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Business Ethics and Business Sustainability

   

Added on  2020-05-08

7 Pages1492 Words139 Views
Running head: Business Ethics and Sustainability1Business Ethics and Sustainability Name:Institution:

Business Ethics and Sustainability2Entry one: The Gold and Diamond WatchAlthough most people dislike discussions regarding ethics in business, this subject continues to dominate discourses among business professional. It is well appreciated that the solepurpose of existence of any business enterprise is maximization of profits, however, some business practices have been known to have adverse effects on clients which are well intended by the business mangers. Ryan, a salesman with Anderson Office Supplies finds himself with an ethical dilemma that jeopardizes his job. When he meets Abdul in the Middle East who offers him a deal of $ 950 000 for a bribe of $10 000, it makes business sense to him as the cost-benefitanalysis seem to favor his company. However, Charles, Ryan’s boss would hear none of it citing business ethics. He castigates him for attempting to bribe clients. According to May, Luth and Schwoerer, 2014) there should be no subjectivity as far as interpretation of morality is concerned. Personal perception of moral business ethics can result inconflict among players especially where some practices are allowed in one firm and yet prohibited in another. This makes business transactions complicated. Lack of observance of ethical standards in business can ruin the reputation of an organization and affect its bottom-line in terms of profits. This will have a bearing on sustainability of business ventures.Ethics is based on values that a company wishes to instill in her employees (Crane and Matten 2016).. These are sometimes expressed in the mission statement and define what is acceptable and what is not. Every society has some principles that underlie their ethical values and these are usually entrenched in their legal and administrative systems (Trevino and Nelson, 2016). Charles in this case was defending the moral standing of the company against forces of compromise. If the company went ahead to secure the tender with the client and it was disclosed

Business Ethics and Sustainability3to the public that it had engaged in bribery, this would greatly soil the company’s reputation and affect it future business prospects. Viewed in terms of sustainability, Charles could have been looking at the prospect that his firm would provide a loophole for corrupt organizations to solicit bribes in future for award of business tenders. This could result if Abdul happened to mention the inducement he received from other bribe-hungry brokers. Organizations should not just engage in ethical standards because of their value system but also for reputation sake. In this regard, the practice of morals can bring impressive business gains for a firm (Beckmann, Hielscher and Pies, 2014). Against the advice of his boss, Ryan gave in to the advice of his friend, secured a loan from the bank and bought the watch for the client with the aim of supplying the order as an individual. Unfortunately he was discovered and his job was on the line. At this point, the battle between what is right and wrong and the pressure to redeem his debt situation confronts Ryan. It is clear that personal challenges should never be an excuse for flouting business moral ethics (Sharm andHart, 2014).Entry two: The Ford Pinto CaseIn the Ford Pinto case, we see an effort on the company to yield to pressure to launch their economic car to the market despite the fact that it fails the crash test. In this case, the company failed the corporate social responsibility (CSR) test as they failed to protect their prospective clients against harm. This willful greed for profits at the expense of safety is what dominates discussions about business ethics. CSR goes beyond fulfilling the economic and ethical requirements and touches on the ethical and philanthropic requirements as expected by itsstakeholders (Suliman, Al-Khatib and Thomas, 2016). In the Ford case, it appears that normativeethics, which are a set of moral values found in a society, were violated. The utmost ethic of

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