hi all welcome to my channel my name is teacher Ilona and on this channel I do business studies videos for grades 10 11 and grade 12. today's one is for the grade 12s we are diving in And discussing ethics and professionalism grade 11s please take note you can also watch this video As It Gets discussed in grade 11 as well I hope you enjoyed [Music] please ignore that I don't take any credit for the information given in these slides I have received this information from accounting education department as well as the Western Cape education department I will put the links down below my description and there will be at the end of my video as well I make use of the exact government resources to make sure that the information the students are getting is reliable accurate up-to-date and correct let's dive in the meaning of ethical Behavior businesses always have the responsibility to do the right things and to do things right for this reason ethical Behavior means that businesses have the responsibility to use moral codes that guide them to make the choice between right and wrong ethics forms part of the code of conduct of businesses the business must set values that will be used in their operations those moral compass of the business will be used for guidance when making decisions examples of ethical and unethical behavior let's look at examples of ethical Behavior first the business is telling the truth during a public relations crisis to overcome the issues they are facing businesses keep promises to their employees partners and customers the business shows loyalty when they make decisions that will also benefit their staff partners investors and consumers the businesses show fairness when it exercises its power justly to all stakeholders the business operates within the law and other restrictions businesses ensure that the environment is not polluted during the production process and businesses do not engage in illegal business practices such as price fixing businesses also don't make use of child labor so these are ethical behaviors buy a business now let's look at unethical Behavior by business dumping pollutes into the water supply rather than using environmentally friendly solutions for cleaning up for pollutes releasing toxins into the air at levels that are above the permitted level of the Environmental Protection Agency deliberately falsifying information on tax returns clarifying an employee as a contractor to reduce payroll taxes and avoiding other compulsory deductions engaging in price fixing to force smaller competitors out of business using bait us and switch or false advertising tactics to learning customers or convince them to buy our product now we're looking at professional Behavior although professionalism is closely linked to Essex it is a broader concept than ethics it includes issues like appearance communication responsibility Knowledge and Skills an example of professionalism is a business person who is dressed in a suit and tie with good manners and has a good business sense a professional person will also make good use of time treating all people with respect and keeping to the businesses and clients information confidential now we're looking at examples of professional and unprofessional behavior professional Behavior respecting yourself and others so for example being on time for work and appointments using polite language with colleagues and clients good use of work time and setting high standards in all areas of your job keeping clients details confidential and not using clients information for your personal gain ing all colleagues and clients the same taking responsibility for your actions so for example admitting your mistakes exercising reasonable work morale and self-motivation unprofessional behavior using rude or impolite language with colleagues and clients abusing work times so for example coming late making or receiving personal phone calls and sending unnecessary emails discussing client's information or using clients information for personal gain giving some people special favors overstating the number of hours worked being unpreferred unprepared for tasks and assignments then creating false Impressions and providing misleading information unauthorized use of business resources are we going to look at them side by side so before we dive in the one main important thing between the two is that ethical Behavior we're looking very much so on what is right what is wrong and what is acceptable within Society okay so note that Society with ethics when we're looking at professionalism we're looking also at doing the right thing but we're looking more about how you conduct yourself and how you handle yourself but in a workplace environment so that's the main difference between the two so let's Dive In ethical Behavior refers to principles of right and wrong or acceptable behavior in society like I mentioned whereas on the other hand professional Behavior refers to what is right or wrong or acceptable in a business ethical Behavior conforms to a set of values that is morally acceptable whereas professional behavior is a set of standards of expected Behavior ethical Behavior forms part of a code of conduct to guide employees to act ethically whereas professional behavior is applying a code of conduct to a profession or business ethical Behavior focuses on developing a moral compass for decision making whereas professional Behavior focus on upholding the reputation of a business or profession ethical Behavior involves following the principles of right and wrong in a business activities practices or dealings whereas professional Behavior includes guidelines on employees appearance communication attitude and responsibility apologies for the noise my neighbor has just put their generator on I do apologize and I hope it's not too distracting now we're looking at the application of the king code principles here in the slide you can see who created it all right so there is Mervin King himself just so you can see as reference the meaning of the king card principles is that the king code was developed by the former judge of the high court Mervin King and by the commission King Commission the king code aims to set a code of ethical and effective leadership by the board of directors the application of the Kinko principles we're going