The document provides an overview of business ethics and values. It discusses key concepts like the definition of business ethics as moral principles that guide conduct in organizations. It also examines the nature of ethics and responsibility. The document then discusses topics like corporate ethics, virtues of businessmen, ethics and competition, and how corporate culture is transmitted through stories, rituals, symbols and language. It provides the example of professional services firm PwC and summarizes their code of conduct which is based on their core values.

1. Ethics AND Values
ETHICS and
VALUES IN BUSINESS
in Business
European
Management Assistants
José Ignacio González National Training Day
16 June 2012

2. To start off with a simple question.....
EMRON
PARMALAT
LEMAN BROTHERS
GESCARTERA
All companies have ethical values and codes of conduct. But
Do they apply them correctly
when they do business?
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4. The concept of business ethics
Business ethics are the set of moral principles or guidelines governing
or influencing conduct in organisations doing business.
As the standards which organisations use when interacting with
individuals and in business relationships, the ethics of a particular
organisation can be diverse.
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5. What is business ethics?
Many organisations have already gained a bad reputation just by starting up in business.
For some people, business organisations are only interested in making money. Making
money is not wrong in itself. What really matters is how individuals and organisations
conduct themselves when doing business.
Good business ethics should be part of every business. There are many factors to be taken
into account. When an organisation does business with another individual or
organisation whose conduct is not ethical, is the first organisation also considered to be
acting unethically because of its business relationship with such individual or
organisation? Some people would say yes. The first business has a responsibility and it is
now a link in a chain of unethical businesses.
Many global businesses, including most of the major brands used by the public today, do
not seem to appreciate the need for good business ethics. Many major brands have been
fined millions for breaching business laws on ethics.
Money will always be the deciding factor.
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6. What is business ethics?
If an organisation does not adhere to business ethics and breaks the law, it is usually
fined. Many organisations have broken anti-trust, ethical and environmental laws and
have been fined millions. The problem is that the money that these organisations make is
often much higher than the fines which are imposed on them. Huge profits make
organisations blind to business ethics.
An organisation may be a multi-million seller, but does it use good business ethics and do
people care? There are popular soft drinks and fast food restaurants that have been fined
time and time again for unethical behaviour. Business ethics should eliminate
exploitation at all levels, whether it is employing young children to make sneakers or
paying low salaries to coffee-serving staff. Business ethics can be applied to everything
from the cutting-down of trees to sell paper to the importing of coffee from certain
countries.
In the end, it may be up to the public to make sure that an organisation conducts its
business ethically. If the organisation’s profits are high, it may not wish to pay much
attention to ethical conducts. There are many organisations which pride themselves in
their correct business ethics, but in today’s competitive world, they are few and far
between.
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7. What is business ethics?
Let’s get down to basics.....................

8. Ethics
• To talk about ethics, we have to talk
about philosophy as ethics, also
known as moral philosophy, is a
branch of philosophy that deals
with moral principles.
• The most widely-accepted understanding of the word “ethos” comes
from Aristotle who defined it in the following terms:
temperament, character, habits, manner.
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9. The nature of ethics
• Ethics is a philosophical discipline.
• Ethics deals with the study of morals.
• Ethics is the rules or standards by which we should live.
• Ethics is reflexive in that it studies actions not as they are, but how
they should be.
• Ethics is practical in the sense that it is concerned with human
actions.
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10. How is ethics defined?
• Ethics is defined as:
“A set of principles which guide us in our conception
of life, people, judgements, actions and morals”
• When we talk about ethics in business, ultimately we are talking
about responsibility.
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11. Responsibility and its different meanings
• Liability to pay the cost of something, e.g. Drivers of motor vehicles
are responsible for damages caused by their vehicles.
• Commitment, obligation, duty to do something and assume the
consequences for our actions. e.g. My responsibility as president will
be to lead our country to prosperity.
• Cause of something, e.g. Cigarette smoking is responsible for a high
percentage of deaths from lung cancer.
• Being able to be blamed for something, e.g. He is mentally ill and he
cannot be held responsible for his actions.
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12. Legal responsibility
• Legal responsibility arises when a person fails to carry out a duty of
conduct which, unlike moral principles, is established by a body other
than the person in question (mainly the State through laws) and is
coercive.
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13. Corporate ethics
Does it exist?
Is it always correct?

