Unit 3: Apply Business Ethical Obligations Towards Stakeholders PDF

Unit 3: Apply Business Ethical Obligations Towards Stakeholders 1.Business Ethical Considerations 2. Social responsibilities of businesses 3. Business ethical obligations towards employees 4. Business ethical considerat...

Unit 3: Apply Business Ethical Obligations Towards Stakeholders 1.Business Ethical Considerations 2. Social responsibilities of businesses 3. Business ethical obligations towards employees 4. Business ethical considerations towards investors Towards Customers 1.1 Fair Business Practices Corporate social responsibility of business is based on A business must provide *Businesses are responsible to investors. Businesses can fulfil their ethical obligations towards consumers *company raising awareness about the economic, social, and *security with fair wages to its employees, * Investors contribute funds to the company mainly of profit motivation and are through the following fair practices: environmental impacts it generates in the environment, *equal opportunity for growth and development within the concerned if profits are earned ethically. a) Marketing communications based on truth and integrity; NOT *complying with the legislation, and company. to mislead customers through false product claims. *carrying out voluntary responsible actions internally and 4.1 Keep investors informed b) Provide complete information about product offerings externally. Examples of business ethical obligations towards employees: Investors will benefit emotionally and financially knowing that their investments including adverse effects, risks, and care to be taken while using Social responsibility 3.1 Fairness in treatment and opportunities are put into profitable and ethical uses. This will also help to increase the goodwill the products. *focuses closely on social obligations of a company. Provide fair salary in relation to their job role and position of the business which in turn supports profitability. Showing commitment to c) Ensure product offerings do not have adverse affect on *refers to the extent to which companies owe something to Provide a clean and safe working atmosphere ethical practices will also create a long term positive impact for the business and consumers. “society in general” or feel a duty to give back to those who are Give fair and equal treatment to all employees boost the confidence of current and potential investors. d) Have efficient after-sales service. not directly involved in the business. Treat employees with respect and courtesy e) Facilitate contact with consumers through social messaging, Provide opportunity for training, education, skills upgrading live chat, help centre, etc. 2.1 Environmental responsibility Provide opportunity for promotion and development 4.2 Proper audit practices f) Invest in research and development to improve quality of *Important for businesses to engage in environmentally friendly Solve labour problems in a timely manner The purpose of independent audit is to provide confidence in the quality of product or introduce better and new products. practices. financial reports. Good audit practices include the following: g) Charge reasonable prices for goods sold, even if it is the *Companies can be significant contributors to greenhouse gas 3.2 Unethical Behaviours of employers and management at obtain reasonable assurance that the financial reports as a whole is free of seller’s market. emissions, pollution, waste, and natural resource depletion. workplace. material misstatements h) Improve on efficiency of the business so that productivity *committing to environmental responsibility, a business takes Unpaid overtime ensure material deficiencies detected are addressed or communicated through increases and in turn will reduce price. ownership over its impact on the environment. Some employers take advantage of employees’ fear of losing their audit report *Examples job and adopt mentality that they are doing the employees a Unethical business practices towards consumers- Examples Implement company-wide recycling programme favour by hiring them. 5. Whistleblowing a. Making false product claims Use alternative energy sources or sustainable materials b. Products sold are of poor working condition Make donations to/volunteer for local environmental Verbal Harassment Whistleblowing refers to c. Hidden terms in the user agreement organisations Verbally harassing the employees for little mistakes made at workplace which will demoralise the employee and affect their *an act by a whistle-blower (usually an employee), 1.2 Optimum use of resources 2.2 Philanthropic responsibility productivity *Business resource Businesses *who exposes acts of wrongdoing or information within the organisation, that is -anything of value that enables a business to operate *give back to the communities Undue pressure deemed illegal, illicit, unsafe or unethical successfully. *donate to causes that align with their missions. For Giving unrealistic deadlines to employees, e.g. give 2-day *to higher management, an external authority or the public. *Examples - *employees, Examples: deadline for work that usually takes a week to complete. *equipment such as computers and software programs that helps Donate a percentage of business earnings for a prominent cause 6. Digital footprint businesses to generate income, (e.g. cancer research, education, etc) Nepotism *financial assets, including bank accounts and credit cards. Sponsor a local fundraiser or a local event Hardworking employees who contribute to the company’s growth Digital footprint refers to data or information that is left behind when the users - Both human and physical resources available in an organisation are overlooked for a promotion. Employers instead promote have been online. are very limited and should be used fully in a way that gives 2.3 Economic responsibility friends, relatives or family friends. This will reduce employee maximum benefit with minimum cost. *This means that a business not only focus on making money, morale and push these good employees to resign. An active digital footprint is where * It’s financial decisions also focus on doing good and is intertwined with the other social responsibilities. 