to look at now we will only focus on the application of transparency accountability and responsibility as the principles for good corporate governance so transparency okay I always used to remember this in school okay I'm giving away my age when I was at school and they used to have those like projectors as old school projectors where you had the screen and then it had a poll and you would like lift so you could put it on a wall I hope I'm making sense and they would use transparencies so it's basically uh see-through piece of paper with writing on it that they would put on the screen and then they could open the flap so it would show on the wall so when I remember transparency I remember I can see through that sheet of paper through that plastic so when we think about being transparent it means that you're being open and honest and people can see through you if that makes sense so transparency getting back to see the information it's decisions or actions must be clear to all stakeholders Staffing and other processes must be open and transparent like I said employees shareholders directors should be aware of their employment policies of the business auditing and other reports must be accurate and available to shareholders and employees regular audit should be done to determine the effectiveness of the business business dealings should be conducted openly so that there is no hint or sign of dishonesty or corruption businesses should give details of shareholders voting rights to them before or at the annual annual general meeting the board of directors must report on both the negative and the positives of the business and the community the board should ensure that the company's ethics are effectively implemented then we're moving on to accountability they must be regular communication between management and stakeholders the company should appoint internal and external Auditors to audit financial statements the board should ensure that the company's ethics are effectively implemented businesses should be accountable or responsible for their decisions and actions businesses should present accurate and annual reports to shareholders at the annual general meeting top management should ensure that other levels of management are clear about their roles and responsibilities to improve accountability then responsibility the business or board should develop and Implement programs that should be aimed at protecting the communities in which they operate the business support should develop remedial plans to protect the environment for example reducing air and water pollution so now we're going to look at ways in which a business can act professionally responsibly and ethically although businesses have a choice in how they conduct their business practices they must choose within the principles of the king code to remain profitable and sustainable over a long period so let's look at these ways business decisions and actions must be clear and transparent to the stakeholders businesses should be accountable or responsible for their decisions and actions the business should hire honest trustworthy accountants Financial officers within good credentials to ensure transparent recording and financial statements the payment of taxes must be regular and time years and the business must disclose all information to SARS and not find loopholes in how to avoid tax the business should drive a code of ethics the documents must State acceptable behavior in the business there must be ongoing development and training for all employees of the business Performance Management systems or appraisals should be in place to motivate employees of the business they must be adequate internal control or monitoring evaluation to ensure accountability of the business the businesses salaries and wages must be fair and in line with the requirements of the basic conditions of Employment Act businesses must also remunerate employees for work done as well as work over time businesses must take care of the environment and use green policies such as recycling paper responsible disposal of waste material and safe energy in the workplace the business must not start a business venture at someone else's expense or using ideas of another business or individual and respect the intellectual property of another business businesses should treat all employees equally regardless of their race color age gender disability and so on they must also adhere to the requirements of the employment Equity Act then last one provide good quality services to customers and pay attention to the safety of customers also give key information to customers so that they can make informed decisions challenges posed by unethical and professional business practices the meaning of types of unethical business practices technical business practices on the part of the company and its management creates a situation where employees feel ashamed and embarrassed by the company its products and services or its role it is as if they are doing something wrong by association these feelings cause mistrust and low morale so unethical business practices and unprofessional business practices so unfair advertising unfair advertising is also known as false or deceptive advertising this refers to the use of false or misleading statements in advertising leading to the misrepresentation of the concerned product which may negatively affect customers so examples of unfair advertising can be a false claim about the characteristics of a good or service such as a product is a different color weight or size compared to what is actually being advertised it can also be that of the price or the way the price is calculated is most represented when products are advertised at sale prices but turn out not to be so there's a silly example on the left there we can see there wrinkles less wrinkles in only minutes okay I think we all know you can't get less wrinkles in just minutes okay they take years to come so it's going to take a long time to also try and remove them or lessen the effects of them so there's a very good example of false advertising when you're going into a store and you see that the milk for example is now 10 Rand for a liter opposed to 15 Rand 16 Rand they go up to about 20 Rand once you get to the tour and they ring it up you see no in fact the milk