What is business ethics? An essay about it can be a task in your class. For that, you need to understand the term and what it implies.
Running a successful business, negotiating a contract, or simply dealing with clients is impossible without understanding and applying business ethics and its practices. It is a study of appropriate policies that companies and employees can use. They are vital in controversial situations that involve corporate governance, fiduciary responsibility, corporate social responsibility, etc.
That’s where the importance of business ethics comes from. For a company to be successful in the modern world, it should implement techniques and practices of business ethics. Customers and clients expect firms to behave appropriately. Operating this way is more than not breaking laws.
Our team came up with some tips that can help you write your business ethics essay. Additionally, you will find topics for different academic papers, and you can check our free samples.
How to Start a Business Ethics Essay
Let’s start with learning the basics of a business ethics essay. Here we will explain how to approach such a type of academic paper.
First of all, you need to see how this essay will differ from other assignments. That’s why we’ve prepared a step-by-step plan for you:
Pick an idea.
As you can imagine, you need to have a solid idea. It does not have to be defined at the very beginning. However, you need to know what direction you want to take. You need to come up with an assumption that you will later develop in your essay.
Research your topic.
The next step in starting your business ethics essay is to research the case carefully. The Internet, non-fiction books, interviews, business journals can become great sources for your paper.
Take notes.
While doing your research, you should always write down key information. It will ensure that you will not miss any vital data and keep track of good thoughts.
Craft a thesis statement.
After you’ve conducted your research, the next step is to explain your message and position. A thesis statement usually appears at the end of your introductory paragraph.
Think of your introduction.
After step number four, when your thesis statement is ready, you can develop your introduction. It has to catch readers’ attention and adequately introduce the topic of your essay. Additionally, think about the way it can be connected with your conclusion.
Outline your essay.
One more step before writing is organizing your text. Like any other academic paper, an ethics essay follows a structure. It consists of an introduction, body, and conclusion. The opening and the closing take about twenty percent of the entire article, and the rest eighty percent is left for the body.
17 Business Ethics Essay Topics
Now that you know how to start your business ethics paper, we’ve prepared a list of seventeen topics for your assignment. They can help you compose a fantastic essay about business ethics or use them to inspire your homework.
How does social responsibility connect with business ethics?
Can moral principles guide business decisions?
Ethical issues in business law.
Advantages and disadvantages of Confucian business ethics.
The role of ethics in purchasing decisions.
Ways to eradicate unfair treatment due to race or religion at a workplace.
Walmart business ethics and ethical standards.
Social media in business ethics.
Ways to reduce business’s environmental impact.
Concept of corporate social responsibility.
CSR trends in 2021.
A balance between profit and CSR.
Ethical dilemmas people face every day at the workplace.
5 Business Ethics Research Paper Topics
We also came up with five high-quality business ethics topics for the research paper. Good luck with your essay and with learning more about business ethics!
List major ethical issues that business faces today.
Kantian approach to business ethics and morality.
How utilitarianism ethics can be used in companies.
The role of ethics in international business.
Applying Aristotle’s virtue ethics to business.
Thank you for reading the article till the end. Do not hesitate to share it with your peers who may need our tips or topics. Now, you can also look at our business ethics essay examples below.
Business and ethics are incompatible and that is why business ethics is an oxymoron. Business ethics is an oxymoron because business and ethics are incompatible.
It is a case study of McDonalds and how the international company disregards the ethical considerations of business in the fast food industry. To this end, the ethical practices include the accurate representation of a [...]
The ability to effectively articulate high levels of ethics in tourism and hospitality industry is a key determinant of the capacity for the aforementioned sector to trace its missions, achieve the set goals, objectives and [...]
The issue that arises is whether employees make the right decision that would benefit the company or they make the wrong choices that call for the downfall of the company.
The foremost portion of business ethics understands the theory of rights as one of the core principles in the five-item ethical positions that deem essential in the understanding of moral business practices.
The firm has established a global code of conduct that generally identifies the main objective of conducting business in the right way as a part of its corporate mechanism aimed at ensuring that customers of [...]
In this light, this paper discusses the importance of ethics and social responsibility and various practices and theories employed in different organizations. In future, ethics and social responsibility will have a new meaning in the [...]
