Reflection Paper: My Thoughts - about business ethics, business relationships, leadership, and how each contributes to an organization's overall culture

Ethics in Business
Name:
Institution:
Course:
Date:
Ethics in Business
Ethical standards play a significant role in business relations. It forms part of the business foundation upon which all the interactions that the business makes are based on. Business relations form a crucial part of conducting business, as the business makes transactions with clients and suppliers and interacts with the shareholders. The ethical standards maintained by a company also determines how the clients and the shareholders among other stakeholders perceive the company in question (Hose, 2016). There are basic principles that apply with regard to the ethical standards and they are not dependent on the type of the business that is in question. The ethical standards have less to do with the legal obligations and more to do with the element of self-governance. With reference to business relations, ethical standards determine the best way to minimize conflict of interest (Hose, 2016). In an example when choosing the best contracts on the lowest bids, this should be the standard and the contract should not instead awarded to acquaintances other than companies that actually meet the standard set out for the lowest bid. This is also the same case when treating the customers with the utmost respect and honesty, such that customers develop trust for the company. Aspects such as favoritism should always be avoided at all times especially during events such gifts offerings to customers and suppliers. One of the areas that companies have to make sure that they integrate the ethical standards and make part of the company culture is when interacting with their employees (Hose, 2016). Aspects like unhealthy competition, nepotism and personal relationships at the place of work should be highly controlled and avoided as they are likely to create compromises in the business operations and void the company credibility.
As leader one is supposed to set the example that the rest of the company will follow to make sure that the company is maintain the highest standards in the industry. As such, leaders have the burden of creating the guiding tools and principles that they staff can follow in all of the company operations. The leaders are always responsible for maintaining integrity and trust in their groups. As a leader is tasked with the responsibility of making sure that they maintain clear communication (Engelbrecht, Heine, & Mahembe, 2014). This will help the leader to ensure they foster healthy relationships with the stakeholders, suppliers, sponsors, employees and the customers. As...