The expression "basic ethical principles" refers to those general judgments that serve as a justification for particular ethical prescriptions and evaluations of human actions. Given below are the basic principles, among those generally accepted in our cultural tradition, and are particularly relevant to the ethics in business organizations:

1.Truthfulness and confidentiality - Two concepts that you may commonly face in your day-to-day practice are truthfulness and confidentiality. Truthfulness is about telling the truth to someone who has the right to know the truth. The concept of confidentiality urges you to keep a secret of the knowledge or information that a person has the right or obligation to conceal. If the management knows that an employee is always going to work with the ethical principle of confidentiality in mind, then they will be able to talk freely about sensitive issues. The professional obligation to keep a secret arises from the fact that harm will almost certainly follow if the information is revealed.

o    There are three types of secrets:

• Natural secret: information, which, if revealed, is harmful by its nature. Such revelations may lead to embarrassment or endangering the existence.
• Promised secret: information that we have promised to conceal which, if broken, leads to public mistrust.
• Professional secret: knowledge, which, if revealed, will harm the client, the profession and the society, that obtain services from the profession. A professional secret is the most serious of all secrets, because its violation can cause the greatest harm.

2. Autonomy - Autonomy is another ethical principle that you may already be aware of, but not know by that name. The term refers to every individual’s right of self-determination, independence and freedom to make their own choices. In the context of a corporate, the concept of autonomy is most concerned with the ethical obligation of an organization or stakeholder to respect the clients’ right to make decisions about their own well being. However, there are conditions in which the personal choice or autonomy may be restricted because of concern for the wellbeing of the community. The term autonomy is commonly referred as ‘Respect for Persons.’

Respect for persons incorporates two ethical convictions:

• That individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, and
• That persons with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection.

The principle of respect for persons thus divides into two separate moral requirements:

• The requirement to acknowledge autonomy, and
• The requirement to protect those with diminished autonomy.

To respect autonomy is to give weight to persons' considered opinions and choices while refraining from obstructing their actions unless they are clearly detrimental to others.

This principle leads to the requirement of informed voluntary consent.

3. Informed consent - Informed consent is the process in which a service provider educates a client about the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a given procedure or intervention. The client is assumed to be competent to make a voluntary decision about whether to seek a service or not. Informed consent is both an ethical and legal obligation of the organizations. Implicit in providing informed consent is an assessment by the client based on the documentation of the matter. The legal system requires documentation of all the elements of informed consent "in a form, progress notes, instruction manuals, and terms and conditions."

The following are the required elements for documentation of the informed consent discussion:

• The nature of the procedure,
• The risks and benefits and the procedure,
• Reasonable alternatives,
• The risks and benefits of alternatives, and
• Assessment of the client’s understanding of elements 1 through 4.

It is the obligation of the service provider to make it clear to the client and avoid making the client feel forced to agree to with the provider. The provider must make a recommendation and provide their reasoning for said recommendation.

4. Beneficence and Non-maleficence - The term “beneficence” is often understood to cover acts of kindness or charity that go beyond strict obligation. Beneficence is defined as an act of charity, mercy, and kindness with a strong connotation of doing good to others including moral obligation. All professionals have the foundational moral imperative of doing right.  In the context of the professional-client relationship, the professional is obligated to, always and without exception, favor the well-being and interest of the client. Stakeholders are treated in an ethical manner not only by respecting their decisions and protecting them from harm, but also by making efforts to secure their well-being.

The term beneficence tells you about ‘doing good’ for your client, while the concept of nonmaleficence tells you to ‘do no harm’ either intentionally or unintentionally to your clients.

Two general rules have been formulated as complementary expressions of beneficent actions in this sense:

• Do not harm, and
• Maximize possible benefits and minimize possible harms.

All stakeholders must be protected from harm and their well being must be secured. This principle leads to the requirement that the benefits to subjects or to humanity generally must be judged to outweigh the risks to the associates.

5. Justice - Justice is a complex ethical principle and it entails fairness, equality and impartiality. In other words, it is an obligation to be fair to all people. The risks and benefits of a service must be distributed fairly without creating demographical differences among the stakeholders based on defined classes. The justice is pursued from two perspective:

• Distributive justice - means that individuals have the right to be accepted equally regardless of ethnic group, gender, culture, age, marital status, medical diagnosis, social standing, economic level, political or religious beliefs, or any other individual characteristics. Everyone should be treated in the same way.
• Social justice - is based on the application of equitable rights to access and participation in all aspects of goods and services provided in a society, regardless of their individual characteristics. Everyone should have access to the identical resources that might improve their standards.

As a Corporate, one should carry out distributive and social justice by enabling the inclusion and empowerment of all stakeholders who are affiliate of the organization to exercise their rights.

An unfair treatment to the affiliates while practicing the profession, will impact gaining the public trust which will negatively affect the brand value.