The manager of the North American company has a difficult task because in as much as the decision taken by the company depends on him, he wants to please both parties, that is, the client [...]
According to the theory, it may be viewed as a set of guidelines that help to determine the level of appropriateness of corporate norms, policies, and activities.
The reasons for the considerable recalls of products were that the toys manufactured on the facilities based in China were dangerous for children's health due to the lead paint discovered in the toys and the [...]
The following paper aims at analyzing the CSR program of Nike, a publicly traded sportswear company, in order to determine the transparency and effectiveness of social and environmental responsibilities stated in their report.
Another set of the company's stakeholders that affect the ethical code of business in the company is the external environment like customers and the society; there is a level of quality that customers expect from [...]
The sustainability strategy and its issue selection are well-aligned with the company's business because it seeks to promote the learning of children through play.
To be more precise, the Ford Pinto case will be evaluated from the legal point of view to establish which laws were violated in the process of corporate decision-making that led to the production of [...]
This is because of the huge sums of money involved, and the suspicious arrangement the Rigas family made with the company that required the company and the Rigas family to be guarantors of each other.
Below are discussions on the root cause of the company's choice: whether the company's management had any other choice; what the incumbent management team can do to restore the company's reputation; the role of corporate [...]
These guidelines consider the ideas, norms, laws, and business regulations that govern how individuals act within the institution and how the firm operates in the community.
At the end of the day, the government, employees, investors, competitors, and the customers suffer while the crooks enjoy the fruits of their unethical business practices.
All employees at the group are inferior to the Interim Group Chief Executive Officer Ray Gammel, who is responsible for managing and consulting all departments in the Etihad Aviation Group.
The purchasing power of customers in the industry has been reduced after the global economic crisis, and this has forced companies in the industry to apply low cost strategies to reduce prices of the products [...]
The research is motivated by the need to understand the possible gaps in the company's CSR strategies, and hence determine the necessary adjustments that the firm should undertake.
Additionally, all employees should have a written contract in their local language provided to them by H&M, and they should be aware of the terms and conditions.
Since the commission of inquiry did find out that the change of design was one of the factors that led to the collapse of the bridge, many engineers perceive that Theodore Cooper changed the design [...]
The main point of the argument is that philosophical approaches to business ethics provide guidelines for making ethical business decisions, but some of these approaches are controversial and have no support from most moral scholars.
This is one of the deontological rights that the company may have under deontological ethics; it must not be condemned for the reason that its products cause obesity to young children.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the company Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream based on their announced values, structure, and track record in relation to CSR.
As Barnett et al.observed empirically, there are several self-evident dimensions to ethical consumerism which players in retail and distribution function should comprehensively be aware of, for these dimensions may act in an organized and collective [...]
As already mentioned and also according to the theorist, Goodrich was not morally responsible for the scandal and therefore, he should be excused in the first place.
For example, the company's CSR initiatives aim to promote Abu Dhabi's "beauty" to the rest of the world. This assessment shows that Etihad Airways and the Abu Dhabi government benefit economically from the airline's CSR [...]
The purpose of this article is to highlight the ethical issues surrounding the engineering profession. The company's desire to make profits and dominate the market compelled the management to disregard ethics of the engineering profession.
Like wise if the organization carries out the activities that pollute the environment the people can sue the organization for its harmful activities to the people and the environment.
The rationale for choosing this type of organizational structure for the company 1 is that each of the workers in this company has a specific task to perform depending on the specialization.
An example of the efforts Walt Disney has implemented in ensuring the sustainability of the environment is that for a period spanning ten years, the Disneyland Resort has tremendously increased the alteration of waste from [...]
Despite the fact that this aspect violates Apple's principles of ethical supply chains, which prohibit the use of child labor, the company continued to cooperate with the supplier for another three years.
Some of the problems she faces include: Lack of ethical leaders and workers in the organization. To resolve the lack of ethical leaders within Providence Healthcare, Walsh needs to lead the organization through ethical leadership.
However, it is the policy of the company to consider the effect that the product will have on the people or customers rather than considering the financial gain that the company will derive from such [...]
