Integrity Approach in Business - Essay Example

Integrity Approach In Business The concept of integrity is to maintain consistency in your work and in whatever you are doing. It is extremely necessary that the integrity is maintained in all the work one does as this helps in establishing a firm ground for the basis of all the actions that are being carried out by a person or by a business. The concept of integrity talks about constant appearance of actions that are carried out, values that are cherished and maintained, methods that are used to achieve the result, measures that are taken to achieve the goal, principles that are followed and practiced, expectations that exist when the task is being carried out, and outcomes that the actions will bring (Martin, Vaught, Solomon, 2010). In the field of ethics is about the honesty that you practice. If we consider the concept if integrity in the domain of business world. Integrity would mean being truthful and being honest. When a person is trading an object, it is his integrity that he will disclose, the benefits and as well as the flaws that exist in the product instead of marketing the positive sides of the products only. Integrity is the opposite concept of hypocrisy. It is about a person being ethical and remaining constant with the actions that are ethical and that are expected of him. It is true that a person will lose the confidence that others have in him if he lies or double crosses, similarly in case of businesses, to maintain integrity it is important that business should always deliver the promise that they are making to the customers, it is also necessary that the business follows all the rules and laws that are laid down by the government. There are repercussions if they are not followed and this usually costs the business more than the cost that the company had to pay to deliver the promise that they have actually made. It is also necessary that the business should only make claims that are deliverable for them (Ciulla, Martin, Solomon, 2007). . Today with increased globalization the roles of corporations has changed drastically, today the companies are the ones that are many times majorly dictating the terms and the rules of the trade and the economies of the place. The role of governments as reduced dramatically and drastically as increased globalization has caused the world to become quite enmeshed in each other and therefore, the rules are set by organizations as international trade also increased dramatically. Corporate governance is one method through which the organizations are able to know how they should behave with each other and the shareholders and the stake holders of the organization to have their trust and as well increase their own transparency, accountability as well as integrity. The firms have to clear across to other about the stance that they have and how to behave in the social structure(Martin, Vaught, Solomon, 2010). It is important that before we plunge into the nitty-gritty of the things, we first clearly define what actually corporate governance and its integrity is. Corporate governance talks about the rules, the processes that are defined by the organization make the organization function as a group and enable the organization to have an aimed movement towards their goal. All this is possible through corporate governance. They provide rules that are laid down by the organization so that the employees are aware of the relationships that are to exist between the stakeholders and shareholder of the organization and the management(Ciulla, Martin, Solomon, 2007). . Conducting a study on the corporate governance clearly shows that the interpretation of corporate governance’s integrity varies with people. Some people view it as a tool for providing guidance in the decision making process, some think of it as a tool that provides direction to the organization. Some of the key words that are and have been associated with corporate governance are control, manage, govern and regulate, therefore, by using each of these various interpretations can be formed. There are many external factors that are involved in the formation and designing of the corporate governance and therefore the field is a very dynamic one and keeps evolving with time. This is what that has made it a very interesting field to study(Brenkert, Beauchamp, 2010). Corporate governance’s integrity is an evolving field and therefore, there are many definitions that are there for the Corporate Governance and there are many definitions for the Corporate Governance. This has made the subject of corporate governance a very huge one. The main aim of the organization is to achieve profit maximization and they create structures in a way that they can achieve the target. The whole structure that is developed to create discipline and proper regulations in the organization is known as the corporate governance of the organization. With the increase in capitalism in the 20th century it was discovered that the power that the organization had had also increased at a meteoric rate, and all due to the fact that capitalism vests higher power in organization. Through this dissertation, we will be analyzing various governance theories like the resource dependence theory, agency theory, post modernism theory, discourse theory, stewardship theory, stakeholder theory and the feminist ethics theory(Ciulla, Martin, Solomon, 2007). The below mentioned theories talk about integrity in the corporate governance and the ethics employed in the business. The first ever theory was the Agency theory, it was the basis of the many theories that were to come later. The modification in the theory resulted in the formation of the newer theories that came later. The theories are based on the concept of cause and effect and the variables considered are similar as well. The obligations of the top management, the auditors and the top