Business Ethics in Today's Corporate World
Business ethics is part of today’s society whether you like it or not. There are many things happening in today’s corporate world that needs to be opinioned.
Are ethical judgments merely a matter of personal opinion?
Yes because we live in a free society I think that most ethical judgments are based on a matter of what you believe in. Everyone has the right to think differently. There will also be similarities and differences in your ethical point of view because of religion, race, and education but I don’t think it will be much different than someone else’s opinion if it all comes down to these factors. I also think that personal opinion can be attributed to how sensitive the topic is. For example same sex marriage is a very sensitive issue as well as abortion. When you look at the news and see corporate giants like Enron and WorldCom a question mark comes to my mind. I ask my self what happened to the conscience of the people making decisions in the corporate offices.
I believe that a lot of the decisions are made because of self-interest. These executives were looking out for themselves and forgot about the shareholders of the company, which are equally important because they own part of the corporation. That is why we are seeing all of these corporate scandals on the news today! Ask yourself if you think what Microsoft did was ethical. When you think about Microsoft’s antitrust case it reminds you of a corporate giant that makes decisions in their self-interest. They didn’t care if they were hurting another company. The company that was most hurt from these illegal business practices was Netscape. Microsoft wanted to eliminate its competitors by performing business practices that would hurt other companies in its market segment. We all know what happens when there is no competition? Companies raise prices because of the law of supply and demand. I guess it’s all about competition. If a corporation doesn’t have good business ethics would it be a good idea for that company to do good works in the community? I would say no because if the executives that run the company have no integrity whatsoever to make decisions in their company what makes you think that they are going to care about the community in which they are suppose to volunteer in. The image of a company is very important and if the c...
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...nies need to be more careful in selecting or hiring employees. This will decrease the discharging of employees for no reason. If I was an executive I would like to have the freedom to do whatever it takes to make the business succeed. If it comes to firing someone that has done something wrong then I would sit down with that person and explain to the individual the wrongdoing. The companies that follow the principle of the EAW believe that if they own the company and manage it then they have the power do what they want. I don’t have a problem with that, but is it morally wrong to fire someone because they have done nothing wrong. This is were I disagree with the company. Companies should be able to do whatever they want with there business as long as they follow rules and regulations. They need to consider that people have feelings and when you are making a decision that is going to affect someone you need to let them know why it happened. If the person fired has a family and you are discharging them for no reason you also have to think about that this person has a family and that the company has a say whether this person will make a living while he or she looks for another job.
It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the only important value is the bottom line, most executives merely give lip service to living and operating their corporations ethically.
The company has a culture of unquestioning when something wrong surfaced in the company. Take for example the Lockheed documents incident, where the 25000 documents were seen in the company for nearly 3 years before someone voiced his concerns regarding it. This unhealthy culture not only allows unethical practices to prevail, it also hinders company’s growth.
...gree and believe that they could get real results if everyone would consistently apply the company’s principles. I have learned personally in the business world consistency means a lot, all employees should have the same consequences. By letting go employees, managers and executives shows that the rules apply to all levels. It will cause everyone involved to have more respect for the company even if they don’t agree with the decision.
Many organizations have been destroyed or heavily damaged financially and took a hit in terms of reputation, for example, Enron. The word Ethics is derived from a Greek word called Ethos, meaning “The character or values particular to a specific person, people, culture or movement” (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2007, p. 295). Ethics has always played and will continue to play a huge role within the corporate world. Ethics is one of the important topics that are debated at lengths without reaching a conclusion, since there isn’t a right or wrong answer. It’s basically depends on how each individual perceives a particular situation. Over the past few years we have seen very poor unethical business practices by companies like Enron, which has affected many stakeholders. Poor unethical practices affect the society in many ways; employees lose their job, investors lose their money, and the country’s economy gets affected. This leads to people start losing confidence in the economy and the organizations that are being run by the so-called “educated” top executives that had one goal in their minds, personal gain. When Enron entered the scene in the mid-1980s, it was little more than a stodgy energy distribution system. Ten years later, it was a multi-billion dollar corporation, considered the poster child of the “new economy” for its willingness to use technology and the Internet in managing energy. Fifteen years later, the company is filing for bankruptcy on the heels of a massive financial collapse, likely the largest in corporate America’s history. As this paper is being written, the scope of Enron collapse is still being researched, poked and prodded. It will take years to determine what, exactly; the impact of the demise of this energy giant will be both on the industry and the
The process of carefully looking at every decision and the repercussions of that decision is simply good business practice. Every company audits its decisions to make sure its what is right for the company. Firing practices should be no different. To draw some arbitrary line at this point to allow for firing an employee without cause is unethical and egregious business conduct. Due process is simply a sound way of carrying out the practice of removing an employee from the services of a c...