The aim of this paper is to critic and analyse the claim that the main goal of businesses is profit maximisation. CSR is the obligation of businesses to offer social, legal and economic support and [...]
From this point, social responsibility can be observed with references to the corporations' sponsoring different social events and promoting the environmental initiatives, and the activities of Pfizer and BP corporations can become the examples of [...]
The company has code of business principles that gives an account of the various ways in which its activities are to be carried out and it ensures that everyone working in the company follows it [...]
What I like about Nestle's environmental sustainability efforts: Nestle's environmental sustainability efforts are concise and clear towards the company's sustainability plans, that is, clear goals and objectives which are time bound. The company's sustainability efforts [...]
The distinction between a normal choice and an ethical one is that the latter requires one to exercise the duty of weighing virtues and arriving at a judgment in a case that is unique from [...]
In relation to the above dilemmas, the bounded bribery applies to the psychological tendency of the conspirators to fulfill selfish interests of self enrichment at the expense of the shareholders' goals and objectives.
According to the narrow approach, corporate governance is perceived as a set of procedures and activities for governing the company in order to remain accountable to major shareholders' interests.
Agumagu, Adesope and Njoku note that the core objective of the scheme is to instill in the Nigerian youth "the spirit of selfless service to the community, and emphasize the spirit of oneness and brotherhood [...]
First of all, the structure of the company corresponds to the fact that decisions are made regarding the current readiness of the organization to contribute to the community.
The 40% of his $210 million dollars in his exit package or even the $84 million was for the reason that there was an acceleration vesting in the options as well as the stock awards.
Several issues have affected the corporate image of the company over the recent past and therefore there is need to try as much as possible to restore the corporate image of the company.
However, Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of the company in 1985, after he was phased out by directors of the company. The biography of Steve Jobs shows that he was dedicated to improve ethics [...]
Its major aim was to ensure that businesses were behaving ethically as well as contributing to the economic development, but at the same time the business is improving life quality of its employees, their families, [...]
Fuller is not responsible for the overall addiction of street children to glue sniffing, but the company is responsible for neglecting its own contribution to the dissemination of substance abuse.H.B.
The company introduced various incentives that contributed to development of the company, employees and communities but those incentives were not integrated into a particular paradigm.
To succeed in running a business in the two countries, one needs to have clear understanding of their business etiquettes. The Chinese and the Canadians require people to keep time during business meetings.
Given that employees of the organization are involved in the corporate business ethical programs of the organization, such programs therefore involves advising the employees of the organizations to be responsible on their behavior towards fellow [...]
The leaders of Ford Motor Company pay much attention to respecting the needs and interests of employees and customers and to preventing the ethical problems.
The purpose is to show that a company like Google must behave ethically and all the decisions made by managers and other superiors should be guided by the highest morale and respect to the surrounding [...]
The staff at the human resource department should always show the importance of ethics in the organization. Therefore, the HRM should know that reward and appraisal systems can be harnessed to promote ethical behavior in [...]
Business ethics is a set of professional ethics that tries to inspect ethical problem or the principles of ethics that can emerge in a business organization. Implementation of ethics in a business organization increases costs [...]
As such, its developments will be used to explain parts of the analysis and to put the different cultures discussed in this essay into the same framework.
Even if there are no rules, regulations or bans in the countries these products are exported to, allowing the sale and export of goods that have been proven to be dangerous are to become complicit [...]
Despite his dwelling on the concept of bureaucratic power, Weber says that power is the most important aspect of leadership and the followers should be the only people who grant it to the leaders.
Again, what this means is that HR is in the fortunate position of being able to give the tools and agenda for the administrative team and CEO to entrench events ethic into the brand and [...]
The two concepts are important in the promotion of ethical culture within the organizations, the organizations' performance and the much needed moral and financial support from the organization's stakeholders and the public in general.
In light of the resent standoff between the company and its employees there is need to modify the code of ethics especially regarding employees relations.
This is an unfavorable situation for foreign companies considering that these are credited with introducing revolutionary technologies, products, and ideas to the host countries, leading to improvement in the quality of life in such countries.
