Assessing Bribery and Corruption: Business Ethics and Sustainability

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BUSINESS ETHICS AND SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT 1

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Table of Contents
Bribery, corruption and its link to ethics..................................................................................... 4
Bribery and corruption using ethical relativism .Can such practices be seen as part of a
nation’s culture? If so what are the implications.........................................................................6
Bribery and corruption from the perspective of consequentialism, deontology and virtue ethics
and how a manager would use to explain, defend or refute the practice.....................................8
The Australian legislation that addresses the bribery of foreign officials with at least 1 other
country’s approach.....................................................................................................................10
Bribery and corruption is unethical........................................................................................... 12
Reference....................................................................................................................................... 13

This report introduces to the concept of Bribery, corruption and its link to ethics. Both bribery
and corruption are considered to be unethical and is considered a crime under Australian laws.
Numerous businesses are indulged into malpractices, bribing, and corruption and black money
scandals. Moreover, this report highlights bribery and corruption from the perspective of
deontology, virtue ethics and consequentialism. This report shows bribery and corruption with
the help of ethical relativism. Further, this report examines whether these practices can be seen
in the national culture or not, this report presents the perspectives of a managerin defending and
explaining the above specified practices. Practicing fraud and any other kind of financial
malfunctions comes under the ambit of corruption. Corruption and bribery are increasing due to
the accumulation of power in a fewhands. Further, this report presents the Australian legislation
which addresses the corruption of overseas officials with at least 1 other nation. This entire
report is discussed in an appropriate manner so that significant conclusions can be drawn.

Bribery, corruption and its link to ethics
In general, corruption considered to be the form of Political corruption which arises whena
governmental employee or any other office-holder acts in an official capability for private gain.
Corruption is mostly placed in kleptocracies, mafia states oligarchies and narco-states.Corruption
can arise on different scales. Corruption varieties from minor favours among a small amount of
individuals (minor corruption),to corruption which impacts the management on the large scale
(grand corruption), and corruption which is so predominant that it is considered to be the part of
the daily structure of society, comprising corruption as one of the signs of prearranged crime.
Crime and Corruption are widespread sociological incidences which appear with consistent
frequency in almost all nations on a worldwide scale in changing proportion and degree.
Individual countries each allocate local resources for the regulation and control of crime and
corruption (Mackey, et. al., 2017)
Bribery comprises the inappropriate usage of favours and gifts in exchange for individual gain.
This is also recognized as kickbacks or, in the Middle East, as baksheesh. It is the common
practice of corruption. The kinds of favours given are miscellaneous and can comprise money,
gifts, employment, company shares, entertainment, sexual favours, and political benefits. The
personal gain that is given can be anything from actively offering preferential conduct to having
a crime overlooked or indiscretion. Bribery can occasionally form a fragment of a universal
usage of corruption for other ends, for instance, to do further corruption. Bribery can make
officials more liable to extortion or blackmail (Johnston, 2017).
Ethics, as per the Merriam-Webster's dictionary, is considered to be the correction which is
dealing with what is bad and good. In general, unethical actions are those for which there is a
communal consent that they are a wicked thing. Corruption has numerous meanings, dependent
on whether it happens in the private or public segment; though, for most people corruption is
unethical, something well-thought-out as wrongdoing. Giving bribes is comparatively common
in numerous nations, and inducements often take the form of smear payments, which are
insignificant incentives planned to expedite transactions and decisions. Corporations and their
workers normally try to set scales of their ethical behaviour with interests of business. While

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corruption is now a days extensively observed as unethical, firms losetheir business and image in
the market (Turley, 2017).

Explain Bribery and corruption using ethical relativism.Can such practices be seen as part
of a nation’s culture? If so what are the implications
Bribery is the way of offering something mainly money to achieve a particular advantage.
Corruption is the practice to misuse the position to gain an advantage. The bribery and
corruption give a large impact on the various companies and in various countries. These
practices give a negative impact on the nation’s culture (Alm, et.al., 2016). The reputation and
financial standing of many firms can be reduced due to the use of bribery and corruption. The
corporate performance of a company also impacts due to the bribery and corruption. The bribery
is also a type of corruption. Corruption mainly refers to misuse the power, position for the
personal advantage. In the case of political corruption, many government officers misuse their
positions and take the money from the public to increase their personal gain. The bribery and
corruption both are not ethical activities. These practices can decrease the trust of the public in
the nation (Karklins, 2016). The economic and political both types of corruption are increases in
the whole world. Bribery is the process mainly used in the large business companies and
corruption is used in the government offices. These activities are becoming a part of the nation’s
culture but these activities decrease the economic conditions of the nation. These activities are
used across the world. There are many ethical issues arise in the business companies due to the
corruption and bribery.
The corruption and bribery have great implications for the culture of the nation. Mainly it affects
the economic development of the country and reduces the cultural values in the people’s mind.
These practices can largely affect the nation’s perspective.
The effects of corruption on the people are described as below:
 Lack of quality in services
The corruption can distract the quality in the services of the business. To take a quality
the one needs to pay extra for that. The products quality can be decreased due to the use
of bribery and corruption. The corruption is mainly found in the areas like municipality,
electricity and relief funds.
 Changes in unemployment

