Study On The Ethical Behavior Of Enterprises

Before China’s reform and opening-up,units as social entities with complex functions of politics,economy and ethics,undertake social responsibilities instinctively.After the reform and opening-up,the status of interest subjects and independent legal persons of enterprises have been recognized by the market,and the enterprises have become the main behavior subjects of the market.Under the guidance of instrumental rationality and value rationality,the practice of ethical behavior of enterprises has been differetiated: some enterprises only taking instrumental rationality as the law of action but neglecting of ethical regulations implement unethical acts of selfish gain at the expense of others under guidance of self-interet maximization;some other enterprises that attach importance to value rationality and ethical regulations take part in market activities as the subject of moral responsibility,whose ethical practice direction is still on the way of exploration.Thus it can be seen that enterprises have different levels of moral consciousness development,presenting different value orientation through their ethical behavior,and the ethical practice level of enterprises is also uneven.Therefore,for the harmonious development of enterprises and society,it is very necessary to construct the ethical behavior of enterprises,enhance the practical power of enterprise ethics,and explore the balance point of seeking profits and morality.The ethical behavior of enterprises is the actual presentation based on of the initiative of the moral subject and the orientation of the external ethical field.Based on the contractual relationship and organizational system,as the ethical entity created by the society,has the unity of universality and reality in its form.At the same time,the enterprise,as an integrated behavior subject of the unity of individual and collective,has self-moral consciousness and independent behavior.And,the ethical field constructs the external normative component of the enterprise’s“purpose-means” chain,and integrates the social value and normative component into the enterprise’s ethical behavior.The logic of ethical behavior can be explained from three aspects: intention,rules and consequences.The ethical intention based on the concern of stakeholders promotes the trust and reciprocity between enterprises and other stakeholders.The environment determines the rules of the enterprise organization’s ethics system and the connections of enterprises’ external normative value.The enterprise as the moral subject is responsible for its behavior consequences,and fulfills its due moral obligations and social responsibilities.The ideal type of enterprise ethical behavior includes three aspects: "consciousness","field" and "behavior".Consciousness is the initiative of moral subject of enterprises,such as self-consciousness,self-control and self-discipline,which is closely related to the moral quality of the enterprise members and the moral conscience of the collective,and becomes the internal power of the ethical behavior;Field,i.e.the ethical field,is the external rules and mandatory measures of the ethical behavior of the enterprise,which is the external force of the ethical behavior of the enterprise.Behavior refers to the ethical behavior of enterprises,which is generated in the combination of the initiative of the moral subject of enterprises and the external pressure of the ethical field.When the movitation of enterprise moral subject is insufficient,under the pressure of external ethics field,the enterprise exhibits a passive ethical behavior mode;when the motivation is promoted,the enterprise presents a conscious ethical behavior mode with a combination of self-discipline and external-control.The practical plan of enterprise ethical behavior is constructed based on three aspects: the ability of enterprise ethics,the system of enterprise ethics and the spirit of enterprise ethics.Firstly,the construction of enterprise ethical ability lies in improving the initiative of enterprise ethical behavior by cultivating the cognitive,willpower and practical power of enterprise ethics;Secondly,the construction of enterprise ethical system is a practical guiding mechanism of ethical behavior based on the combination of objective rules of ethical field and enterprise moral goals;Thirdly,the construction of enterprise ethical spirit is a spiritual dynamic guidance mechanism with unity of social responsibility and ethical spirit based onfrom the perspective of enterprise citizen.