This has become a very relative term, with ethics and corporate placed as asynonmous words with each other. The Enrons and Arthur Andersons’ of the world have managed to create perceptions of corporates looking at various dubious means to reach their business ends.
What consists of an ethical company? A company which conducts business in a clean and transparent only or does it also include various parameters like the way it believes in responsibility towards the community at large or even the way it treats its employees in matters of creating a work-life balance as well as dealing with cases of racial and sexual abuse.
Though companies might talk in glorious terms about issues like diveristy and addressal of abuse cases, however when it comes to dealing with real life issues, most of them place their business interests at the forefront. However there are companies like the Tatas Group and Infosys in India who have become trailblazers when it comes to placing the employee interest at the forefront. Whether it was the case of Phaneesh Murthy at Infy or the creation of the Jamshedpur city by JRD Tata, both the companies have shown that when it comes to their employees, bottom lines are just a part and not the entire crux of the business.
However as the world starts getting smaller and flater and companies are no more restricted to their geographies they need to start looking at companies like Microsoft, Citi Group, to name a few. Microsoft in fact can take the credit for being one of the most diversified company on the planet…it has some of the most striking examples of cases of equal opportunity.
With consumers and employees looking at issues such as CSR, transparency as key ingredients for either joining a company or even buying their product it is time that companies seriously started looking at ethics as a key part of their business process and not a talk to be given at trade and HR forums.
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