Ethics Articles

Business » Ethics | By Catherine Harvey @ Thursday, 24th April 2008 @ 1:42 AM

When it comes to the use of office furniture there are several etiquette rules that should be observed and these rules will differ from office to office. What is acceptable in one place will be your downfall in another. Suss out the rules of your new office early on and you will be welcomed with open arms if you observe them in the decent way. Open plan offices take a great deal of delicate handling. Office furniture is often laid out in a manner where all workers are in fairly close prox... more...

Business » Ethics | By Billy Kite @ Friday, 18th April 2008 @ 9:02 AM

The Talmud cited the following incident: There was once a food shortage in Nehardea. All the people sold their mansions. Eventually, wheat arrived and Rav Nachman told them that the law is that the mansions must be returned to their original owners. The Talmud notes that the reason why sales are void is because they were made in error, since it became known that the ship carrying the wheat was waiting in the port at the time the mansions were sold. The Talmud in the daf yomi adds t... more...

Business » Ethics | By Melissa Vokoun @ Tuesday, 8th April 2008 @ 5:02 PM

The environment of your workplace is vital to employee satisfaction, reduction of turnover, and productivity. It is also vital to the legal stability of your business. A hostile work environment can be the basis for many types of employee complaints and causes of legal action. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lists as a basis for employee complaints the existence of a "hostile work environment." The creation or continuation of a hostile workplace environment can be... more...

Business » Ethics | By Linda Dipman @ Wednesday, 12th March 2008 @ 6:18 AM

Recently my son, who is a minister with a master in divinity from the South Western Baptist Theological Seminary, in Dallas, Texas was fired from his job. He had put years of service into the biggest First Southern Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas as their Video Production Engineer. He was highly praised and he was known by the nickname of 'Wonder Boy', all because he could run the television ministry with ease. He also directed, produced, managed a large staff, and even ins... more...

Business » Ethics | By Leslie Parchment @ Monday, 10th March 2008 @ 3:10 AM

The ethics of buying a fake doctors excuse is a hot topic of debate these days. Although opinion varies, the fact is that thousands of people each day buy fake doctors notes to miss work or delay a test at school. This is not surprising when you think that most of us have told a "little white lie" at one time in our lives. Many would say that small lies are so common from politicians to used car salesmen that we often take them for granted. Clearly, we all have our own set of ethics we f... more...

Business » Ethics | By Court Tuttle @ Monday, 25th February 2008 @ 11:22 PM

That question has already been answered to the extent of jail terms, lost pensions, personal disgrace and yet that is only the tip of the iceberg. We as human beings must build organizations in which freedom and personal initiative can cohabit with cooperation, caring and a highly integrated harmony or all is lost. Hard times are not coming they are here. They call into question more self-indulgent goals such as quality of work, life and minimizing the environmental degradation. What g... more...

Business » Ethics | By Catherine Harvey @ Monday, 25th February 2008 @ 1:58 AM

After leaving school, I was quite desperate to get myself into work and took this secretarial job as a fill in. Five years on and I'm still here. I'm still churning out letters from our antiquated printer that only works if you thump it six inches in from the back and for which Mr Parker will only buy cheap ink cartridges. Cheap ink cartridges are all very well if you get them from a reputable company but not Mr Parker. We don't need reputable, he says, we need cheap. Cheap... more...

Business » Ethics | By Jonathon Hardcastle @ Saturday, 9th February 2008 @ 6:31 PM

Running a business on credit is one of the most professional things you can do, whilst also becoming one of the most risky. As soon as you offer credit to your customers you are opening yourself up for severely late payment, or worse still, no payment at all, which can be crippling for any business. For this reason it is imperative that you maintain strong credit control to minimize the risks to your business without damaging customer relations. The first line of defense against late an... more...

Business » Ethics | By Lisa Burkhardt @ Sunday, 20th January 2008 @ 1:32 PM

As an owner of a home-based business, you will have to learn to stay focused on your goals/reasons why you originally chose this direction. It is so easy to become distracted when you are working from home; since there are always a hundred other things that need your attention. Think about all those days when you were at your j.o.b. and you would think if I were home I could be getting so much done. Training yourself to stay focused on your home-based business can prove to be a challenge. more...

Business » Ethics | By Jonathon Hardcastle @ Tuesday, 18th December 2007 @ 7:43 AM

Running a business on credit is one of the most professional things you can do, whilst also becoming one of the most risky. As soon as you offer credit to your customers you are opening yourself up for severely late payment, or worse still, no payment at all, which can be crippling for any business. For this reason it is imperative that you maintain strong credit control to minimize the risks to your business without damaging customer relations. The first line of defense against late an... more...

