The need for business ethics

The need for business ethics

Ethical questions are at the heart of social, political, and economic developments. Right?

In particular, at the economic level, the moral seems to be wrong location:

Rarely, the companies have been so strong in the public criticism, as in

the last few years. Some Examples:

Profit, Profit over everything

In connection with the collapse of Lehman brothers was thrown to the banks, by intentional false advice to unsuspecting investors to their savings and to be irresponsible risks. Since then, Only the Profit, then the customer has been praised by the financial sector is often better, but the Tests from consumer discussions show that, as before, the Motto is:. Financial products are opaque, costs are obscured, the advice is driven by “commissions” and unilaterally in the interests of the Bank or the Bank employee-oriented, in the prescribed counselling protocols, the risk profile presented by the customer intentionally false, can be riskier for the Bank’s more lucrative assets to sell, with psychological tricks and mathematical tricks, the investors will be persuaded for you to unfavorable financial statements.

Getting smaller and smaller

Since there are no prescribed package sizes more (since 2009), are packaged by the industry in smaller quantities than in the past, but at the old price. The Consumer advice does not speak of “cheating”, because the consumer of the hidden price is striking increase of up to 100%.

Tasteless

Health-conscious consumers will always be offered more food in the absence of the “additive flavor enhancer”. What the Consumer usually does not know is not obtained, the flavor enhancer glutamate, yeast extract, then he is on the list of additives and does not need to be declared, therefore, as an additive. To the consumer, but it suggests that it is not a glutamate in this product. As a “Clean Labeling” is referred to, this Trick in the Marketing.


This is not healthy

With dismay, the Public reacted to the news that in intensive animal husbandry are now being used seven Times more antibiotics than human medicine. It is suspected that the drugs are mainly used as a Mast. As a result of this drug abuse multi-resistant germs that threaten life and health of the population as a whole are developing increasingly.

Modern-Day Slaves?

In-work poverty in Germany to a topic, since more and more workers in spite of employment and social benefits from the state need to be able to have a reasonably tolerable life. The number of “workers”, which is a low salary to get under the Hartz IV level and, therefore, additional aid from the state need to grow. The company is accused of in this way, labour costs to pass on to the state.

The Glutton Crawler

The DAX-CEO salaries increased from 2003 to 2011 125%. The amount of Manager’s remuneration, as well as the rates of increase in recent years, the top managers themselves can now even “salary excesses,” to speak, to be limited.

Cheap

After the fire in a Pakistani textile factory with over 250 dead in the textile disco came under KiK in the criticism, because the company had not respected as the main client to sufficient safety standards. The identification of the dead was made difficult by the fact that hardly any of the workers had an ordinary contract of employment.

This post is an excerpt from the new book on corporate ethics.

Der Bedarf an UnternehmensethikHow can be implemented the business ethics as a Management responsibility? A stronger orientation of the corporate guide on the guiding principle of a life-serving economy is more and more demanded. Elisabeth Gödel discusses the philosophical foundations of ethics and clarifies the relationship of ethics and Economics. The focus is on the institutionalisation of ethics is on the level of the individual company.

>> Link to book

>> Link to the Service book

>> Link to the slides for lecturers

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