieved on 17 March 2021, from marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/ethics-definition-meaning/

Integrity is the quality of having strong ethical principles that are followed at all times. Honesty and trust are central to integrity, as is consistency.

Here are examples of integrity in action so you can recognize this important character trait in employees and coworkers.

A person with integrity demonstrates sound moral and ethical principles and does the right thing, no matter who's watching. Integrity is the foundation on which coworkers build relationships and trust, and it is one of the fundamental values that employers seek in the employees that they hire.

To have integrity means that a person is self-aware, accountable, responsible, and truthful and that their actions are internally consistent.

A person who has integrity can be trusted by coworkers, customers, and stakeholders.

People who demonstrate integrity draw others to them because they are trustworthy and dependable. As employees, they are principled and you can count on them to behave honorably.

Here are some examples of how people can reflect different facets of integrity in the workplace.

John, a software developer, is attempting to optimize a certain software process but keeps running into problems because of his code. He could push forward with his suboptimal code in order to try to save his work and save face, but instead, he chose to go to his team. He described the dead ends he had run into and explained that he thought that pushing forward could create problems down the line for the product, preventing the development of advanced features for the software.

The team discussed the problem and worked through a solution. John scrapped all of his code and started from scratch with the team’s input. Thanks to his honesty, his new solution gave the team the ability to expand the product’s capabilities easily in the future.

Ellen missed a deadline for an important deliverable her team was supposed to have developed. Rather than throwing her team members under the bus, even though they hadn’t delivered as promised, she took responsibility for the missed deadline. She addressed the problems with her team and put in place safeguards that would keep them from underperforming again.

Team members recognized their contribution to the failure, but because Ellen took responsibility as the team leader, her team was able to learn from their mistakes.

Marsha was responsible for producing a report once a week that was used on Friday by two other departments to plan their workflow for the next week. Knowing that she planned to take vacation time soon, Marsha ensured that the report would be produced as needed in her absence. 

She taught another employee how to create the report. Additionally, she wrote out the appropriate procedures so that the coworker had a guide in her absence. Marsha supervised the trainee for two weeks so that her replacement had a chance to do the actual task. Finally, she touched base with the other two departments to let them know that a new person would be creating their report while she was gone, in case the coworker needed help.

Employees have the opportunity to demonstrate their integrity—or lack thereof—every day, through their actions with each other, with management, and with customers or clients. If you haven't hired the right people, a lack of integrity will be evident in their behavior.

A workforce comprised of people with integrity is one where you can trust the staff to perform to the best of their ability. They don't compromise on their ideals, cut corners, cheat, or lie. They behave according to an internally consistent code of values.

Integrity in business can strengthen relationships with vendors and customers because they can trust you'll keep your promises and act honorably if something goes wrong. Corruption, which can cause scandals and shake a corporation's reputation, is incompatible with integrity.

Regularly discussing dilemmas of integrity with your employees gives them a chance to learn your expectations and also helps develop a culture of integrity in the workplace.

• Integrity is the quality of having strong ethical or moral principles and following them at all times, no matter who's watching.
• A person with integrity acts with honesty, honor, and truthfulness.
• Integrity is a valuable skill in an employee, because it indicates they will perform to the best of their ability and act on their principles.