Business Ethics
Business Ethics
Abstract
There have been various instances of unethical practices in the business sector. Many policies have been put in place to cub the problem of unethical behaviour. Despite the continuous endeavor businesses still suffer from unethical practices. This paper seeks to establish the reason for consistence unethical beaviours despite of many policies that have been put in place to solve the same. The paper focuses on behavioral ethics. The proponents of behavioral ethics believe that in many instances, some people make unethical judgments unconsciously. This paper examines the instances of involuntary unethical behaviour and their possible remedies. The paper concludes by recommending that the policy makers should always consider the effect of behavioral ethics to enable them form an all-rounded policies that can effectively cub unethical behaviour and scandals.
Introduction
The expectation of the public is that any professional body should undertake its activities with high level of professionalism. The public has set standards for every professional body and any corporate, and they believe that the professionals have to abide by the set code of conduct. Most consulting businesses view themselves as professionals; they are therefore expected to conduct themselves in a way that can distinguish them from the non-professionals. The research and any other undertaking by a corporate body should be geared at promoting the community as well as the performance of the organization, (De George, 2011). Business consultants should carry out their activities in a way to make world a better place. The research and other undertakings of the organization should also be focused on positively changing the lives of those who work there. Sometimes, corporate bodies find it challenging to concurrently benefit the individuals as well as the organizations. Corporations therefore should identify these tensions in order to manage them.
Consultancy firms undertaking accounting and audit have been under constant scrutiny. The public has complained of instances of lapse in the personal and professional integrity. These complaints have eroded trust and undermined the confidence the public has towards the professional bodies. It is therefore imperative the probe the corporate life in order establish their professionalism. There have been instances where the firm executives plunder the assets of the firm; auditors have returned wrong values in abide to hide the profitability of the firm from the shareholders (De George, 2011). These malpractices are undertaken to ensure that a given proportion of the executive get more than they were supposed to. Stock marketers have fraudulently speculated in quest of their individual gains.
Countless scandals have been experienced in various corporate sectors. Examples of these businesses include, Tyco, Enron, AIG, and WorldCom. These irresponsible and unethical beaviours have raised many concerns to the public. These unending instances of unethical behaviour and corruptions both in governments and corporate bodies have prompted the need to understand ethics in general as well as business related ethics. There has never been a standard definition of business ethics. However, most people refer to it as the morally acceptable code of conduct that the public accept from the corporate bodies. It involves the consciousness to do what is right to yourself and others. Businesses are therefore expected to operate in ways that result into a greater good to the public.
It is evident that action of one member of a corporate body will go a long with the reputation of that corporation. It is therefore imperative to evaluate why unethical behaviors easily emerge amidst will defined code of conducts. Many organizations have endeavored to put in place control and monitoring systems to ensure that unethical behaviors are prevented. However, instances of corruption and unethical behaviors have been witnessed in very many occasions. Taking a behavioral approach to understand this scenario will be the first and most important step in cubing unethical behaviors (De George 2011).. Principle-agent model assumes that greed is the most important factor that leads to unethical behaviors. Individual interest therefore contributes a lot towards understanding business ethics. It is therefore important to understand the behavioral models to fully understand the instance of unethical behaviour.
The standard approach to the study of ethics in business and management has been a normative or prescriptive approach that focuses on what managers, staff and folks normally “should” do to act as virtuously accountable actors. A remarkable and necessary underlying assumption of this approach is that it promotes the concept that, people area unit rational purposive actors who act in accordance with their intentions and perceive the implications of their actions. This approach results in the rather incorrect conclusion that almost all business scandals should be the responsibility of many dangerous apples. This logic is according to early explanations of business scandals. Charles Ponzi, the mastermind of the now-infamous Ponzi scheme, and Bernie Madoff’s forefather, clearly knew that he was doing wrong. Larger company scandals additionally tend to specialize in the actions and therefore the responsibility of many ‘bad apples’ (Treviño, 2006). This assumption is intuitively compelling and enticing in its simplicity. On a sensible level, it additionally facilitates identification and actual penalty of these deemed accountable. A lot of typically, a normative perspective suggests, or at least implies, that individuals interpret ethical dilemmas in a very aware manner. It believes that cognitive guidelines are available to guide an individual before they encounter ethical lapse.
Various research have indicated that succumbing to unethical practices is not something which is preserved for the selected few; but it is something that can unconsciously occur to anybody. This is the reason why, despite the awareness of ethics and codes of conduct, very many people still find themselves unethical situations. There are contexts and situations where almost anybody can succumb into doing something unethical. It is therefore imperative that the leaders formulate more all-inclusive policies which are meant to cub unethical behaviour. Listing the codes of conducts and ethical expectation may not do much into solving unconscious unethical activities.
The Special Cases
In reviewing the special issues, the writer will focus on four papers which have been presented to explain the instances of unethical behaviour. The main focus will be on some of the unethical decision made by individuals in the process knowledge dispensation, self-regard, self-regulation, and goal setting. In all these instances, the writer will try to explain their influences on ethical decision making in the long run. The researcher will then try to examine such ethical decisions and how they influenced the organization’s reputation and sustainability. Analysis of the four papers will provide for parameter on which ethical issues can be understood and implemented.
The first paper by Cropanzano (2009), focused on the ethics of the examination and how it eventually impact the behaviour of an individual. The paper states that students who are passing oriented have more probability of cheating in exams than those who are mastery-oriented. These students will later be the leaders of corporations and they will carry their inclination to the corporate levels. The second paper by De Cremer (2012) examined the tendency of lying. The result shown that; people will lie only if the benefits of lying are presumed to be better than the consequences. People will lie less if there are smaller benefits of lying and lie more I there are greater benefits of lying. The paper therefore proposed that there is always a psychological benefit of lying. The fourth paper by Treviño (2006) examines the process of decision making by the executives. The result from the result identified that the main factors considered in corporate decision making are compliance and profitability. Any attempt to perfect the other will lead to weakening of the other. The final paper by Nguyen (2008) focused on the role of the procedural justice in ethical decision making. This paper confirms that there is a link between the moral identity of a corporate supervisor and the extent to which their authority is granted to the subordinates.
References
De George, R. T. (2011). Business ethics. Pearson Education India.
Treviño, L. K., Weaver, G. R., & Reynolds, S. J. (2006). Behavioral ethics in organizations: A review. Journal of management, 32(6), 951-990.
Cropanzano, R., & Stein, J. H. (2009). Organizational justice and behavioral ethics: Promises and prospects. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19(02), 193-233.
De Cremer, D., & Tenbrunsel, A. E. (Eds.). (2012). Behavioral business ethics: Shaping an emerging field. Routledge.
Nguyen, N. T., & Biderman, M. D. (2008). Studying ethical judgments and behavioral intentions using structural equations: Evidence from the Multidimensional Ethics Scale*. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4), 627-640.
