BECR Exam Area: Ethical Issues Emerging Business Ethics Issues To make an ethical decision, a person must recognize

that there is an ethical situation at hand. So the first step in understanding business ethics is to create ethical issues awareness. Gender, race, culture, characteristics of a job can create ethical issues within a business. What is an ethical issue? An ethical issue is a situation or problem that requires thought from an individual or organization, maybe even an opportunity that needs thought, or an investigation to make a decision on whether the issue is right or wrong. The phrase that regards to business ethics is "deceitful purposes." And that consists of trickery, misrepresentation, or the intent to lead others to believe one truth but not of its entirety. The National Business Ethics Survey suggests that the leading ethical issue since 2000 is abusive or intimidating behavior toward employees. Some of the more common ethical issues and dilemmas in business are as followed: Abusive or intimidating behavior, lying, conflicts of interest, corporate intelligence, discrimination, sexual harassment, environmental issues, fraud, insider trading, intellectual-property rights, and privacy issues. "Conflicts of interest" is pretty self-explanatory. It exists when a person must choose between his/her gain, the organizations, or of some other group. Also, keep private and business matters separate. The same goes for bribery, we all know what bribery is and the consequences are. There are two types of bribery though, active bribery and passive bribery. Active bribery is where the person who promises or gives the bribe commits the offense. The person who receives the bribe commits passive bribery. Discrimination of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, public assistance status, disability, age, national origin, or veteran status is considered discrimination and is illegal in the U.S. 70,000 to 80,000 cases of discrimination charges are filed annually. Bribery Well bribery is always bad, weve all been taught that since we were little kids. Specifically in business though it is often not whether or not its right or wrong, but whether or not one can get away with. And it is excused a dozen different ways. However, bribery is frowned upon in all instances within business, and it carries with it a heavy fine and even jail if the person being bribed is a public official which it seems often to be.

Unfair treatment of employees is also referred to sometimes as victimisation. This is when an employer treats you unfairly or inappropriately. An example of being treated unfair is that of paying you under the minimum wages set forth. In addition treating an employee equally no matter their race, sex, religion, or age is another law that employers are supposed to abide by. If they happen to be treating you inappropriately because of any of those options, it is considered to be discrimination.