Solomon Essay Research Paper Ethics in BusinessBusiness

Solomon Essay, Research Paper

Ethics in Business

Business ethics is a diverse field that cannot be defined with a single definition. This area addresses numerous issues, problems, and dilemmas within the management of businesses. Does this through numerous perspectives and methods. Of course, in order to present the complexities of business ethics, we must explore the types of issues that business professionals are continuously confronted with. To understand one must

know the definition of corporate ethics as well as knowing what the ethics of responsibility are. After defining what ethics are, we then need to see how these are played out within management. This will show the decline and fall of business ethics over time and how whistle blowing has played its part. Business ethics not only portray humans, but also how businesses treat the environment.

The majority of European and U.S. CEO’s and higher ranking managers define corporate ethics as a subject that is to be dealt with at three levels; (1) the corporate mission, (2) constituency relations, and (3) policies and practices. The corporate mission is the most easily recognized and widely applicable category. Executives say that the enterprise in which they are engaged in, and the products or services that they market, should serve an essentially ethical purpose and that a companies first ethical responsibilities are defined by the nature of their objectives (Madsen and Shafritz, 1990).

Managers also speak of constituency relations when formulating their company’s ethical standards. This usually requires the creation of statements of corporate responsibilities for each individual company. Most of the codes describe the company’s commitment toward certain groups rather than prescribing ethical conduct for specific situations. Madsen and Shafritz, in the textbook Essential of Business ethics quoted a former chairman of a large Japanese company when he said,

Our responsibility is not only to our stockholders, but also to our client,

our employees and their families, our local community residents, and all of

society at large. Our profit comes about through our effort to promote the

prosperity of the community as a whole. (p.15).

There are many differences of opinion in the role that ethics ought to play at the third level of evaluating policies and practices. This is because every person within a corporation may be held to a different set of ethical standards depending upon the position they hold. Not all have the same feelings about the ethical standards that one individual may have even though they all know what position he holds and what his job is. This can lead to potential conflicts between corporate ethics programs, management roles, and individuals.

Many sermons have been preached about the ethics of business and the ethics of businessmen. Of these, one topic is plain. This is the use of everyday honesty. Businessmen are constantly told they should not cheat, steal, lie, bribe, or accept bribes. Men and women do not gain exemption from these rules just because of their jobs or positions within a business or society for that matter. As such, when these individuals do break the rules of ethics,

they are usually severely punished. Often this punishment varies with the level of the responsibility held in their specific job or the position they hold.

In today’s fast-paced world of business, there seems to be a rise in the number of white-collar crimes. More and more companies are receiving a lot of publicity about unethical and illegal practices by senior personnel. There seems to be a “profit at any price” mentality being carried out among the business professions today. Investment banking seems to be getting the most of this bad publicity (Magnet, 1988).

Insider trading is investment banking’s most widely publicized ethical problem. Investment bankers are now routinely trading confidential information in an effort to gain new business. As a result, this information spreads out among investors like wild fire land causes buying and selling sprees. This is best known a recent event in the business world. A CEO was trying to buy his company out from under its corporate partner. The CEO almost froze and gave up on the deal when it came time to hire investment bankers to help structure the deal. He feared that his boss would find out about his plan before he could present it in detail and that he would then be fired as a traitor. Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more prevalent within the business communities of this nation. Investment bankers will sell out their clients for several million dollars in fees (Madsen and Shafritz, 1990).

Why did a once, calm and collected gentlemanly approach toward business turn into such a free-for-all. The takeover movement fueled this change by dumping great amounts of money into investment banking. This in turn attracted hordes of people who wanted to get their pockets filled at someone else’s expense. With all these huge deals taking place, stock appreciation skyrocketed so much that some quiet trading information

on your insider trading could make you extremely rich.

Today’s Americans have a belief that they have set for themselves as well as the rest of the world, a higher example of individual freedom. Americans became a nation with

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать