Business ethics defines the ground and guidelines regarding business activities, situations, and decisions thus address the issues relating to wrong and right. The business ethics covers beyond commercial businesses because it encompasses pressure groups, government organizations, charities, and non-profit businesses. Although law and ethics could have a relationship, it has proved difficult to get a definitive right answer to various ethical issues in business (Soba & Aydin, 2011).
Nonetheless, studying business ethics can help an individual to make the best decision, not the right decisions. With this confusion, it is important to define ethical theory, ethics, and morality. Document falsification as evident in the business environment raises the question of ethics, morality and ethical theory (Karabach & Berggren, 2016). This serious crime can attract a serious implication to the individuals involved. It further identifies the consequences of forging documents or plagiarism in institutions. This paper focuses on business ethics and sustainability regarding document falsification.
In the business environment, ethical and moral problems have emerged. Studies have indicated that many companies have established ethical principles to examine the situations. Business ethics applies to any business, organization, and individual conducts. In daily life, the ethical decision remains an obligation of in education, government, and business (Hadi, Paino, & & Pauzi, 2015). Recently, companies have experienced ethical issues and scandals. Following the adoption of a global village, the impact of financial scandal associated with ethical conduct has affected many businesses and governments (Crane & Matten., 2016).
For instance, with globalization, the growth of businesses became inevitable. Conversely, with these new opportunities, the companies began to face various business malpractices including money laundering, child labour, product duplication, and environmental issues. Cybercrimes, patent thefts, intellectual property theft, and sexual harassment became a business issue in the new millennium (Clifton & Amran, 2011). With globalization, the international trade and investments have improved because of the interdependence of countries. The advancement of technology has encouraged competition leading to ethical malpractices including forgery and falsification of documents.
The need to address these serious challenges remains critical to businesses, individuals, and governments. Companies like McDonald have incorporated business ethics to define their strategic business practices and alliances. By making business ethics part of their operations, the companies have managed to make strategic decisions thus bolster their competitiveness in the market. The move has further enabled these companies to create a healthy workplace climate and attract the top talents leading to a healthy competition and good profits (Pyke, 2014). Unfortunately, following the serious deterioration of values, violence, practices, corruption, egoism, and looking for wealth, everyone is hell-bent to race to earn. Studies have indicated that ethics is important because it protects the society and ensures the business attains sustainability and profitability (Hitt, Ireland, & Hoskisson, 2015). It corresponds to the needs of workers and allows the management to make the right decisions. However, understanding this concept of business ethics and sustainability has proved difficult. To this effect, it is important to compare and contrast various ethical theories.
Corporate social responsibility is part of ethical business practice in the modern world. In fact, it forms the cardinal values that businesses must consider to remain sustainable and competitive as evident in McDonald. McDonald’s has established a corporate social responsibility policy to determine its market position (Dudovskiy, 2016). The firm affirms that social responsibilities determine its competitiveness.
McDonald’s restaurant has identified its aspirational goals that measure its sustainable food packaging, sourcing, and operating in an environmentally efficient society. The company focuses on supporting the local communities. The restaurant intends to achieve this goal by supporting its charity organization to improve lives of the needy like children. This involves addressing various needs to children including education (Dudovskiy, 2016). It also empowers and educates workers. Based on its 2014 survey, 83 percent of its managers held that McDonald’s is the best place to work. The company has also invested in its seven campuses that offer training for its employees, managers, and Franchisees.
The company also values its business ethics because it has established policies to guide its human and labour rights. McDonald’s restaurant has compelled its suppliers to comply with the code of conducts. It has also forced its suppliers to clarify the requirements of the firm in addressing human rights, business integrity, workplace environment, and environmental management (Singh, 2010). It further promotes employee health and safety because it has a policy that serves its workforce. Regarding the gender equality, McDonald’s has ensured that women and minorities hold at least 27 percent of senior positions. In fact, 25 percent of managers are women across its restaurants (Dudovskiy, 2016). Responsible sourcing is also an important consideration for the firm. The firm’s offers including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and low-fat dairy have increased. The company’s final sustainable principles and criteria for beef have earned it accolades worldwide. By 2014, the firm’s coffee sources and fisheries were verified to be sustainable sources. These actions confirm its effort to maintain business ethics.
McDonald’s social responsibility report shows that the company values the trust of its stakeholders. With this asset to its business, the firm has invested heavily in supporting the local community. The important involvement of the company in community activities includes the establishment of Ronald McDonald’s House Charities (New, 2015). Through this program, the organization has supported various families and children in need. Through the business ethics efforts, McDonald’s has invested in Macca’s and the community.
For instance, it continues to monitor environmental impacts of its operations in the community. With these monitoring efforts, it has managed to improve its operations. McDonald also embraces ethical responsibility because it understands its influence in the society. The company values price and quality to define its ethical responsibility. For instance, its supplier system remains responsible thus motivate its customers. The firm is focused on doing the right thing that continues to motivate its customers (McDonald’s, 2012). To remain responsible, it incessantly audits the supplier workplace accountability thus protects the safety, health, and rights of employees.
