The Tip: Ethics in a Business Setting

The Tip: Ethics in a Business Setting: Ethics simply put is a code of behavior considered correct. Morals, on the other hand are personal philosophies on right and wrong.  Looking...

Ethics in a Business Setting

Ethics simply put is a code of behavior considered correct. Morals, on the other hand are personal philosophies on right and wrong.  Looking at ethics in a business sense, one can separate into 2 distinct categories: business ethics and professional ethics. Business ethics are ethics in a business setting whilst professional ethics demands the creation of a predetermined framework or set of rules to guide the professional when making ethical decisions.

Developing an ethical framework within your business by involving all your employees will provide your business as a whole methods in dealing with ethical dilemas. Your framework should feature consideration of everyone's duties, the consequences of alternatives and indentifying stakeholders and so on. Your ethical model will exemplify how decisions can be made and is best internalized rather than memorized.

How to use Teams within your Organisation

Use a team to serve a variety of functions for your business.  The day-to-day operations can be shifted to teamwork (factory production , airline crews etc.).  Teams can be formed to provide advice and deal with special problems such as a team created to suggest improvements in work processes.  Teams assist in managing problems by linking different parts of your business such as budget or planning committees composed of members from several departments.  Finally teams can be used to change your business by planning for the future or managing transitions.

3 types of organizational teams:

1. traditional work group
2. traditional team
3. self-managing team

Traditional teams are given power and authority and their leaders are selected by management.  Self-managed teams are given significantly more authority and tend to be independent of management. Delegation when undertaken correctly can work really well to spread the work load, empower employees and ensure all of the key stakeholders within your business pull in the same direction.

Bloody emails

A trusted assistant can reduce the burden of email in ways automated systems and inbox filters can not.  They can review your messages quicker and with a far greater regard to your customer needs than any email toolbox can.  Before you choose to delegate your email, ask:

1. how much skill and discretion should I expect from my assistant?
2. what kind of relationship do I have with this person?

Technological solutions mean you do not have to share your password or every single message you get.  Make sure you let your customers know that your assistant can reply to your emails on behalf of you.  Draft templates and signatures so standard replies can be given to standard emails received. 

The Tax Debate

Cut taxes to encourage spending or raise tax against the wealthy, redistribute it to the needy to encourage spending?  One policy appears to award productivity and foster growth whilst the other appears to penalize hard work and reward non productivity.........

that will be my one and only apolitical comment for the year.  Now get out and vote!

Quick Cash for your Business

Need a quick interest free cash-injection or loan for your business?  Use your credit card!  What you say?  Here's how it works: the billing cycle for most credit cards are from the 27th of the month to the 26th of the following month. If you pay for expenses by using your credit card on the 27th of the month, it will go on the following bill that is payable on the 26th in 2 months time!

Pay the credit card off in full by the due date and you in effect gain a free cash-injection or loan for your business. Further more if the credit card you use is an Air Miles card, the more you spend not only do you save on bank fees, you accumulate air points to use on free overseas travel!!

Engaging Your Employees

The very thought of sharing your financials with your employees seems ludicrous doesn't it?  Why are you, the business owner, more engaged in your business more so than your employees?  You know the rules, you make the decisions and you watch the numbers.  Imagine therefore if you can make your employees think like a business owner (part of the Team) as opposed to being spectators on the sidelines.

There's a surprisingly simple way to do this: share your business's financial information with your employees.  If you make the economics of your business come alive, people begin to pay attention to what's working and what isn't. Provide your employees with plenty of context about financial goals, and you may find they spot opportunities you may not have noticed already.  Another possible spin off is that adopting this sort of employee interaction may help to tie incentive compensation to financial improvement, so that employees see a payoff as well.