Ethical Duties as an Entrepreneur - Essay Example

Ethical duties as an Entrepreneur (Is your good harm to others If one takes a close look at the civilization which was formed by the humans, one can not help noticing that there are many aspects that differ it from the groups which are formed by the rest of the living organisms. While it is clear that such abilities as generating verbal interaction are peculiar to our kind, one would not make a mistake pointing out that the notion of Ethics is not found anywhere beyond the boundaries of the human society. That is why, it should be noted that the idea of Ethics is what truly make us different. In addition to that, it can be found in virtually every area of human activity. Entrepreneurship is not an exception. This paper will analyze the ethical duties of entrepreneur, arguing that one’s good does not necessarily harm others. To begin with, one might suggest that one of the most important duties of an entrepreneur which involved Ethics focuses on the necessity to think about the affect that one’s activity has on the stakeholders. Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that one can hardly find an activity where the number of stakeholders is reduced to a minimum and entrepreneurship is surely not one of them (McFarlane, 2013, 51). In other words, it is an imperative for a person who runs a business to think about the impact that it can have on all the parties which are involved directly and indirectly. A helpful way to do so would be to create a map of all the people affected and determine the relationship between them and the business activities (Weiss, 2014, 13). One should point out that considering the impact on the stakeholders might be regarded as a characteristic feature of the modern kind of business. Indeed, in the previous times economic world in general as well as entrepreneurs in particular was primarily concerned with the profitability of the enterprise, the security of the source of income and possible ways to maximize the return of investment. However, contrary to that, at the modern times people acknowledge that they might have a negative impact on the stakeholders and are encouraged to refrain for it. In other words, a good entrepreneur will be able to set up one’s business in such a way that would not harm anyone. The next important duty which should be analyzed in great detail is connected with the necessity to implement ethical decision making process. One of the most significant aspects that are crucial for understanding of this duty is the difference between morals and ethics. Thus, the former is largely considered to be a set of personal views on what is right and what is wrong; while the latter is a set of guidelines which are generally accepted by the society. In other words, a person is not required to develop some moral qualities, but it is an imperative for all the subjects that operate within the social framework to adhere to the conventional rules and regulations (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2005, 5). This also means that there might be situations when morals and ethics might not coincide; under such circumstances a good entrepreneur is likely to choose the latter. This holds several provisions that must be understood by a person if one wants to be successful in the business world: sometimes different steps that might not be profitable or quite the opposite to profitable are required. For example, according to ethical decision making process closing a factory which does not meet internal quality standards or utilizes unethical practices is not an option, it is a required action (Guy, 1990, 7). From the point of an entrepreneur closing such factory is closely associated with financial losses. This may be true; however, in the long run the positive aspects of closing it will overweigh the negative consequences in the short run. Considering the issue of involvement of Ethics in entrepreneurship, one can not omit to the concept of competition. Indeed, the latter is largely regarded as an irreplaceable part of performing an economic activity. One would not make a mistake suggesting that the opinion on the manner in which competition should be performed has been changed over the centuries. Originally, this activity was heavily influenced by the desire of an entrepreneur to exclude others for the market in order to enjoy all the attention of the potential customers (Knight, 1997, 22). In spite of the fact that this very desire does not hold any negative implications, the people who developed it ended up causing a lot of harm to their competitors. In order not to follow this path of unethical behavior a good entrepreneur should always keep in mind that competition is one of the driving forces of the economy in general. In other words, one should follow its rules and compete with the help of the conventional methods, not inventing some new way that would bring negative consequences in the long run. This means that ethical competition usually involved respecting the competitors and implementing practicing which are designed to strengthen the system, not to break it. As a result, if a person is able to be rather successful while competing, this does not necessarily involve causing harm to business counterparts. There is an additional aspect of ethical duties which greatly contributes to the development of the correct understanding of this area of entrepreneurship. At the present moment, economic world heavily relies on the advancements made by science. In other words, technology is inevitably involved in business. In spite of the fact that the degree of involvement might vary from the slightest one (merely having personal computers in the office) to the ultimate one (enterprise is performed in the virtual environment entirely), a good entrepreneur should always think about the impact that technology is able to have on the environment (Harris, Sapienza & Bowie, 2009, 408). At the present moment, a considerable number of companies pay close attention to the environmental impact that they have: they try to reduce the amount of paper which is being used in the offices, find environmental friendly substitutes for the materials that are known to have negative effect on nature. It is particularly important that an entrepreneur who is involved in any kind of economic activity carefully considers the impact that one has on environment and introduces appropriate changes into one’s activity as it is thought to be highly unethical to run a business that has a destructive influence on nature. All this leads to the understanding that an entrepreneur should carry out a thorough assessment of the technology which is at one’s disposal and make sure that there is none which is not environmentally friendly. Finally, there is the last ethical aspect which has a direct influence on the activity of an entrepreneur. The very definition of the latter suggests that a person will be devoting a considerable amount of one’s to towards this activity. As a result the balance between private and professional life might be damaged. In spite of the fact that some might not consider this to be an ethical problem, but it surely affect the performance of an entrepreneur and, therefore, should be taken into account. This means that it is an ethical duty of a person to make a clear distinction between two aspects of one’s life so that none of them would suffer from interference from the other (“The Unavoidable Ethical Dilemmas That Entrepreneurs Face”, n.d.). All this leads to the necessity for an entrepreneur to set up firm boundaries and be able to follow them while acting as a private person or as a subject of economic activity. One would make no mistake arguing that this problem should be regarded as a relatively recent one as in the previous times people were not able to work from home as effectively as at the present moment. Indeed, the development of technology nearly destroyed the boundaries between the professional and the private life. However, an entrepreneur, enjoy a full control of the economic activity which is performed by him or her, should be able to restore the above mentioned balance since this is likely to have a positive impact on the performance of the enterprise. Having examined all the points which were carefully examined in the paragraphs above, one might come to the following conclusions: there are several ethical duties which an entrepreneur is encouraged do fulfill as they ultimately lead to a situation when one’s good does not harm others. The ethical duties in question include aspects that belong to different areas of activity. Thus, they take into account all the stakeholders who are affected by the entrepreneurship; the duties also require the person to adhere to the process of ethical decision making as it is likely to bring benefits in the long; the participation in competition should also rely on ethical practice, just like the use of technology; finally, an entrepreneur should be able to maintain a perfect balance between the professional and personal life. Thus, the fulfillment of these duties might become the success of the entrepreneurship. References Ferrell, O., & Fraedrich, J. (2005). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases (6th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Guy, M. (1990). Ethical decision making in everyday work situations. New York: Quorum Books. Harris, J., Sapienza, H., & Bowie, N. (2009). Ethics and Entrepreneurship. Journal of Business Venturing, 24(1), 407-418. Knight, F. (1997). The ethics of competition and other essays. New York: Transaction. McFarlane, D. (2013). The Importance of Business Ethics to Small Ventures. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management Journal, 1(1), 50-59. The Unavoidable Ethical Dilemmas That Entrepreneurs Face. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/business/startup-dilemmas.html Weiss, J. (2014). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. New York: Berrett-Koehler. Read More