Following the American Psychological Association's Guidelines
In general, bribery is defined as a practice of offering something that is most usually money, with the purpose of gaining an illicit advantage. Historically, bribery is considered to be one of the simplest and oldest types of crimes. It has been existed already since the inception of the United States. The anti-bribery clause is even included in the American Constitution, and the reason of it is that this form of crime is a serious threat to the government and the justice system. (In Depth Look Into Bribery, n.d.) The main issue regarding whether or not an action is considered bribery is determining whether this action is really illicit or contrary to accepted convention and morality. The definition of bribery and its determination usually depends on a particular cultural environment and situation. (Ferrell and Fraedrich, 2009) Therefore, even though bribery believed to be a universally understood concept, it is necessary to take into consideration different cultures and traditions of every country. For example, in the United States campaign contributors are legal and accepted part of the political campaigning system, while in many other countries this might be considered bribery. Also, while in some nations tipping waiters is absolutely normal and accepted, in other countries it is also a form of bribery and a serious crime. Therefore, it is possible to say what while in some countries some actions are absolutely innocent, in others they are illegal and considered as crimes. (In Depth Look Into Bribery, n.d.)
There are several different types of bribery that exist nowadays. In most of the cases these form are related to business because they are practiced in the contemporary companies and enterprises. The first form is called kickbacks. It is defined as a form of bribe that is paid to an individual of influence in an organization in return for them securing a kind of benefit from their organization for the individual paying the bribe. Usually, kickbacks are paid by enterprises or organizations that seek to secure profitable contracts. In return for their help and cooperation, part of the received benefit from the contract is paid or “kicked back” to an individual, who is responsible for decision making in the organization that grants a contract. The organization that is granting a contract in most of the cases is not aware of the kickback paid to their official. Another form of bribery is secret commissions. It happens when companies use their special agents in order to access contracts on their behalf in order to make sales in a foreign market, for example. Secret commission can be defined as a form bribery in which an agent receives or accepts a payment in order to influence contracts for the benefit of the individual who is giving a bribe without informing their principal. This might be done in order to secure a contract or even to prevent a contact that is entered with a competitor. The third type of bribery is facilitation payments. These payments are conducted by business owners to a government official with the purpose of encouraging or ensuring that this official performs his or her responsibilities. A good and quiet common example of facilitation payment is when a businessman makes a payment to a customs official in order to avoid any delays or problems with clearing shipments of goods. The main purpose of facilitation payments is to influence a behaviour and attitude of officials and such actions might be seemed innocent, however in most countries such payments are illegal. The next type is known as influence peddling that is also often called as trafficking in influence or trading. This bribery occurs when an official tried to get paid for their influence that he or she used in order to secure an undue benefit or favour for the payer. However, this term can be also used when it is a payer, who tries to convince an official to use his influence with the purpose of securing an undue benefit or advantage in return for payment. Though the most common are in which influence peddling is practices is politics, it is also quiet common in business sphere. The final form of bribery that should be mentioned and described is electoral bribery. It is a form of payment or a so-called donation that is made for the purpose of promotion any candidate in elections or a political party. The key intention of the electoral bribery is to influence the results of elections and to retain or secure a contract with the government. (OECD, 2013)
Business ethics plays an important role in fighting with bribery. It is defined as a set of moral rules and regulations that govern how business operates, how important business decisions are made and how people involved in the business are treated. Anti-corruption measures are an essential part of business ethics, and it includes serious and very important anti-corruption work is based not only on punishing the corrupt but also on prosecution of corrupt persons. The key role of business ethics and anti-corruption work is to show and emphasize that corruption is not tolerated and justified to no one, neither a simple business person, nor the highest and powerful governmental official. The main anti-corruption measures and reform are outlined in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption that entered into force in December 2005 and establishes a thorough, but not exhaustive approach to deal with corruption on a systematic level. The UNCAC follows the main anti-corruption principle related to business ethics: “Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery”. The UNCAC includes various approaches to prevention of corruption and bribery both in the private and public sectors and points out the necessity of the international cooperation in fighting with bribery. International cooperation means that all countries, regardless their cultural differences, should cooperate with each other in all aspects of the fight against corruption, and they all must provide mutual legal assistance in collecting information that might be used in court. Moreover, according to the UNCAC, all countries must undertake measures in order to support the tracing, seizure, freezing and confiscation of corrupt assets. (The United Nations Convention against Corruption, n.d.)
Summarizing all the written above about bribery, it is possible to say that it is a serious issue nowadays in the contemporary society and in global business particularly. At the same time it is a very complex and complicated issue due to cultural differences that exist in countries and, as a results, difficulties in providing universal definition of bribery and determining whether the action is considered as a bribery or not. Therefore, fighting with bribery it is also a complicated process that requires many efforts, and mutual international cooperation, especially in the area of the global business.
References
Ferrell, O. and Fraedrich, J. (2009) Business Ethics 2009 Update: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Mason: Cengage Learning.
In Depth Look Into Bribery (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://criminal.islaws.com/bribery
OECD (2013) Bribery and Corruption Awareness Handbook for Tax Examiners and Tax Auditors. Paris: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The United Nations Convention against Corruption (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://www.business-anti-corruption.com/about/about-corruption/united-nations-convention-against-corruption.aspx