The leading ethical theories that have defined the philosophy classes include virtue, deontology, and consequential ethics. According to various findings, consequentialism is a theory that revolves around the judgment of human practices depending on the consequences (Al-Aidaros, Shamsudin, & Idris, 2013). For instance, human practices with good consequences are viewed as moral while those with negative impacts are judged as wrong. The consequentialists believe that individuals should practice certain actions because of their good consequences. To this effect, individuals who falsify documents or engage in business malpractices are judged by consequentialists as wrong because such actions lead to bad consequences (McDonald, 2014). In the deontological theory, consequences are irrelevant because it judges human practices depending on the consistency with specific duties regarded as intrinsically moral. With this theory, the motive of forging a document or plagiarizing has to consider when judging human behaviours (Cote, Latham, & Sanders, 2013). For instance, forging document or fraud would be morally right if the motive was self-interest.
On the other hand, virtue ethics focuses on character instead of rules or individual actions as a way to define the ethical concept. The virtue ethics values courage, honesty, integrity, generosity, and temperance. With these characters, it is possible to evaluate the actions. Therefore, individuals should practice certain actions based on good characters.
Based on these normative ethical theories, it is evident that each theory articulates different principles. The consequentialism views ethics as right action and good consequences (Karabag, 2016). The deontology uses duties to define the ethics instead of consequences, while the virtue ethics value both duties and consequences. For an objectivism, immorality is the act of avoiding objective self-sustaining values based on the rational principles of action.
Forging or falsifying documents is a criminal offense across the world. In the last two years, fraud or document forgery has increased by over twenty percent (Nedim, 2014 ). Today, among the biggest fraud actions include the unauthorized use of debit and credit cards, forged documents, and identity theft are affecting the business community. False document and forgery are distinct offenses because it depends on whether the crime involves private organization, individual, or Commonwealth entity. In a case involving a Commonwealth entity, the prosecution has the burden of proof to justify the use of this forged documents and the intention (Ismail, 2015). For instance, the prosecution should prove that the accused person intended to obtain financial gain dishonestly thus influencing the process.
The accused person can use the forged documents to lie to a Commonwealth official. Similarly, an individual can use these forged documents on other devices like computers or online thus claim the document is genuine. This is a Commonwealth offense whenever an individual uses the false document to defraud the commonwealth entities like Centerlink or Medicare. Based on the Crime Act of 1958 (83A), individuals who engage in forgery are guilty and should be liable to ten years imprisonment (Nedim, 2014 ). The NSW Crimes Act (254) provides information that can be used to handle forged document matters involving individuals or private organizations. Under this Act, an accused person will be charged in a district of local courts, not the Supreme Court to answer to the forgery offense. With the Crimes Act of 2010, it has become possible to prosecute individuals committing fraud and forgery offenses (Nedim, 2014 ).
The false document offenses attract ten years imprisonment. However, the prosecutor must prove that the accused person was aware of the documents were false and the individual deliberately used the document dishonestly to gainful purposes. Under “Section 250 of the Crimes Act” (Nedim, 2014 , p. 1), an individual without the authorization of the genuine owner makes a forged or false document. The law rarely spares anybody found in possession of such documents or equipment founded on false documentation because they stand liable to ten years imprisonment.
In academic institutions, cheating or plagiarism is an acceptable conduct in the institution (Berlinck, 2011). In Brazil, fom instance, the higher educational institutions are compelled to create guidelines to help in detect and inhibit academic cheating. In most cases, the learning institutions have imposed different penalties including legal sanctions and warning to students engaged in such actions. For academic plagiarism, the institution or faculty can assign a student a zero mark to the assignment or exam the student has copied (Masic, 2012 ). The institution can also fail the student in the courses, especially in a repeat case of copying after warning. Similarly, the student can be suspended periods. However, when the institution finds that the student has engaged in an extensive plagiarism, expulsion could be the best bet (Kalani & Twinwal, 2013). This justifies the seriousness of this academic malpractice. Sometimes the institution can revoke the title of a student for engaging in plagiarism.
Apart from the consequences on the student, plagiarism taints the corporate image to the institution (Salleh, Ghazali , Awang, & Sapiai , 2012). In the modern business environment, companies use their corporate image to gain competitive advantage. For universities, the distinct images put them at a competitive position in the market. Indeed, these institutions have incessantly increased their investments to strengthen their quality and image. Studies have indicated that many customers value functional image, institutional image, and commodity image (Salleh, Ghazali , Awang, & Sapiai , 2012). They expect the institutions to produce students who can fit the market. However, when it is evident that most of the students have forged their documents or engaged in academic malpractices, they develop negative attitudes towards the institutions.
Conclusion
Forgery, fraud, and falsification of documents are viewed as serious crimes in which the accused intends to defraud others. In most cases, courts have handled issues regarding forging documents by the culprit. Businesses like McDonald’s have established business ethics to detect and caution workers to beware of the consequences of such ethical issues. The paper has further contrasted ethical theories relating to the document falsification. It has thus provided the consequences of this unethical act on individuals. As indicated in the paper, students and researchers have ostensibly plagiarized their work to gain a positive advantage. In fact, plagiarism is an ethical issue that requires a swift redress. As part of unethical behaviours, the company executives have awarded themselves huge bonuses and engaged in insider trading for personal interests. The companies and businesses have responded to this malpractice by investing in corporate governance.
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