Evaluation and Importance of Business Ethics in Terms of Organizational Culture

Introduction

Nowadays, in order for organizations to exist and survive in a competitive environment, behavioral and management styles based on organizational values have become one of the prerequisites. In recent years, it is becoming more important for organizations to assume social responsibility towards society, to adopt ethical values, and to be competitive and innovative in their adaptation to international business standards. There is an unwritten “standard of behavior” that indicates whether existing behaviors are in line with the team spirit. Every new member of the organization will understand the way the organization works, the way of dressing, what kind of behavior will put themselves in a difficult situation, how important honesty is, how the hierarchical system works and how they have to adapt to such behavior. There is a dominant understanding of organizational culture that distinguishes each organization from other organizations and this must be adopted by all employees. Organizational culture, which means the common beliefs, values, norms, traditions, practices and the way of doing things that keep the members of the organization together; Achieving certain common goals, developing a sense of unity and integrity among the members of the organization, overcomes the uncertainties created by internal and external changes, and plays an important role in adapting to the changing environment. Ethical values and business ethics form the basis of organizational culture, define who the organization is, what it believes and how it tries to achieve it; determines the principles of strategy, policy, and behavior in this process; it shapes the beliefs, traditions, and ways of working of the organization.

The modern world has not come to the point where it came from the easy way. Throughout history, human beings have been influenced by ethical theories and created the modern world. Ethics has tried to provide the moral structure that human beings need by dealing with what and how to decide the right and wrong actions that have been going on for thousands of years. In this historical adventure, ethics has undergone a transformation from the philosophers' understanding of virtue in ancient times to the Kant (2001) approach to enlightenment. Ethics has undergone its first major transformation throughout history during the Bentham era (Bentham 1989). Bentham's theory of “utilitarianism” emerged from the ethical approach laid the foundation for the liberal economic views of Adam Smith (1723-1790), described as the founder of today's economic system (Smith 1987). The second major transformation in ethics has emerged with enlightenment. Kant, one of the greatest thinkers of the Enlightenment, led to the secularization of morality. Kant, who says that he made the Copernican revolution in ethics with the ethical approach he put forward, is undoubtedly still one of the greatest and most influential thinkers of our century. Kant's homework ethics not only shaped the individual morality of today's modern world, but also influenced the legal systems of states.

Business ethics has also been transformed according to the ages dominated by ethical theories. Business ethics has not been able to struggle for existence within the utilitarian approach and has been called an oxymoron in the Western world. Major economic crises and increased human rights violations have led to a paradigm shift in business ethics within the Western world. The business ethics that came to Kant's ethics underwent a major transformation and suffered road accidents in economic crises. Academicians who examined the causes of unethical practices with economic crises have increased their publications on business ethics. In order to prevent ethical violations, governments have begun to regulate their business life through legal legislation. Today's modern states have not been freed from these changes. With the establishment of ethics committees, ethical violations in the public are tried to be prevented. Ethics associations and foundations operating in the private sector strive to increase ethical awareness and serve to complete the moral and legal gaps in business life. Universities have not been exempted from the changes that have taken place. Vocational ethics or business ethics courses have been converted into compulsory or elective courses. The lack of academic literature on business ethics and the limited research in certain structures cause this field to be underdeveloped. This study was carried out in order to contribute to the literature of business ethics, to ensure that ethical issues remain on the agenda and to demonstrate the importance of organizational culture.