There are many changes occurred in the process of unemployment due to the process of
corruption in it. Many institutes and private education uses the help of corruption in the
process of providing an education. This will affect the quality of education in the nation.
 Poor health and hygiene
The health problem arises in the countries due to the use of corruption. The contractors
provided the bad quality of services to the people and save money for their personal
advantage (Deleon, 2015). So through these activities, the health and hygiene of the
people are affected.
 Lack of proper justice
The improper justice is occurring due to the use of corruption in the country. With the
corruption in the judicial system, the proper justice is not created by the judicial system. The
investigation of the crime is also decreasing due to the corruption and justice is delayed and this
is not good for the common people of the country

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Bribery and corruption from the perspective of consequentialism, deontology and virtue
ethics and how a manager would use to explain, defend or refute the practice
Corruption contains any unlawful usage of office and can comprise a range of dissimilar kinds of
crime. Bribery is restricted to the acceptance or giving of payment of other unlawful gains.
Consequentialism, virtue ethics and deontology are the prime theories of ethics which help in the
better understanding of corruption and bribe as an ethical or unethical action. Below specified
are the concept of bribery and corruption from different perspectives:
Consequentialism Deontology Virtue ethics
Consequentialist philosophies,
unlike deontological and
virtue theories, hold that only
the outcomes or consequences,
of activities, matter ethically.
As per this opinion, acts are
thought to be ethically right
merely on the basis of their
consequences. The most
common type of
consequentialism is the
utilitarianism.
Consequentialism is
considered to be the normative
principled philosophy, which
implies, it is a philosophy
about the ethicalact and a
planned method for
determining how one must
select the correct moral act.
Deontological philosophies
are derivative from the Greek
word for duty. The theory is
based on morality on specific
obligations, claim and duties
that definite actions are
essentially wrong or right, that
is, wrong or right in
themselves, irrespective of the
consequences which can
follow from those activities.
What makes an action or
choice right is its conformism
with an ethical standard.
Deontology proposes that
ethical decisions must be
made by following
instructions or fulfilling
responsibilities (Kagan,
Virtue ethics takes its ethical
root in the work of the
prehistoric Greek theorist
Aristotle. Virtue theories
statethat ethics is all about
negotiators, not consequences
or actions. Living a good life
or an ethical life, then,
comprises in the ownership of
accurate personality qualities
(virtues) and having, as a
consequence, the proper moral
character. Virtual ethics
recommends that the moral
acts to be taken are the one
which would be taken by the
worthy individual (van Zyl,
2018).

Consequentialism articulates
that the outcomes of an act are
all that matter when dealing
with an ethical decision (Hurst
house, 2013)
2018).
The manager must offer global anti-bribery training and anti-corruption training courses
Corruption and Bribery fora long time are considered to be the main obstacle for socio-economic
growth; falsifying international and national economic relations. Corruption is considered to be
the misuse of power – or an inducement to misuse supremacy – for commercial, private, party-
political gain. Bribery is considered to be the specific crime which comprises an exchange of
something which is of some worth to the receiver. It is provided in the hope of receiving
something in reappearance. The manager must offer global anti-bribery training and anti-
corruption training courses. This interactive, engaging anti-bribery training course and anti-
corruption training course will guarantee staffs at all levels to understand their responsibilities
and roles in protecting the business from the danger of corruption and bribery. The managers
should try to regulate the stakeholder of the company and should see that no person mutualise the
power. Corruption and bribery are the main concern of the government.