Business » Ethics | By Richard Bliss @ Friday, 30th November 2007 @ 11:32 AM

It used to be the stolen kisses in the cleaning closet and the joint business trips, but today's tracking of illicit employee behavior has reached a new level of surveillance. Almost every communication and every message is tracked, recorded and cataloged by a company's IT department. Here are three things to watch out for if you are personalizing your work communications: Email - In the US, organizations own the email that their employees use to conduct work. They own all the c... more...

Business » Ethics | By Shaun Parker @ Thursday, 29th November 2007 @ 4:03 PM

Discrimination in the workplace takes many forms. It can be related to either race, age, gender, religion or sexual orientation. This was previously driven by moral or ethical grounds and public relations. In the past, many people who don't fall into the common bracket have found it difficult to actually find jobs, then to cope with the opposition they face once their diverse lifestyle is public knowledge. However, in recent years, the huge cultural shift in Britain has led to a gre... more...

Business » Ethics | By Jonathon Hardcastle @ Tuesday, 20th November 2007 @ 11:32 AM

Most people do not easily accept the new, mostly because of the unknown factor that people tend to call fear. It is not only as Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky had put it that "taking a new step, uttering a new world is what people fear most." Even in slight things the experience of the new is rarely without some stirring of foreboding. In the case of drastic change, like the one information technology has currently imposed on the distribution systems inside every market discusse... more...

Business » Ethics | By Marc Choyt @ Friday, 9th November 2007 @ 7:09 PM

In March, 2007, I traveled to Turkey, where I attended the Istanbul Jewelry Show. There I met a diamond dealer, the president of a large firm with a large booth. He was the brother of a personal friend and had been in the diamond industry for many years. His primary business was the Russian market, the fabulously rich oligarchy which has a large appetite for bling. The larger, the better. "How much do conflict diamonds still enter the supply chain?" I asked. "A huge a... more...

Business » Ethics | By Marc Choyt @ Wednesday, 17th October 2007 @ 9:57 PM

A Google search for "fair trade jewelry" will bring up numerous companies, many of which sell ethnic jewelry produced in small villages in the developing world. The concept draws the socially responsible shopper, yet the third party labeling organization, Fair Labeling Organization (FLO) - of which Transfair USA is a member - does not currently list jewelry. Apart from that, some large players in the mainstream jewelry industry are beginning to tout concepts such as "fair trade diamo... more...

Business » Ethics | By Marc Choyt @ Wednesday, 17th October 2007 @ 9:50 PM

In 2006, Carmen Iezzi, was named executive director of the Fair Trade Federation, which represents more than 250 fair trade businesses in North America. An Alumni of American University, she knew she had an important and significant job to do. She envisioned her role as the youngest person there; to lead the group with fresh eyes and new energy, working towards an important cause during a key time of growth. I conducted this interview with her over the telephone and through email... more...

Business » Ethics | By Marc Choyt @ Friday, 12th October 2007 @ 6:42 PM

I conducted this interview with Steve D'Esposito: MC: Given EARTHWORKS' highly charged "Dirty Gold" campaign which many perceived as hostile to the jewelry industry, how it is now that you have now coalesced support to sponsor this jewelry summit? Can you outline, briefly, what led you to this position and the role of the Madison Dialogue? SD: That's a misperception. The campaign calls for "No Dirty Gold." It's not a campaign against gold. It�... more...

Business » Ethics | By Obinna Heche @ Friday, 12th October 2007 @ 12:25 PM

You wanted to have that second cup of coffee from your favorite mug and you will only be a few minutes late. Whats the big deal. It is a big deal to be late by five minutes or an hour. When you are late for work, every minute counts. Each minute missed effects the flow of a business. Businesses run on a schedule to prevent conflict and to insure that everything runs smoothly. When an employee is late it automatically alters the schedule and the days events. An example of this is a person... more...

Business » Ethics | By Obinna Heche @ Tuesday, 9th October 2007 @ 3:07 PM

You wanted to have that second cup of coffee from your favorite mug and you will only be a few minutes late. Whats the big deal. It is a big deal to be late by five minutes or an hour. When you are late for work, every minute counts. Each minute missed effects the flow of a business. Businesses run on a schedule to prevent conflict and to insure that everything runs smoothly. When an employee is late it automatically alters the schedule and the days events. An example of this is a person... more...

Business » Ethics | By Obinna Heche @ Tuesday, 9th October 2007 @ 2:19 PM

Working in a stockroom can be a dirty job and someday you hope that your efforts will be noticed and you will get the chance to prove what you can with a promotion into a supervisors role. However, if supervisors watching the operation see everyone dressed for the part of throwing freight around the back room, they will generally place them all in the same category. Working harder is one way to get promoted but having someone who matters notice your extra work can take a long time and may... more...