The Spirit of Ethical Values in Business Balamohandas V.1,3, Sharma Meenakshi2 1Former Vice-Chancellor, Acharya Nagarjuna University 2Senior Faculty Venkateswara Group of Colleges, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India 3Former Professor of Management Studies, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India Online published on 15 February, 2019. Abstract “Ethics matters in business”. Unethical practices cost the enterprise at some point or the other. Corporate failures due to lack of demand, obsolescence and technological changes can be understood to be common but today some of the corporate failures are the result of the fraud committed by the people at the helm of affairs. Degradation in the moral character of the people in general and the people running the business units in particular can be seen. There is an imperative need to distinguish ‘failures’ from ‘frauds’. Failures are the result of uncontrollable developments, whereas ‘frauds’ are deliberate, man-made, and dominated by greed, arrogance and disregard for ethics in business. Several great people have explained the meaning of ethical values/standards/practices and emphasized the need for their strict compliance in business and industry. There are several instances of unethical practices in business. An illustrative list of unethical practices has been given. In this paper meanings of and the need for ‘ethics’ and ‘values’ in general and ‘business ethics’ in particular have been discussed. Their interrelationships also have been discussed. Finally the need to draft and implement a model code of business ethics in India has been stressed. Top Keywords Ethics, Values, Business Ethics, Attitudes, Ethical Behaviour. Top |