Ethics is described as "standards or principles of conduct that govern the behavior of an individual or a group of individuals- (Rue & Byars, 1999). The problem with business ethics is there is no agreement as to what is ethical and what is not ethical, but by activating a code of ethics, the organization encourages ethical standards. These codes should be comprehensive and address issues that apply to all areas of the organization. Nonetheless, there are still organizations that do not follow their own ethical codes. Many persons do not consider some of the things they do as unethical. For instance, some call in sick when they are perfectly well, while others cheat on expense accounts, forge signatures, give or accept kickbacks, or maybe just ignore violations of environmental laws.
According to a survey done in 1999, consisting of one thousand executives, "one-third of U.S. senior-level executives lie on their résumés- (Kreitner, 2004). These are the role models one has to follow, so what does this say for business ethics in our world today? It is true that business ethics are not a simple matter, and just being a good person does not mean one can handle ethical issues in a business setting. Decisions that have to be made like hiring practices, product quality, advertising, or even pollution control in an organization, are sometimes hard for the inexperienced individual to handle. Managers have to have experience in those departments, and also must be able to recognize what he/she may be contributing to cause the unethical practices.
Many employees feel pressured by their superiors to act unethically or illegally on the job. Others succumb to the pressures due to balancing work and family, poor communication or leadership, personal financial worries, and an overload of work hours, just to name a few. If managers are aware of the pressures employees face, they can consciously avoid putting undue pressure on them, and prepare to deal with the excessive pressures within the organization (Kreitner, 2004).