3.3 Employee moral obligations and ethics at workplace *user deliberately shares information about himself /herself online through the Benefits of optimum use of resources for business: use of social media sites or websites. a) Ensures that employees are not underperforming or Examples Employees responsible to take proper actions at workplace. overburdened with workload assigned, which helps with Establish and maintain business contracts that suppliers uses These are employees’ key obligations towards their employers. sustainable materials, even if it costs more Loyalty to the organisation by not A passive digital footprint is one that is left behind unintentionally when using employees morale Have transparent salary system the compensates all employees * badmouthing their employer, the internet (e.g. IP address or browser history). b) Helps to reduce business costs (Eg: use tangible resources such fairly, regardless of race and gender *not sharing company information and as equipment, heavy equipment and vehicles for as long as Understand and meet customer needs whilst earning profits *avoid taking outside work that may pose a conflict of interest. possible) Ensure profitability for its shareholders Honouring the work hours by completing the required number c) Increase revenue as maximum utilisation of resources leads to of hours of work, completing tasks and meeting deadlines. better return on investment (ROI) Proper use of funds - employees who are given an expense account or a corporate credit card to cover for business travel expenses need to ensure that they charge a reasonable amount directly related to the business trip. Ensure all expenses charged to the card is within budget given. Showing respect to workplace, co-workers and superiors. An ethical employee strives to be professional and honest in his/her dealings with others and the use of company resources. 7. Types of Digital Footprints 7.5 Facebook and Instagram Facebook 7.1 Search history, browsing history and websites *Website allows users who sign up for free profiles, to connect with friends, work colleagues or people they do not know, online. *Whenever one goes online to browse a webpage and visit any website, a digital footprint will be left behind. * Allows users to share pictures, music, videos, articles, thoughts and opinions. *Digital footprints, including browsing history, create an impression of who you are and becomes available to anyone on the internet. *These information left behind on the internet can be searched, copied or shared with anyone. Instagram *Online information may be permanent *Entirely visual platform *Digital footprint left behind (after visiting less desirable websites) may create a negative impression of you and harm your reputation *Only purpose is to enable users to share images or videos with their audience. in the future. *Reasons: (a) Find like-minded users 7.2 Text messages and deleted messages (b) Market their contents to make money *Text messages can be easily misinterpreted and altered. (c) Share photos and videos *This may cause intentional or unintentional insult. (d) Branding of business *Trail of footprint left behind when pieced together form a picture of who you are online, what you are doing, where you are going, and why you are doing all these things and make public. *Let potential employers to know about you better; helps universities to conduct background checks before accepting you. Risks involved when using these social media platforms: *Hackers can spy on your text messages, commit identity theft, gain a lot of private information about you, e.g. PIN codes sent by websites to authenticate your identity (e.g. online banking). (a) Cyberbullying - mean and hurtful remarks are posted against images or messages posted. *Criminals often use someone personal life’s information to steal/ blackmail them, or steal their identity. (b) Data breaches and loss of privacy - personal information may be shared with third parties. *Cybercriminals gain access to personal financial information stored in computers or mobile phones even after messages are deleted (c) Blackmailing - when inappropriate contents like embarrassing or provocative images of themselves or others get into the wrong hands. as these deleted messages still remain somewhere in the (d)Identity thefts. hardware system unless a master reset is done on the hardware. (e)Exposure to virus attacks. (f) Advertisements on some of these social media platform may contain malware. 7.3 Photos and videos (g) Phishing attacks. *Exercise care about type of photos and videos uploaded. Once they are online, one may lose control of them. *Photos can be tagged and shared by friends who might not have the same privacy settings as you. Facebook : *Exposure to risks of photos and videos being stolen, downloaded and manipulated is increased. *Strangers and predators may use them without you being aware of it. *Clicking "like" on anything which your friends post on Facebook, is to acknowledge that we have seen a posting. *Inappropriate content (e.g.embarrassing or provocative photos or videos of themselves or others) uploaded may lead to blackmailing, * Scammers may take advantage of that reflex for a dangerous scam called "like-farming". harassment and cyberbullying. - This happens when scammers post an attention-grabbing story on Facebook for the express purpose of cultivating likes and shares *Photos and videos deleted from the original source or account will not remove its digital footprint. These may have already been - The more likes and shares a post has, the more likely it is to show up in people's News Feeds. shared to other profiles by other account users. *This gives scammers more eyeballs for posts that trick people out of information or send them to malicious downloads. *Some social media platforms may give themselves licence to use photos and videos posted by users of their platforms. This means Once the post gets more likes and shares, the scammers will edit it and add something malicious. that they have the right to use the materials posted as they deem fit. They might start promoting products or sell the page information in an attempt to get credit card data. Owners of these materials have no control over what or how that particular site may do with the materials. 7.6 Online shopping 7.4 Tagged photos E.g. Shopee, Lazada, eBay, Carousell, Amazon *Tagging a photo means revealing the identity of someone else in a post or photo that you share online. *A tag also notify that person that you have mentioned him/her or referred to him/her in a post or a photo, and provide a link back to Risks of Online Shopping his/her profile. (a) Viruses *Tagging allows adding of names and categories to help one organise their pictures and let their friends find them. A malicious link, site, or ad could easily infect your machine with viruses and malware. *Some tagging allows the location where a picture was taken from the phone to be revealed. Risks of tagging photos (b) Scams (a) Invite unnecessary attention from undesirable characters such as unwanted admirers Bogus “sales” trick you into paying for something you will never receive/ buying fake/counterfeit items. (b) Expose one’s current location (c) Expose your daily routine and activities (c) Stolen account credentials Email account and password associated with purchase made could be compromised. Hackers can gain access to other accounts where the same credentials are used. (d) Stolen financial information Credit card information and bank information could give hackers full access to your finances. (e) Stolen identity If more personal information is breached, you could be a victim to identity theft.