How to Build an Ethical Business

Ethical businesses start with a values-driven foundation.

Many business ethics scholars believe that ethical businesses begin with entrepreneurs, CEOs and leaders who have established ethics and strong moral compasses. Businesses founded and run by ethical people tend towards ethical organizational cultures, which in turn builds an ethical business. Businesses that were established without an ethical culture can be redesigned to include ethics as a core system, but the ethical initiatives still need to start with leadership and the organization's culture.

Instructions

1. Define (or adjust) your attitude. Leaders building an ethical business must first consider their own attitudes towards business and ethics. Unethical attitudes must be adjusted. A good place to start assessment might be the Better Business Bureau (BBB). The bureau's standards are seen by many as the basic building blocks of an ethical business and the organization's endorsement is often considered the hallmark of a well-run company. Some BBB values to consider include trustworthiness, honesty, honor, safety and integrity.

2. Decide what ethical behaviors you value. Certain ethical behaviors will become the primary building blocks of your ethical business, while other behaviors will be considerations instead of central values. Think about your routine ethical behaviors and what behaviors you'd like your employees to demonstrate and promote. Ethical behaviors could include the quest for knowledge, self-control, fairness, faith (in oneself, in others, in spirituality, etc.), kindness and courage.

3. Put you values into action. Center many of your business activities around the ethical behaviors that you value. You could use knowledge to innovate, self-control to maintaining objectivity, kindness to encourage others or courage to make correct choices.

4. Create a company code of conduct. Codes of conduct describe how you'd like employees to act, define acceptable behavior and draw the lines for enactable behavior. The code of conduct puts your attitude, values, behaviors and actions into words and direction.

5. Continue to increase ethical behavior. The establishing ideas and company code of conduct are the foundation of an ethical business, but ethical organizations must continue to instill values and strive to be an ethical example.

References

• Graziadio Business Review: Creating and Sustaining an Ethical Workplace Culture
• Better Business Bureau: BBB Standards for Trust
• Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit for Managers

Resources

• Santa Clara University: Characteristics of an Ethical Organization