HOW TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN ETHICAL STANDARDS OF BEHAVIOUR IN A SMALL BUSINESS
Entrepreneurs and small business owners wield great influence in determining the ethical philosophies of their business enterprises. Employees often follow the lead of the owner in executing their duties and attending to their responsibilities, so it is incumbent on the owner to establish a work environment that embraces moral standards of behavior.
There are exceptions to this, of course; dishonest and unethical employees sometimes work in otherwise ethical companies, just as honest and ethical workers can be found in organizations with a prevailing culture of duplicity and selfishness. But a business owner or manager who wishes to establish an ethical mindset in his or her company can help the course by being proactive.
Business experts and ethicists alike point to a number of actions that owners and managers can take to help steer their company down the path of ethical business behavior. Establishing a statement of organizational values, for example, can provide employees and the company as a whole with a specific framework of expected behavior. Such statements offer employees, business associates, and the larger community alike a consistent portrait of the company’s operating principles why it exists, what it believes, and how it intends to act to make sure that its activities dovetail with its professed beliefs.
Active reviews of strategic plans and objectives can also be undertaken to make certain that they are not in conflict with the company’s basic ethical standards. In addition, business owners and managers should review standard operating procedures and performance measurements within the company to ensure that they are not structured in a way that encourages unethical behavior. A values-led business seeks to maximize its impact by integrating socially beneficial actions into as many of its day-to-day activities as possible. In order to do that, values must be lead and be right up there in a company’s mission statement, strategy and operating plan.
Finally, and most importantly, business owners and managers lead by example. If a business owner treats employees, customers, and competitors in a fair and honest manner, and suitably penalizes those who do not perform in a similar fashion, he or she is more likely to have an ethical workforce of which he or she can be proud. It is perfectly possible to make a decent living without compromising the integrity of the company or the individual. Quite apart from the issue of rightness and wrongness, the fact is that ethical behavior in a business serves the individual and the enterprise much better in the long run.
Indeed, some business owners and managers argue that ethical companies have an advantage over their competitors. Consumers are used to buying products despite how they feel about the companies that sell them. But a values-led company earns the kind of customer loyalty most corporations only dream of, because it appeals to its customers on the basis of more than a product. They like how doing business with a values-led company makes them feel.
