Sources of Business Ethics

1. Religion: There are numerous religions followed by people and each religion talk about
the nature of right and wrong in business as well as in each walk of life. Religion is the
basis of an individual that he follows from his childhood and is deeply rooted in his
behaviors. He understands about the fair and unfair, badness and goodness of actions and
the consequences of these actions.

The Principle of Reciprocity, i.e., exchanging things with others for mutual benefits, is
seen in all the religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, etc.

2. Culture: The other source of business ethics is the culture that an individual has to
follow pertaining to certain guidelines prevalent in the society to which he belongs to.
The culture implies the rules, standard, values that are transmitted from generations to
generations.

These are the standard code of conduct to be followed by an individual that is permissible
and acceptable to the community to which he belongs to from his childhood. The human
 civilization is cumulative of cultural experience that an individual passes through during
his lifetime.

3. Law or The Legal System: Law is the code of conduct formulated by the legal system of
the state and is to be followed by an individual to respect the societal interest. These are
the strict rules and procedures that every business should abide by to conform to the
ethical behavior of each.Although, the Law is reactive in nature and cannot cover all the
cultural ethics as the law is created when the new evil emerges.

Thus, the Business Ethics are greatly influenced by these sources which vary from company to
company and country to country, and this is the reason why these differ across the globe.

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Root causes of unethical behaviour

People often wonder why employees indulge in unethical practices such as lying, bribery,
coercion, conflicting interest, etc. There are certain factors that make the employees think and act
in unethical ways. Some of the influencing factors are pressure to balance work and family,
poor communications, poor leadership, long work hours, heavy work load, lack of management
support, pressure to meet sales or profit goals, little or no recognition of achievements, company
politics, personal financial worries, and insufficient resources.16 The statistical data given by
Ethics Officers Associationin 1997 show how certain practices or factors contribute to unethical
behaviour.17

Why do people behave unethically? Why do some employees engage in unethical acts such as
lying on an expense account, accepting kickbacks, falsifying reports, and forging signatures?
One or more of these root cause factors might be at play in unethical behavior:

Poor ethical leadership

Poor communications
Pressure to balance work and family
Pressure to meet sales or profit goals
Lack of management support
Resentment to the workplace and retaliation
Company policies
Little or no recognition of achievements
Long work hours, heavy workload
Personal financial worries
Insufficient resources

In the modern societies, with eroding adherence to personal and societal values, the temptation to
behave in unethical ways is not going to go away. As young professionals go into business today,
the enticement to evade ethics is mounting. We live in a time of deep obligation on individuals
and organizations to cut corners, pursue their own personal and professional interests, and forget
about the consequences of their behavior on others.

Balancing work and family 52%

Poor leadership 51%
Poor internal communication 51%
Lack of management support 48%
Need to meet goals