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Business Ethics : An Organization 's Long Term Success And Stability

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Business Ethics is the application of principles and values organizations utilize to govern their activities and decisions. The ethical philosophy an organization adopts, to conduct business can affect their reputation, productivity, and bottom line. Implementing and abiding by a code of ethics is integral to an organization’s long term success and stability (Kelchner). Business ethics originates back to Plato and Aristotle, when their political discussions of justice formed the basic notion of ethics in commercial transactions. During the 1970’s the term “business ethics” came into common use in the United States by the media to report scandalous behaviors by organizations. Subsequently, this term has been adopted world-wide but is broadly interpreted among different countries (De George). Many aspects play a role in the success of an organization. Profitability is one of the most important aspects of an organization, and to gain and maintain profitability, other factors must be considered. Among these factors is the code of ethics an organization abides by. This code ensures that leaders and employees conduct business with integrity. Luanne Kelchner summarized her belief in the importance of implementing a code of ethics by saying:
The code of ethics leaders use determines discipline procedures and the acceptable behavior for all workers in an organization. When leaders have high ethical standards, it encourages workers in the organization to meet that same

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