Ethical behavior is behavior that a person considers appropriate. A person’s moral principles are shaped from birth, and developed over time throughout the person’s life. There are many factors that can influence what a person believes is right, or what is wrong. Some factors are a person’s family, religious beliefs, culture, and experiences. In business, it is of great importance for an employee to understand how to act ethically to prevent a company from being sued, and receiving criticism from the public while bringing in profits for the company.
Do you agree with Schmeltekopf that business schools are not preparing students well for the for the ethical challenges they will face in the workplace? Why or why not?
After news of the scandal of Enron, one of the hottest items on e-Bay was a 64-page copy of Enron’s corporate code of ethics. One seller/former employee proclaimed it had “never been opened.” In the forward Kenneth L. Lay, CEO of Enron stated, “We want to be proud of Enron and to know that it enjoys a reputation for fairness and honesty and that it is respected (Enron 2).” For a company with such an extensive code of ethics and a CEO who seemed to want the company to be respected for that, there are still so many unanswered questions of what exactly went wrong. I believe that simply having a solid and thorough code of ethics alone does not prevent a company from acting unethically when given the right opportunity.
Business ethics simply can be defined as the application of business values in the business practice of a company (Seawell 2010, p. 2). For a multinational company, business ethics is one of the critical aspects need to be taken into account in business decision-making processes. Failure to give attention on ethics may bring consequences on company’s reputation (Meyer & Jebe 2010, p. 159). The company is expected not only to pursue its own profits but also contributing to the environmental and social welfare of the community where it operates (Svensson & Wood 2008, p. 308).
Enron was one of the major energy corporation in America before it went bankrupt. A contributing reason to Enron’s failure was a lack of ethical management. Enron scandal proves that the company infringed the transparency, dignity and responsibility ethical principles of the Global Business Standard Codex (Paine et al. 2005). Effective management practices help businesses manage risk by reducing the likelihood of breaching the misconduct, but ethical dilemmas cause illegal or immoral activities.
Many ethical dilemmas are philosophical in nature, an ethical issue can be described as a problem with no clear resolution. In order to solve the issue or dilemma a consensus between the parties involved must be reached. There are several reasons to come to an agreement over an ethical dilemma, it is the basis for all aspects of personal and professional dealings. Each one of us is part of a civilized society and as such it is our responsibility to be rational, honest and loyal in our dealings with others. (Alakavuklar, 2012) states that individuals make decisions for different situations in business life involving various ethical dilemmas. Each time either consciously or unconsciously individuals may follow some ethical approaches
Explain the connection between the economic model of corporate social responsibility and “free market” or “neoclassical” economic theory.
To provide an example of a breach of ethical conduct in the workplace, we may remember the case of a financial manager in a corporation that decided not to pay overtime to some employees. After a deep outside investigation, the company was summoned with thousands of dollars to remedy the payment that was supposed to be paid to all employees who worked more than forty hours per week. Again, it is needed more than just a booklet stating that the company adheres to the code of business ethics. It is needed serious managers that can run the company with the most seriousness as possible. Consequently, any written codes of business ethics, regardless of how well it has been crafted, need people that adhere to its internal content with a serious desire to do the right thing.
Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right Fourth ed., Retrieved on July 30, 2010 from www.ecampus.phoenix.edu
When an ethical dilemma arises within an organization, it is difficult to separate right and wrong with what is best for the majority. Sometimes the answer is not a simple “yes” or “no.” In 2002, Enron Corporation shows us just that. By 2002, the sixth-largest corporation in America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The case of the Enron scandal is one of the best examples of corporate greed and fraud in America.