Business Ethics is the study of proper business policies incorporating trust and practices relating to potential controversial issues, such as corporate governance, insider trading, and discrimination. In the article linked below, “In Life and Business Learning to Be Ethical”, it discusses an experiment that took place at Northeastern University, where subjects were told to flip a coin to see if they would be left with a fun, quick job or a long, dirty job. The subject flips the coin in a private room where a secret video camera is being recorded. Only ten percent of the students that participated did it honestly. The study suggests that people in the work place lack a moral code and telling someone to be more ethical may not change this. People’s ethics switch in the workplace when a high authority is in the room compared to when they are left alone in a room. Figuring out whether someone has been ethically correct throughout their business career is very difficult, and more stories are continually being shared about different ethical principles that have been diminished in the workplace.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/11/your-money/in-life-and-business-learning-to-be-ethical.html?_r=0