Discuss about the Business and Public Sector Ethics.
In one of the surveys conducted it was revealed that many of the assumptions on the topic of business ethics that support the code of business in supporting the social good are not accepted in workplaces. The research in this paper emphasizes on expounding how companies pump finances in some ethical programs whose value employees and senior employees question (Preston, 1997). The association between work, the market and bureaucracy portray that employees question the existence of ethics in business since there is no good or bad that can be chosen from such scenarios.
The only choice that exists is that of success or failure. The article seems ironical in defining and elaborating the success and the good life as it defines them by the hard work that is normally seen in organizations that are well organized that operate in a free market (Roth,2007). The article fails to believe in the existence of a free market, bureaucracy and hard work and rather state that these only exist in the world of fiction (Preston, 1997). The article identifies that the main problem that faces most organizations is the fact that most of these business enterprises are formed as profit-making entities and as such have no interest in the activities of the society. However, that is rhetorical as most businesses are usually seen contributing the surrounding communities through initiating certain projects that are meant for community development.
The article continues further to state that a challenge exists in convincing such enterprises to contribute to the communities that they work in as there are direct benefits that accrue to them for their ethical behavior. The author suggests that for the organization to do good for the society, they have to be shown the value of termism (Preston, 1997). The employees and managers and other top senior executives exercise ethical standards only when they perceive and view that they are an important part of an institution and on the other hand the organization honors such measures. It has been recommended that one of the strategies that is required in unraveling the unfavorable environment of a continued lack of ethics in business is through encouraging recognition of the existence of the community, the company and the workforce (Boylan, 2014). The article goes further stating that there are more ways that it can provide to help the companies counter the hurdle by engaging more ethical practices and long-term behavior in companies.
Also, the article provides more solutions as to the expectations of enterprises how they can be communicated in a more robust manner through mechanisms in the corporate section that can ensure ethical action which is of benefit to both the individual and the organization in fostering interests of such parties in the long term (Preston, 1997). The implementation of an ethical program that is successful has the same effect and value just like having a quality program that has been implemented; they both generate the same effect. (Thomas, 2011)
The author begins by revealing that in a recent survey that they had conducted most individuals confessed to not seeing any ethical practices in businesses (Gini & Marcoux, 2009). However, it seems that the author knew something in the field of ethics that such people did not have knowledge of its existence (Preston, 1997). The author had read several literature materials that listed the importance of codes of behavior, implementation of systems that ensure justice in place of work, checking the best claims between the deontological and utilitarian theories and analyzing some issues in business ethics to ensure fine tuning.
The increased public awareness of ethical practices by organizations, team working among employees and also empowerment programs among the staff are some of the items that contribute to the burgeoning bulk of literature pertaining the ethics in business and also at institutional level (Preston, 1997). Some of the experiences felt in businesses may make individuals feel uncomfortable from much of the reading since there is a contradiction as there is lack of a mechanism to address the areas that are of concern to an individual in the work of place. It is paradoxical how the author failed to understand that the whole subject of ethics did not exist in the work environments. Cynically, the business ethics skeptics fail to ask what business ethics refers to before stating that such a subject is but an abstract matter that has no place in real world (Preston, 1997). The skeptics refer to business ethics as an oxymoron stemming from their common opinion. It is from such a perspective that ethics is defined as being nice, regulated and being altruistic contrary to business which is nasty, chaotic and self-centered.
Much of the literature in business ethics supports that the code of conduct in a business ought to support the society in doing good is not received well (Preston, 1997). The article raises a rhetoric question as to whether the business ethics can find a place amidst the social setting that is populated mainly by the skeptics of ethics in business and where do such skeptics originate from seems to disturb the author.
It is comical how the business skeptics are addressed as non-cynic, capitalists who spend less time and are neither the graduates that lack relevant work experience (Murthy, 2010). It is ironical that the business ethics skeptics are people who have had a successful career in business with more than two decades of professional experience in senior positions (Preston, 1997). Such persons are either serving in elevated positions as directors, managers, and doctors. The skeptics of ethics are persons who are anticipated to influence issues to seem sensitive in aspects of social and moral paradigm (Shaw, 2017). It is shocking that most of the people that have had a conversation with the author were skeptics of business ethics. It would be accommodating if the skeptics disagreed with some issues such as the extent to which the ethics impinge on enterprises or the kind of ethics that are important to the business. However, there was a total denial of the existence of the operation of ethics in firms.
In some cases, more so for large companies, there was a possibility of having ethical programs or codes of conduct and behavior and eventually turned out to be true as foretold by some employees from such organizations (Preston, 1997). People working in such large enterprises failed to disclose the ethics in their workplace and even did not seem to pay attention to such codes of conduct.
On the contrary, professions such as law and medicine, employees in such fields possess knowledge of the existence of strict conducts that bind them. With such noble professions, it is prevalent that whatever is eligible within the frameworks of the code gets accepted and is only more noticeable among the lawyers as compared to their counterparts the medics (Preston, 1997). The above explanation does not, however, imply that any other person is unethical or immoral. Such persons do not see how active ethics is in business and view as per Friedman opinion that the core social responsibility of any business is to increase the profits.
The point is that all and sundry have a moral responsibility and standards whether people acknowledge such codes of conduct or not. The article fails to gather substantial evidence in revealing the existence of people who would do anything at all costs to be successful in business. The law practitioners even though they revealed that they adore the code of conduct sometimes apply moral reasoning though they will deny it; the existence of personal ethics would put more restrictions on them (Preston, 1997).
The article expounds further what the lawyers want is not to be relieved of their actions in the workplace, but they do not agree the fact that they or any other person in business is restricted to be morally responsible. For instance managers fail to acknowledge the moral ingredients of their thoughts and behavior and instead explain altruistic acts paying attention to the utility derived to a company (Preston, 1997). Managers are said to be morally mute a phenomena that sum up the whole idea of ethics. Such above explanations and observations are startling based on what is happening in the UK where companies contribute a proportion of their pre-tax profits in funding projects to develop the surrounding community (Roth, 2007).
References
Boylan, M. (2014). Business ethics. Chichester,U.K: Wiley Blackwell.
Gini , A., & Marcoux, A. (2009). Case studies in business ethics. Upper Saddle River,NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Murthy, C. (2010). Business ethics. Mumbai: Himalaya Pub.
Preston, D. (1997). Can business ethics really exist? Journal of Business Ethics, 209-219.
Roth, J. (2007). Ethics. Ipswich: Salem Press.
Shaw, W. (2017). Business ethics. Boston,MA: Cengage learning.
Thomas, R. (2011). Business ethics. ethics international for centre for business and public sector ethics.
Boylan, M. (2014). Business ethics. Chichester,U.K: Wiley Blackwell.
Gini , A., & Marcoux, A. (2009). Case studies in business ethics. Upper Saddle River,NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Preston, D. (1997). Can business ethics really exist? Journal of Business Ethics, 209-219.
Roth, J. (2007). Ethics. Ipswich: Salem Press.
Thomas, R. (2011). Business ethics. ethics international for centre for business and public sector ethics.
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