is actually still set at 20 Rand for example that is misleading and that's unfair advertising to the customer pricing of goods in rural areas businesses often charge high or exorbitant prices for goods in rural areas people enroll areas are often not able to compare prices of different retailers they are forced to buy from one local store placing them at the mercy of greedy shopkeepers who inflate prices okay it's important to remember that no matter what area you are you still need to be fair to the customer because at the end of the day customers have right to do so you can't charge these exorbitant pricing just because you're in a rural area it's not fair to those people and in if anything you actually exploiting those people so making sure that you know the pricing in urban areas and making sure that you're matching up to those pricing taxation or tax evasion tax evasion is an illegal activity which a person or entity deliberately avoids paying a true tax liability those cultivating tags are generally subject to criminal charges and substantial penalties to willfully fail to pay taxes is an offense so now we're going to look at the challenges opposed by unfair advertisers so what are the challenges that this process the the use of false or misleading statements in advertising leads to misrepresentation of a product which could negatively affect the consumer deceptive advertising can violate the trust of customers and Destroy business relationships businesses can make unwise advertising choices which they are under pressure to increase their profits and their advertising could negatively affect consumers some advertising can be regarded as discriminatory because they exclude or Target some sections of the population okay an example that I know that I always remember in this section okay just an example for Content purposes this is not anything against the original company in any way so I know that Red Bull's ads used to say Red Bull gives you wings and it used to just be wings with one eye and then someone was upset because they bought Red Bull and it didn't give them Wings which I think is silly because we all know it's advertising but they felt it was misleading and unfair so in that way now if you see Red Bull ads it says it gives you wings with like three or four eyes in the wedding so just like that is an example that we can make use of unfair advertising as I say although I think we all know that general knowledge comes involved and we know that if we're going to have a sip of this drink we're not going to just grow wings but at the end of the day they were promoting that it gives you wings which it was not doing so I think it was more of a metaphor which should have been a bit more stressed but that's just an example for that one thin misleading advertising the challenge is there so challenges posed by pricing of goods in rural areas some businesses in rural areas to exploit their customers as I mentioned by inflating their prices and this could lead to disloyalty from their customers businesses may experience a decline in sales due to the high cost added into the price of the final product businesses may form monopolies in rural areas and increase their pricing unilaterally which may result in high fines so all these businesses are coming together and saying that the price of bread is now going to be 40 Rand and they've all agreed that they all will charge Prime bread at 40 Rand which we all know at this stage now in 2023 breed is priced at roughly 20 21 22 Ram depending on where you buy it so they can get heavily fined because of this because it's exploiting the customer at the end of the day it may be common practice to pay higher prices for goods of inferior quality in rural areas there might be more complaints from customers about bad quality of products and services then challenges posed by a taxation or tax evasion businesses May pay heavy fines for evading tax evasion May negatively affect May negatively impact on the business's image the accountant may be charged High fees for falsifying the financial statements businesses may lose key stakeholders if the act of the tax evasion is reported some businesses submit fraudulent or incorrect returns to SARS resulting in penalties businesses may not be familiar with the latest changes in tax legislation they're dealing with so ways that businesses can now deal with these issues so dealing with unfair advertising businesses must report unfair advertising by competitors to the advertising standards Authority businesses should be encouraged to keep their advertising fair and in line with the Constitution businesses must make sure not to Omit key information from the advertisements advertisements should be honest or legal and not abuse abuse consumers trust and lack of knowledge advertisements should contain should not contain anything discriminatory likely to cause offense or to support Acts or violence they in a way that a business can deal with unethical business practices within pricing of goods in rural areas a business May lobby with another business in the area to convince the government to improve infrastructure in the rural area Okay because it's a lot of money to get these Goods into the rural areas because of the roads and the condition of the roads so they could buddy up with another company and go and ask the government can they improve the infrastructure and Market related prices for goods like I mentioned they need to see what is the standard price for bread and match their prices up to that the businesses must be willing to avoid unethical business practices to attract customer loyalty they must investigate cost-effective ways of transporting products or hire a large truck to combine deliveries to with other shop owners in the area so they hire a truck and they all go do the the tractors all of their deliveries which can save them on costs the businesses must work together with suppliers to share the delivery cost to remote rural areas theme ways a business can deal with unethical business practices Within Taxation and tax evasion value-added tax so that needs to be charged on vatable items submit the correct tax returns to start on time all products must be recorded correctly recorded and invoiced disclose all resources of income for tax purposes keep abreast with the