ETHICAL ISSUES IN OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT COMMERCE ESSAY     1700w

Ethics in the business sector especially in the operations management is getting more popularity. Ethics is concerned about the rules of human behavior and considers whether or not there is any objective right or wrong. The study of ethics is divided into certain divisions which include descriptive morality, ethical theory, and applied ethics. In business, the concept of ethics is present for thousands of years now. The purpose of this research is to explore the body of knowledge with regards to ethics in operations management. Three questions are presented to set directions as follows: (1) what are ethical issues faced in operations management; (2) how do companies resolve ethical issues in their operations management; and (3) does ethical behavior within the operations function need management. Operations management refers to the approach of managing, designing, improving, and operating business processes or systems that are focused on producing or delivering goods and services. A review of literature about the operations management and the ethical issues within it is conducted to obtain answers to the research questions which are presented by the end part.

Ethics is a term which refers to moral philosophy that focuses on the aspects of good life and the difference between better and worse. Ethics is concerned about the rules of human behavior and considers whether or not there is any objective right or wrong. Furthermore, ethics is concerned about the foundations of moral principles and how it evolved. Vee and Skitmore (2003) listed three things that contitute ethics as follows: (1) ethics refers to a system of moral principles which serves as a basis for judging actions as right or wrong; (2) ethics refers to the rules of conduct which illustrates a particu