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Bribery and ethics
The importance of ethical behaviors in international business
Importance of international ethics in business
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When operating in a different country/culture businesses should refrain from making any definite assumptions or judgements. The issue is that is it easy to make assumptions/judgements about countries whose livelihoods that business is not even familiar with. Then when the business actually gets to that country, they will find that their assumptions/judgements fail to live up to the complexity of that country/culture. For example, in the case of bribery that occurs in certain countries, a company may mistakenly assume that because officials partake in this act that this act is thereby morally permissible. If anything that is far from the truth. Historically, bribery has often been considered wrong in many countries worldwide. When that company …show more content…
They are saying that when in Rome, you shouldn’t do exactly as the Romans do. These companies pick and choose the sort of practices that they will engage in and what practices they won’t stand for. For example, in the bribery case, companies following this sort of thinking may decide that since this is an everyday practice of the country and it’s the only way for them to successfully do business in that country that they will partake in that practice. After all, bribery isn’t as morally comprehensible as something like child labor practices. When it comes to those types of practices in which are in themselves clearly more morally wrong, a company may decide that they will not stand for that practice even if it costs them money in the long run. That’s because there are some ethical values that are just not negotiable. Examples of those values that might be considered objective moral values might be the right to have economic advancement. For example, if you go to a country which has unfair wages then the ethical thing to do would be to give your employees a fair wage. A fair wage in this case might not be the same amount you pay employees back in your home country. Instead, a fair wage would be a livable wage. Another objective moral value would be the golden rule. Both of these values are based on core human values which demand that
In business, creating a culture of ethical behavior and productivity are two of the most important elements in daily operations. There are deferring opinions on how to establish those standards. One standard is universal in which human rights are general and should apply to every human being or having a one-size fits all standard of practice (Hugh, M.C., 2002). For example, an organization could great a set of ethical standards that universal and standard to apply to its members. However, the opposing view is cultural relativism, where the view that all values are meaningful only within specific cultures (Hugh, M.C., 2002). In other words, each culture defines what is right and what is wrong. Applying this to business, an organization can create ethical standards that are specific to their service line and provide specificity to members about their services, behavior, and social
Great post on reflecting on the definition of bribery and also elaborating in different areas of your paper. You mentioned the allegations against Nixon, but what was the allegations of bribery on Richard M. Nixon? I found that his allegations were “on June 17, 1972, police apprehended five men attempting to break in and wiretap Democratic Party” (Watergate Affair, 2017). In your paper you made clear of the definition of bribery so I was able to get a clear understanding and read more in depth on the Nixon scandal. He later admitted that he was aware of the cover up with watergate in which later resulted in his resignation and the conviction of Nixon’s chief associates. This was a good example that you included and relayed about bribery. I
Milton Friedman’s view is that in a capitalist economy, there is one and only one responsibility of business: to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits. Business does not have a social responsibility to promote desirable social ends. A corporation is an artificial person. The corporate executive is the agent of the individuals who own the business and their main responsibility is to them. The directors of companies have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the shareholders. The managers are agents of the shareholders and therefore have a moral obligation to manage the firm in the interest of the shareholders, which obviously is to make as much money as possible and maximize shareholder wealth. The shareholders are the owners of the organization and therefore the profits belong to them. In conclusion, Friedman believes that business is to maximize profits. He suggested a healthy corporation has to be not only ethically good, but also being economically good. Overall, as he stated in the article, business must gain profit without break the rules of game (D. Murphy, Class Lecture, January 17, 2014)
Understanding the business side and the country culture can help build a better understanding of how the business should come into the company and how the business should operate and viewed by members of the community. According to Professor Hofstede, “Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy.
The business world holds high expectations regarding what is ethical and what isn’t. Ethical behavior is behavior that a person considers to be not only appropriate, but also credible. When we are born, it is our parent’s responsibility to raise us in a way that teaches right from wrong. However, life becomes different when we are able to think for ourselves because then it becomes our own responsibility to decipher between right and wrong and this is when our moral principals begin to shape. As our moral principles continue to develop it can, at times, be severely affected by the people we associate with. There are many things that can influence how a person views the difference between right and wrong; family, life experiences, culture, and religious beliefs are just a few examples.
To make a payment in exchange for special consideration where the recipient has a duty to offer equal consideration to all (more commonly referred to as bribery) is morally reprehensible on three distinct grounds. Not only does it violate inherent principles of justice and equality by enabling one to use their wealth in order to attain or reinforce influence, it also provokes the recipient to violate the positional responsibility that they have tacitly agreed to uphold (this duty is therefore contractually binding): namely that he or she will perform their role in a manner that adheres to the rules of the organisation in question. The covert nature of the bribe is also problematic; once a bribe is uncovered, the vitality of the entire organisation is endangered because people will inevitably question the integrity of all prior actions undertaken by the affected institution. I shall argue that bribery is wrong regardless of whether the bribe has any impact upon the actions of the recipient, for the motivation that underlies an action is as important as the action itself. Only when one knows institutional corruption to rife can bribery be deemed common practice; in this case, one has a moral right to violate the duties of their position, for their duties require them to engage in corrupt practise.