Thirdly, the gift card needs to show the contact information of the business, which can be a phone number, email address and the organization's website.
Practicing nepotism in an organization from the basic concern is that it brings about the issue of contradiction of the typical customs in employment to hiring and promoting the most qualified and performing candidates for [...]
This explains why the government should use appropriate adjustments and regulations to regulate these corporations. This approach will reduce the inequity associated with capitalism and wealth distribution.
In this regard, he would not have supported the imposition of an extra charge for obese people. This proposal aligns with the principle of equality because it would be unfair to other passengers if obese [...]
Objectives for the research Many scholars of different fields have already researched on the Enron scandal and the bankruptcy of this Corporation, but the prime objective of the writer of this research paper is to [...]
According to Robbins and Coulter, "managers oversee and coordinate the activities of their employees in order to accomplish the targeted organizational goals".
In fact, the company has for long been considered as 'the employer of choice' as a result of its tendency to take good care of its employees and the other stakeholders.
Clicks and TRESemme were embroiled in a hair ad saga that has led to racial discrimination allegations, and blacks boycotted Clicks and TRESemme brands as a result. The Clicks and the TRESemme brand both experienced [...]
Greenwashing is the kind of marketing where the marketers deceive the customers that their products and policies are environmentally friendly, so that the customers can buy the products.
According to the case, business ethics is the observance of rules and regulations that have been put in place. Child labour is one of the serious ethical issues that businesses have to deal with in [...]
The scandal referred to unauthorized sales of bank products in the United States, where the bank employees opened accounts for their clients without the consent of the latter.
When analyzing the case of Well Fargo and its consumer abuse and compliance breakdowns, one should note that the company should separate its banking business from the firm's other enterprises.
This means that the application of CSR in the global business environment is likely to increase in the future. In a nutshell, incorporating CSR in human resource management is beneficial to the firm and all [...]
Trying to define the problem of the conflict of interests within the professional of a chemical researcher, the specific examples are going to be considered with the possible ways of solving those situations.
A higher degree of organizational commitment can result in dedicated commitment of the employees', organizational structure and the factors involved in the commitment of the organization.
The strategic philanthropy of this company creates an effective advertisement approach for other businesses where most of its factual events enable the firm to focus on the core part of the variation, which allows interception [...]
The concept of corporate social responsibility rapidly gains popularity, implying the voluntary participation of companies in the formation and development of the social sector.
One of the biggest problems is that the liberalization of the policies related to the return of the food and beverages led to the abundance of the products that should be returned.
Spirituality and organizational performance The introduction of spirituality and virtuous approaches to business management is largely predetermined by the necessity to increase organizational performance, productivity, and revenues.
One of the key issues that led to the failure and bankruptcy of Enron was the lack of transparency and the dishonesty of Enron's key top management team and partners.
The most important and influential challenge was the opportunity to solve the questions of exclusion and discrimination of the minorities and women from the company's workforce in such high status posts like management.
Managers today are looking at new and innovative ways for recruitment and selection of new workers due to the range of complexities involved in the mobility of employees in and out of the organization and [...]
In spite of its rich history, the question of child labour cannot be answered in a proper way; a number of issues like personal desire, necessity, and living conditions have to be taken into consideration; [...]
This paper forms an analysis of the ethical issues raised against or for Wal-Mart Corporation and the potential outcomes of some of the negative or conflicting views about the firm.
The following paper briefly compares and contrasts the corporate social responsibilities, ethics, and diversity in Walmart, Amazon, and Apple Inc. On the Corporate Social Responsibility front, Walmart believes in promoting the business and benefiting consumers [...]
Logically, in order to sustain a good reputation and be successful in the world market, the international companies are urged to establish a code of ethics that would comply not only with the ethical standards [...]
The exploding smartphones have shown that, although the Samsung Company's status and quality of products were supposed to be at the highest levels, they are not trustworthy from the consumers' point of view.
Overall, the basis of this issue is the unwillingness of the management to consider the interests of the main stakeholders who can affect the performance of this corporation.
Among the most common theories of ethics that corporate governance has examined are the utilitarianism theory, the virtue theory, the theory of the common good, the justice theory, and the Kantian theory of ethics.