latest Source regulations and tax laws businesses that have evaded tax should apply for a Ministry and declare their income effective systems to determine the appropriate amount of tax to be paid should be in place businesses should keep accurate records of income statements and financial transactions the employee's payroll needs to reflect accurate deductions according to the progressive tax system and then make sure that all Financial records are checked and audited now we're going to look at an unprofessional business practices so we just looked at unethical now we're looking at unprofessional so we've got these three sexual harassment this involves unwanted or unwelcome attention of a sexual nature from someone at work this type of attention causes discomfort it's humiliating and it interferes with the ability of an employee to do their job unauthorized use of workplace funds and resources if someone is using the business's money or resources without permission it is called unauthorized use of resources or fans so I'm taking the works menu to go and pay for let's say my son or my grandmother's fees or their school fees or a hockey tour or even groceries that's not right to do okay that's misuse offense abuse of work time this refers to activity that I'm not focused on the job an employee is employed to do during working hours for example making personal calls during working hours taking extended lunch breaks using the prince and copy and for personal use and conducting personal business during working hours so now we're looking at the challenges that these pose on the business so sexual harassment they affect partly the effective party is normally reluctant to report this incident because of the fear of victimization sexual harassment causes discomfort humiliation and it interferes with the ability of the victim to successfully complete assigned work tasks they the businesses can lose workers because they do not feel safe in the business sometimes the victim prefers to stay away from work and the business loses productivity sexual harassment causes emotional trauma and the victim's attitude will become negative in the workplace now we're looking at unauthorized use of funds fraud increases the cost of doing business it may affect the competitiveness of the business it could discourage customers when prices are increased to absorb the losses it could discourage investors when the business receives bad public publicity and lawsuits sorry about that challenges posed by abuse of work time abuse of worst time decreases productivity and causes businesses to lose profits businesses can also lose customers and not work not meet work deadlines time is money therefore a loss of work time affects the profit of the business you were hired here to give a job not to do everything else from your personal life within your working time at the end of the day that's what it comes to all right ways that a business can deal with unprofessional business practices unprofessional behavior by employees especially if it goes unpunished or is condoned by management prevent cooperation and Trust amounts employees which also create low morale dealing with sexual harassment every business must Implement internal complaints and disciplinary procedures they must educate employers on sexual harassment matters the business must formulate a policy regarding sexual harassment they must create a good working environment with all employees rights and dignity is respected and internal investigation should be conducted to determine the seriousness of the harassment serious cases on matters of sexual harassment should be reported to the appropriate institutions such as the saps the South African Police Services must ensure that they comply with the law and the business code of conduct now we're looking at unauthorized workplace funds and resources the business must conduct regular audits they must identify risk areas or vulnerable areas they must limit the number of employees that have access to the business funds they must implement or introduce a fraud prevention strategy the business must educate employees about the impact of fraud fraud prevention should be a collective responsibility of businesses and workers care policies should be in place so that employees are aware of what is considered to be fraud the business should set up systems in the organization for reporting fraud and Corruption then abuse of workplace of work time speak directly to those employees who abuse work time the code of conducting ethics should contain certain rules about the abuse of work time businesses should conduct training on the content of the code of conduct and ethics the code of conduct and ethics should be signed by all employees so that they are aware of the contents the business should monitor employees to ensure what tops are being completed businesses should structure working hours in a way that employees have free and flexible time for their personal matters so for example here a lunch break the business must create a culture of responsibility strengthen team spirit for all employees to feel responsible for what has to be achieved all right so here is our recap mind map so jot this down pause the video at this stage it's just a nice mind map and summary of everything that has been discussed so it's quite nice to see as an overview um of this chapter for ethics and professionalism and as I mentioned we have reached the end of the video here are the resources that I spoke of that are made use of to make this video as well as the slides so you're welcome to go check them out as I've mentioned in my previous videos they are very very helpful thank you for watching my videos today I really hope that it's helpful it's a nice revision and preparation for the June exams to come they're right around the corner I know because I've got a few days of teaching left before the June exam starts so watch this video check my other videos out and all the best for the June exams I will be posting during the June exams too so make sure you check out those videos If you like this video please hit the like button and please consider subscribing to my channel if you are a business study student and you want some revision and some extra exercises thank you so much I hope to see you in my next video bye for now [Music]