Rethinking Business Ethics: More Than Just a Code of Conduct
When we hear the term business ethics, many of us think of policies, compliance checklists, and neatly framed mission statements on office walls. But what if ethics in business isn’t just about what’s written down—but how people actually behave, decide, and act in the flow of everyday work?
In their thought-provoking article “Business Ethics as Practice”, Clegg, Kornberger, and Rhodes (2007) challenge the traditional approach to ethics. They argue that ethics isn’t some abstract theory or a standalone principle—it’s something embedded in the real actions and conversations that happen daily across organisations. This shift—from seeing ethics as a policy to seeing it as practice, Strategy in Practice (SaP) —invites us to look more closely at how strategy, culture, and individual behaviour intersect.
In this post, I reflect on their view, consider its relevance to today’s organisations, and share my own perspective on how ethics should be lived and implemented in business.
The new approach on this Practice
The novelty in their approach lies in positioning ethics as practice, aligned with the broader Strategy-as-Practice (SaP) perspective. This means that ethical behaviour is seen as emerging from what people do in organisations, as stated earlier—their daily decisions, judgments, compromises, and interactions. Instead of focusing on formal codes or compliance mechanisms, the authors highlight the situated nature of ethics. This includes the idea that ethical considerations are made in context, shaped by organisational culture, power dynamics, and practical constraints. It’s a move from ethics as theory to ethics in action.
It is agreeable for me coz, I find their perspective both realistic and insightful. Viewing ethics as practice helps bridge the often-observed gap between official ethical policies and actual workplace behaviour. Many ethical dilemmas in organisations are not resolved by consulting codes of conduct but by employees navigating complex social and operational environments. The authors’ argument helps us understand that real ethical conduct is shaped less by rules and more by relationships, routines, and organisational culture.
The existence of this subject are 99% seen on modern companies, even at the organization I am working with. Personally, I believe that ethics in organisations should be implemented not only through formal policies but also by embedding ethical awareness into everyday strategic processes.
And this includes the following:
- Training staff to recognise ethical dilemmas in routine work.
- Encouraging open dialogue about ethical issues at all levels of the organisation.
- Aligning incentives and performance reviews with ethical behaviour, not just outcomes.
- Ensuring leadership models ethical conduct visibly.
- Fostering a culture where people feel psychologically safe to raise concerns.
Well, this does not define to be an option, it must, the ethics should not be a tick-box activity or PR exercise. It should be a consistent, lived value that informs how decisions are made and how people interact within and outside the organisation. The practice-based view encourages this kind of thinking—one where ethics is how strategy is done, not just what is written on paper.
Please drop a comments about your perspective for me to consider and add value on this blocg for my future development and understanding about the topic. Thank you.