14. Corporate ethics
• Ethics are the fundamental pillar of corporate governance and its
defining factor.
• Ethics are what determine the general public’s perception of
companies.
• For this reason, companies should have a code of ethics, which they
should provide to shareholders, staff, clients, suppliers and the
authorities of their sector.
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15. Ethics and companies. Ethics and directors
• In general, all ethics aim to establish ideal standards of conduct.
• Deontological ethics are concerned with the duties which are
imposed on people according to the various areas or fields of their
lives.
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16. Ethics and competition
• Fair competition with fines for unfair competition.
• Fair competition using legal weapons, i.e. quality and a low price due
to efficiency.
• Advertising based on truths, not on lies or half-truths, and without
denigrating competitors.
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17. Virtues of the businessman
• Businessmen should be hardworking, imaginative, upright.
• Their duties should be based on the truth, firstly the duty to be
truthful and transparent in their dealings and to ensure the quality of
the products and services which they offer.
• Secondly, the duty to be prudent and refrain from using information
which they obtain to the detriment of their competitors.
• Thirdly, the duty to be bold and assume risks which ultimately are
what justify their gains.
• Their actions to obtain their gains should be moderate and restrained
and should not be taken at all cost.
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18. Suppliers, clients and workers:
Climate for values
• The climate should be one where values are governed by regulations
which safeguard the equilibrium and which do not impose more
stringent rules for certain parties than others.
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19. Creating value in companies
• The basis of “value” in companies lies in the way directors run their
businesses.
• Being a “competitive director” is not enough. Directors should
become leaders who know, above all, that they are people and that
they are surrounded by people.
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20. Three values created by companies
1 • financial
2 • psychological
3 • ethical
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21. Professional ethics
• Professional ethics regulate the activities of a profession. Professional
ethics is a discipline of applied ethics as it refers to a specific part of
reality.
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22. Relationship of business ethics and corporate
actions
• In one of Domenec Melé’s studies, he refers to the effect which ethical
actions and morals may have in business relationships.
• According to him, these actions may be of the following types:
 Work motivation.
 Practical wisdom (prudence).
 Corporate culture.
 Reputation or good image.
 Gaining trust.
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23. Work motivation
• Obviously, work motivation largely depends on the worker’s level of
satisfaction and the employment climate as well as the human values
and qualities of his work colleagues and superiors.
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24. Practical wisdom
• When faced with situations and events that arise, decision-making
requires prudence as well as maturity, initiative and a sense of
responsibility.
• In addition to these qualities, people who provide services need to
have managerial skills.
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25. Corporate culture
• Corporate culture is knowledge, experience and practices or ways of
doing business which are typical in an organisation and are based on
the values and convictions of its members.
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26. Strong culture versus weak culture
• Strong cultures in organisations where key values are highly regarded
and widely shared by their members have a bigger impact on workers
than weak cultures.
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27. • The greater the number of members of an organisation who accept its
core values and the greater their commitment to such values the
stronger its culture is.
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28. How is culture transmitted?

29. How do workers learn about corporate culture?
• Culture is transmitted to workers in a number of ways, the most
frequent of which are:
 Stories
 Rituals
 Material symbols
 Language
Let me give you a visual example.
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31. Stories
• Stories of the organisation are usually about key events or people
such as the organisation’s founders, rule-breaking, rags-to-riches
stories, staff reductions and relocations, reactions to past
mistakes, and solutions to problems.
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32. Rituals
• Rituals are repetitive sequences of activities which express and
reinforce an organisation’s key values and its most important
challenges. They help an organisation decide who is essential for the
organisation and who is not.
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33. Material symbols
• Examples of material symbols are the physical layout of an
organisation’s business premises, the clothes worn by workers, the
company vehicles provided to executives, whether the organisation
has its owns aeroplanes. etc.
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34. Language
• Many organisations and their divisions and departments use
language as a means of identifying their members. Merely by using
specific language, members show that they accept the organisation’s
culture which helps to preserve it.
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35. Reputation or good ethical image to attract clients
• A good reputation of loyalty and decency is one of the main assets of
organisations which all workers should promote with the utmost
care.
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36. Gaining trust
• A certain amount of trust is always required for large economic
operations.
• Carrying out operations requires:
 A certain length of time for negotiations.
 The favourable testimonial of a known third person.
 More than just superficial relations.
 Ethical actions and professional competition at all times.
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37. The PwC Experience

38. PwC’s code of conduct
PwC is one of the biggest international service providers. As professional advisers we help
our clients solve complex business problems and enhance their ability to create value,
manage risk and improve performance. As a result we play a significant role in the
operating of capital markets globally. We take pride in the fact that our services add value
to our clients by helping them to improve transparency, trust and consistency in their
business processes. In order to succeed, we must grow and develop, both as individuals
and as a business. PwC’s core values of excellence, teamwork and leadership help us to
achieve this growth.
While, at PwC, we conduct our business within the framework of applicable professional
standards, laws, regulations and internal policies, we also acknowledge that these
standards, laws, regulations and policies do not govern all types of conduct.
As a result, PwC has established a code of conduct for all its firms and people. This code is
based on our values and enables us to takes them one step further by demonstrating our
values in our actions. The PwC code of conduct may be expanded by PwC firms in line
with the specific requirements of their territories.
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39. THANK YOU!
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