The Introduction (Rebuttal). The Introduction (Rebuttal). American publicly traded companies, investment firms, and our elected officials continue to make bad decisions and mistakes with normal citizen’s retirement/college funds or investment money. Does success in business necessarily mean you need to cross the boundaries between good and evil? I certainly don’t believe that, However, in my business career I have seen both. There are a few senior executives with character traits frequently associated with the darker side of human nature. Some companies still have the mindset of "Profit at Any Cost” and are still doing unethical business and losing investors’ money.
Corruption consists in the illegitimate agreement between a corruptor and a corrupted, in which they abuse of their public power in order to obtain personal benefit. Bribery and corruption is something that has been going on for years. According to Allen, “officials perceive themselves as immune to any penalties for demanding and receiving bribes” which she states that it is one of the main reasons for bribery and corruption in underdeveloped countries. According to Transparency International, an organization committed exclusively to end corruption, three of the most corrupt countries in the world are Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan. This does not mean that corruption is only seen in underdeveloped countries. In international business, corporate employees often find themselves dealing with corruptors in foreign countries and, in most cases, they will give in.
“Of the 89 potential fears [the survey of American Fears] asked about, the one that the highest share of Americans said they were either “afraid” or “very afraid” of was federal government corruption,”(Rampell 1). Many Americans fear political corruption and can occur in many ways, but the main source is bribery. Moreover, bribery affects all Americans and this is proven in historical events such as the Watergate scandal and the Teapot Dome scandal. Each event has consequences of its own; therefore corruption must be solved.
Bribery is wrong, and it would be almost instinctive to point at the benefits of impartially functioning public servants and incorrupt corporations to our democratic society as justification. However, in this imperfect world where bribery is rife in varying degrees, is it possible to express this notion convincingly? Certainly 'because the UK Bribery Act says so' is far less persuasive to a council planning office in Shanghai than in London, and indeed in compliance with section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010 which relates to commercial offences, it is essential that this question is engaged with on a corporate scale and without assertion through dogma. Accordingly, this essay will argue that elements wrong with bribery are inclusive of both moral and economic considerations. Moreover, in conjunction with international mandates, advent of aggressive legislation such as that of the UK Bribery Act 2010 is representative of global efforts to eliminate bribery. Hence, it follows that bribery can never be considered a normal part of business because it is economically unsustainable in the long term.
There are a number of issues that affect international business ethics. They include employment practices, human rights, environmental regulations, corruption, and moral obligation of multinational companies. Employment practice refers to the working conditions an employee must work under. This can be very difficult to gauge, because many times the working conditions of a host nation are inferior to those in an organizations home nation. Many organizations have had to fight with these regulations. A good example of this in the trouble Nike found themselves in during the 1990s. There were a number of news reports released about the working conditions of most of its subcontractors were very poor . The Nike Company was not breaking any laws but it did bring into question the ethics of using a sweatshop. After this incident it left a number of questions for the international marketplace. In recent years many companies have cut ties with organizations that use unsafe and unfair labor practice.
Anti-bribery laws in the U.S. were established to prevent the rampant corruption exhibited in the Airbus case study. Similar anti-corruption laws do not exist in many of the host countries the U.S. does business with. Host county’s laws and regulations take on different forms especially when power, money and politics are involved, manipulating or creating a new set of rules to benefit their own selfish needs. Savvy sales negotiators, like those at Airbus, seek opportunities through loop holes, off shore accounts and large sums of bribery money, to entice country officials or others with the authority to make purchases to commit to Airbus. A more uniform worldwide approach to international laws needs to be adapted, implemented and more importantly enforced, so all companies involved can conduct fair business practices under the same set of rules.
I chose to research on the topic of why police officers engage in corruption, because it’s a problem that’s very sensitive to me. I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and whenever I thought of a police officer, I couldn’t help but think of corruption. I always felt police officers were only corrupt in Nigeria but once I started studying the criminal justice system in the United States, I realized it’s actually a global problem; some are just more exposed than others. According to Sayed and Bruce (1998), “Police corruption is any illegal conduct or misconduct involving the use of occupational power for personal, group or organizational gain.” They also referenced the South Africa’s law in trying to define corruption. The law states that whosoever offers
The existence of bribery and unethical behavior is rampant in the world market and may not change overnight. The question of bribery has been distilled in business literature as a question of ethics. In this situation at the airport with the customs officer, it is important to distinguish between business ethics and personal ethics. In a business ethics situation, the Foreign Corruption Practices Act would prohibit offering any bribe to the custom office – for example to free a shipment of goods that was lost in red tape (Pitman & Sanford, 2006). Most companies also have policies against bribery as well. In this situation, however the main issue at hand is that of personal ethics. When in a situation where your company is unknown and there is no business being conducted, normal business ethics and laws (including FCPA) do not apply only personal ethical standards.
With development there are many barriers and one of those is corruption. Many development experts see the corruption as the primary barrier to development, which slows down the development and wastes money. Therefore, experts think corruption is the biggest problem, and could bring economic, socio-cultural and political implications. This leads countries to poverty. However, this perspective is argued against by the article “Does corruption create poverty?” which was written by Walden Bello, an intellectual and activist who is one of the leading critics of the current model of economic globalization. Bello (2010) argues that corruption is not the main cause of poverty but economic policies are.