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Business Studies for Secondary Schools

Ethical norms and values are standards and guidelines that encourage moral behaviour.
People should follow ethical principles in enterprises to improve business ethics. Some
of ethical principles are illustrated in Figure 5.1.

Honesty
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Intergrity

Responsibility

Fairness
Business

Accountability ethics

Respect

Transparency

Lawfulness
Commitment to
excellence

Figure 5.1: Ethical principles
Honesty: This involves being trustworthy, truthful, candid, and forthright. Ethical
organisations do not deliberately mislead or deceive others by misrepresentations,
overstatements, partial truths, selective omissions, or other means.

Integrity: This requires businesses to keep promises and fulfil commitments. This means
that business people should not interpret agreements in an unreasonably technical or
legalistic manner to rationalise non-compliance or create justifications for escaping
their commitments and responsibilities.
Fairness: This requires a business to be just in all of its dealings. This means that people
in business should neither exercise power arbitrarily nor use indecent means to gain or
maintain any advantage or take undue advantage of another’s mistakes or difficulties.
They should manifest a commitment to justice, equal treatment of individuals, tolerance
for and acceptance of diversity.
Respect: This calls for the treatment of everyone the way you would like them to treat
you. Ethical businesses should demonstrate respect for the human dignity, autonomy,
privacy, rights, and interests of all those who have a stake in their decisions; they need
to be courteous and treat all people with equal respect and dignity regardless of their
sex, race, or nationality.

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