Business and ethics

LearnEnglish Professionals

BUSINESS AND ETHICS AUDIOSCRIPT

www.britishcouncil.org/professionals.htm

The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.We are registered in England as a charity.

Listen to part of a lecture about ethical business principles.

Optional exercise(The answers are at the bottom of the page).

Listen to the lecture and complete this student's notes by typing one word in each gap.

Business and ethics

· relate to how company conducts its business to make a _1_

· Corporate social _2_programmes help create prosperous inclusive _3_

· employees should be treated _4_and with respect

· recruitment on basis of _5_opportunity

· _6_businesses should choose suppliers carefully

· companies should pay suppliers on _7_

· companies should minimise _8_consumption and waste products

· can give _9_to community projects

Today I’m going to talk about business and ethics. First I’ll look at what is meant by business ethics. Then I’ll

examine the kind of ethical considerations companies need to address, how they can go about doing business

in a more ethical way, and look at some examples of ethical business practises.

So what are business ethics and why are they seen as important in today’s business climate? Business ethics

relate to how a company conducts its business in order to make a profit. Although the primary goal of the

company may be to make money, it also recognises that it has a responsibility towards the society in which it

operates. The term Corporate Social Responsibility is often used, and nowadays many companies have strong

corporate social responsibility programmes designed to help create a prosperous, inclusive society.

Now I’ll look at some basic ethical considerations that a company needs to address. The first area is how the

company treats its employees. All employees should be treated fairly, and with respect. A company that cares

for its workers’ welfare will tend to have a happier workforce and a lower turnover of staff. It is also important

that workers are recruited on a basis of equal opportunity.

The second area is how a company conducts its daytoday

business. In a manufacturing business, this

includes how suppliers of raw materials are chosen and treated. A good example of this is the Fair Trade

movement. This initiative ensures that smallscale

farmers are paid directly and at a fair price for their crops. A

company should also look at its policy on paying suppliers, and ensure that payments are made on time.

Another ethical consideration is the impact the business has on the environment. Manufacturing companies

should strive to ensure that production is clean and careful, and look for ways to minimise energy consumption

and waste products.

Finally, a company can also decide to give something back to the community it operates in. This can be in the

form of ‘corporate giving’ programmes, where donations are given to community projects, or by initiating

schemes to improve the local community and encouraging employees to work on these schemes.

Answers:1 profit, 2 responsibility, 3 society, 4 fairly, 5 equal, 6 manufacturing, 7 time, 8 energy, 9 donations