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■ LANGUAGE EXERCISES
BUSINESS ETHICS
BUSINESS ETHICS / CORPORATE ETHICS
practices, many organizations are choosing to make a
public commitment to ethical business by formulating
codes of conduct and operating principles. In doing so,
they must translate into action the concepts
of personal and corporate accountability, corporate
giving, corporate governance, and whistleblowing.
Definition: a system of moral principles applied in the
commercial world. Business ethics provide guidelines for
acceptable behaviour by organizations in both their
strategy formulation and day-to-day operations. An ethical
approach is becoming necessary both for corporate success
and a positive corporate image. Following pressure from
consumers for more ethical and responsible business
1. Find synonyms
(absolute or near) for the following words
in the text above:
1. responsibility, liability –
2. compulsion, demand –
3. conduct –
Source: BNET Business dictionary
http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/Business+Ethics.html
4. Match the words that go together:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
adhere
retain
give
comply
act
conform
a. goodwill
b. within the law
c. to codes of conduct
d. away inside information
e. to ethical standards
f. with local customs
4. essential, important –
5. client, purchaser –
6. ethical –
7. policy –
8. directive, manual –
9. promise –
2. Fill the gaps
with suitable expressions:
In other words, business ethics a) ..........................
problems that can b) ................................... in the
business environment and how employees, management and the corporation can c) ............................
them ethically. Although the primary d) ...................
of the company is to make profit, it also acknowledges that it has a responsibility towards the society
in which it e) ...............................
5. What do you call these situations
(ethical issues)?
1. Politicians to be elected are wined and dined in
expensive restaurants by a company which needs a law
to be passed.
2. A company wants to find out what their competitors are
working on so it secretly pays off one of competitor’s
employees to take photos.
3. Eight-year-old children work in appalling working
conditions.
4. A company gives money to corrupt officials in order to
win a contract.
5. A company tells only a half truth or keeps quiet about
its product’s bad aspect in the media.
6. Someone informs the media or the authorities that a
company is doing something illegal.
6. Match expressions with their meaning:
3. Fill in the gaps:
Some of the issues that business ethics deal with are:
employment – l_ _ _ _r standards, working c_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ s, workers’ w_ _ _ _ _ e and recruitment on a
basis of e_ _ _l o_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ s.
environment (g_ _ _ n issues) – environmental p_ _ _
_ _ _ _ n (emissions), energy c_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ n, waste
d_ _ _ _ _ _ l, sustainability of n_ _ _ _ _ l r_ _ _ _ _
__s
corporate g_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ e – the way a company is organized, directed and controlled
1. embezzlement
2. counterfeiting
3. racketeering
4. insider trading
5. rigging
a. misusing confidential information
for buying or selling shares of a
company
b. illegal interfering in order to
achieve desired results (e.g.
during elections)
c. stealing money from your
employer
d. forging money
e. getting money in an illegal way,
e.g. by fraud
Answers on page 77
Business Spotlight
684/2005
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Business Spotlight