The Legal Enviroment of Business : Business Ethics and Law, Professional Responsibility

The Legal Environment of Business

Ethics , Professional Responsibility and the Law

Outline

Introduction

Interaction between Ethics and Law

Legal Regulations

Types of Legal Actions for Businesses

Types of Business Ethics

Organizational Code of Ethics

Personal Ethics

Conclusions

Bibliography

Introduction

Modern businesses have to operate under a variety of laws and regulations . The business manger has to ensure that all federal and state mandated laws are followed to avoid litigation and penalties . In addition to the laws on the books , the businesses also have to

be sensitive to the public opinion and ethics . Laws cover many of the ethical issues but others are related to the public image of the company and may be of equal importance to some businesses [Business Week , 2006]

The staff and directors have to carryout their duties to the business their clients and the society in a professional and responsible manner and conduct company operations successfully and profitably without any problem from the law of the land or from the society , they work in

Interaction between Ethics and Law

As ethics and law increasingly become interwoven , it is becoming more and more difficult to create distinction between the two . Both ethics and law deal with right and wrong both lay down rules for social cooperation and business conduct . Ethics practiced by the society are often incorporated into the law through legislation or court decisions and are thus followed as a part of the law [Reed et al , 2005]

Ethics are learnt from the society and are often imposed upon an individual by the norms of that society . The society , the family , the company or even the law determines what ethical behavior is permitted in a society and business environment . The motivation to follows ethics which are not a part of the law , comes from within , while the reasons to follow the law come from outside the individual , in the shape of compliance with the laws . Most people knew that slavery was unethical but until it was sanctioned illegal , the practice continued

Our morals tell us the ethical behavior , we know now as we knew before that discrimination on the grounds of race , color , sex and religion in business transaction is ethically incorrect but the force of law was required to curb the selfishness that is present in all of us

Morality and ethics do not necessarily have the force of law behind them , but the fear of the law makes everybody pay attention to his /her legal duty . As Justice Holmes said , A bad man who cares nothing for an ethical rule which is believed and practiced by his neighbors is likely nevertheless to care a good deal to avoid being made to pay money , and will want to keep out of jail if he can ' [Reed et al , 2005]

Legal system , however attempts to set a basic minimum , while ethics may demand us to do more . The ethical approach in business can be divided into two categories , formalism and consequentialism . Formalism advocates absolute morality , a...