Saturday, September 24, 2011

Ethics are KEY in Retail!

What Are Key Ethical Issues This Industry Faces?


The retail industry finds way to face a variety of ethical issues. Trust between workers and managers is something i have recently discussed in my business class and that must be based on fairness, honesty, openness and moral integrity. Leadership can help instill corporate values in employees as well. The industry has many employees and people could end up cheating or using fraud and finding information that is private to the company and using it to invest in stocks because they have one leg up on people and may know future outcomes. This clearly is unethical because companies in the retail industry are all competing and it is not fair for one to lost out because of unethical people that work for the companies. Increasing numbers of companies have adopted written codes of ethics for their businesses and employees to follow. They focus on behavior, environmental supports, and etc.


Eric Petroff, a writer in retail for investopedia said that "with such financial rewards at stake, the competition acquire new business is incredibly fierce" (www.investopedia.com). A major career consideration is ethical conflicts brought about by realizers and the sectors in itself. Brokers do not get paid unless the product or service is sold. Customers interests sometime take a "back sear to the broker's need to generate income." Brokers in the retail industry are constantly weighing the need to make money against making appropriate recommendations. That is an ethical issue for them to face with trading the stocks and sometimes knowing information (www.investopedia.com).


ALWAYS,

FALEN RAUCHWERGER

1 comment:

  1. I think Falen made a really good point in the first paragraph about the number of employees in retail and how that can lead to ethics issues. Everyone from employees in the stores to the management team have to abide by ethical codes and the more people there are, the harder that becomes. She also mentions how ethics can be an issue when companies try to get a leg up. Because competition is so important in the retail industry, I think this is a very valid point. Companies are always looking for ways to get a leg up and they may choose methods that aren't necessarily ethical.

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