management and the board members are some of the variables that are used commonly. For an organization to function perfectly it is important that the organization uses a combination of variation of the corporate governance theories so that the organization can make the best of everything. The numbers of corporations relying on such combinational theories are increasing day by day(Martin, Vaught, Solomon, 2010). Feminist ethics theory, Virtue ethics theory, Discourse Ethics theory and business ethics theory are some of the theories which are also associated with the corporate governance theories. These theories are also very influential theories besides the theories that have already been mentioned in the paper. The involvement of ethics theories gives an entirely different angle; it focuses on the organization from the standpoint of ethics and tries to create a better and acceptable image of the organization(Brenkert, Beauchamp, 2010). With a change in the structure of society there are many changes that have occurred throughout, today many of the jobs are being provided by the businesses worldwide, they have become a major contributor in the industry today in the form of providing jobs. Today the business has influence on the social and other factors of the society. If the business faces any problem today then there are large factions in the society who will get affected by it. It is now important that ethical integrity is maintained in the businesses today as they have great impact on the societies today. These theories are quite modern and hence they provide better understanding in the relationship of the society and the business world. The focus of the feminist theory is on the relationships between the business in the society and the different people who are involved; it also talks about love and familial feelings among the units in the society. Conflict resolution that is beneficial for both the parties is a major factor that is focused upon by the Discourse theory. In the business ethics theories the rights and the wrongs of the business are discussed. In the virtue ethics the main aim is on the issues of morality and excellence of the organization, it looks for the goodness in the individuals before labeling anything. According to Aristotle when a person is aware of the ethical issues then he has the propensity of becoming a very good builder as he is aware of the basic facts and rights and the wrongs. It is really important for a person to have a sound ethical and virtuous understanding of things as it will make him morally acceptable in the society. It is an ingrained practice in many organizations that they will always place great importance on the morality of the decisions(Brenkert, Beauchamp, 2010). In the integrity of business there are many things that need integrity and they are: Integrity of Vision of the business: It is important that the company should have a clear cut view of the ideals that they have set for themselves. They should know what to do to reach the goal that they have designed for themselves. The goal should be inclear vision and there should be only constructive methods that should be used so that the vision moves forward, it does not become stagnant or loses its worth in the eyes of the workers. Integrity of the Mission of the business: It is necessary that there should be consistency in the mission that the company has defined this will keep the employees motivated and working towards the common goal. With consistency there will never be chances that the employees get derailed or the business as a whole ends up losing its own vision of the current goals that have been set by the organization to reach the future goals as well (Brenkert, Beauchamp, 2010).  It is important for the business to remember always that the customers look forward to dealing with the truthful people. They would never prefer to deal with a dishonest person. Having integrity means that you develop a “trust” factor, this trust then helps you gather more businesses as people would prefer to come to you rather than go somewhere else (Ciulla, Martin, Solomon, 2007). . Secondly, having integrity helps you develop influence, if you have the right kind of integrity, people will have trust on you, and that trust would then lead to you having an influence on the people who have trust on you. Influence comes with the trust development alone. When a business is able to develop influence in its customers, it becomes highly beneficial for the business as they get the deals done mostly on a favorable basis for themselves (Martin, Vaught, Solomon, 2010). Thirdly the most effective result that comes out for a business having integrity is that there will always be repeat business for the for the company, they will have permanent clients who would then continue to do business with the firm and similarly they would also bring in more clients. Only the goodwill developed will help the business prosper in the long run and thus having integrity makes matter quite brighter for the business altogether (Ciulla, Martin, Solomon, 2007). Also, since having integrity cultivates repeat businesses and better results, other people also try to live up to it and this leads to uniqueness and imitation concepts. REFERENCES Ciulla, J. B., Martin, C. W., & Solomon, R. C. (2007). Honest work: A business ethics reader. New York: Oxford University Press. Martin, C. W., Vaught, W., & Solomon, R. C. (2010). Ethics across the professions: A reader for professional ethics. New York: Oxford University Press. Bowie, N. E., & Schneider, M. E. (2011). Business ethics for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Brenkert, G. G., & Beauchamp, T. L. (2010). The Oxford handbook of business ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Olsthoorn, P. (2011). Military ethics and virtues: An interdisciplinary approach for the 21st century. London: Routledge. Read More