The Australian legislation that addresses the bribery of foreign officials with at least 1
other country’s approach
Foreign bribery: legal framework of Australia
The main basis of criminal liability for the foreign bribery is well stated in the Criminal Code.
Secondary grounds of liability are established on domestic Australian law and in the Criminal
Code (for Commonwealth offences). Below specified statutes form prospective secondary
liability:
 State criminal law for domestic criminal offences and General Commonwealth.
 Trade in proceeds or instruments of corruption is a crime giving rise to chronicles under
the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002
 The barrier of justice in the Crimes Act 1914
 Where community reserves are utilized for corruption or bribery, crimes for
inappropriately dealing with community money are covered by the Financial
Management and Accountability Act 1997 (Benton, et. al., 2015).
 The obligationfor breach of responsibility by an officer of a corporation or a director is
limited in the Corporations Act 2001
The foreign public official denotes to the extensive range of the public officials, comprising
those individuals who are legitimately hired by a overseas government and those individuals who
do work for an overseas government organization, or who embrace themselves to be an official
transitional of an official or who are part of a ‘overseas public enterprise’ which acts (informally
or formally ) in accordance with the instructions, orders or requirements of an administration of
the foreign nation (Kumar, et. al., 2017).
Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA)
The CFPOA (Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act) is the Canadian lawmaking applying
its responsibilities under the UN Agreement in contradiction of Corruption. The CFPOA relates

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to companies and persons and makes it an illegal offence for companies or person to bribe
foreign public executives to find or retain a business benefit.
Bribery Provision:
A person who commits a crime if she/he – in an order to get or acquire a benefit – gives,
proposals or decides to provide or proposal an advantage of any type to a foreign communal
official or to any individual for the advantage of an overseas community official
1. As a consideration for performance by the authorized person in association with the
bureaucrat’s responsibilities, or
2. To persuade the authorized people to utilize their position to impact any acts of the public
global organization or foreign state.
The CFPOA is applicable to the bribery of foreign public officials when a crime is done in whole
or in part within Canada. The maximum amount of penalties for the crime consists of millions in
fines and 14 years’ imprisonment (Gutter man, 2016).

Bribery and corruption is unethical
As per the above discussions, it can be concluded that corruption and bribery are both unethical
and is a serious trouble for the government of Australia. Both corruption and bribery in any of
the form only rise the price of running and managing the business—a charge that is either
engaged by the business or finally transported on to the purchaser or customer in some practice.
While companies agree that corruption is undesirable and costly, losing money-making
occupational prospects to companies which are less morally striving can be just as disturbing to
the bottom line. Until governments in each nation regularly observe and apply anticorruption
regulations, bribery will keep on a real and very thought-provoking matter for international
businesses (Ferguson, 2018).
Bribery is considered to be a criminal offence. Bribes and corruption result in the financial
downfall of the country. Bribery is a token which is exchanged mainly among the person who
has power and a person who is not having the power to fulfil some kind of transactions ore deal.
In most of the business,bribery is common so that illegal activities can be performed smoothly to
bribe someone is unlawful and to pay a bribe is prohibited. Businesses and their staffs regularly
try to poise ethical behaviour with occupational interests. While corruption is now extensively
observed as unethical, companies lose their business which can be less thorough in following to
this code. While the media shows the stories of business which have broken this ethical conduct,
the misbehaviour of numerous more businesses goes hidden. Businesses, governments and
business schools are progressively creating efforts to put off professionals and business from
taking and making bribes. Corruption and bribery are illegal as they involve frauds and
malpractices which can damage the socio-economic wellbeing of a nation (Tickner, 2017).
Corruption is the willingness (ratified or otherwise) to perform deceitfully for private gain. The
unfaithfulness of belief does not requirevoiding a factual contract but should consist of some
exploitation of a usual relationship to advantage the corrupt people. The government should
frame anti-corruption laws so that they can ensure safe and effective business and development
of the nation. Both corruption and bribe are a matter of serious concern and can put the entire
economy in danger. Corruption is the mis-utilization of power in an order to gain some kind of
monetary and non-monetary benefits.

Reference
1. Alm, J., Martinez-Vazquez, J., & McClellan, C. (2016). Corruption and firm tax
evasion. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 124, 146-163.
2. Benton, L. A., Deming, S. H., Helmer, E., & Reider-Gordon, M. (2015). Anti-
Corruption. The International Lawyer, 49, 307.
3. DeLeon, P. (2015). Thinking about political corruption. Routledge.
4. Ferguson, G. (2018). Global corruption: Law, theory & practice.
5. Gutterman, E. (2016). Corruption in the global economy. International Political
Economy, 456-475.
6. Hursthouse, R. (2013). Normative virtue ethics. ETHICA, 645.
7. Johnston, M. (2017). Political corruption: Concepts and contexts. Routledge.
8. Kagan, S. (2018). Normative ethics. Routledge.
9. Karklins, R. (2016). The System Made Me Do it: Corruption in Post-communist
Societies: Corruption in Post-communist Societies. Routledge.
10. Kumar, A. G., Ince, E., Chan, T., & Kaur, H. (2017). Criminal v Civil Penalties: The
Art of the Deal with Regulators in Australia.
11. Mackey, T. K., Kohler, J., Lewis, M., & Vian, T. (2017). Combating corruption in
global health. Science translational medicine, 9(402), eaaf9547.
12. Tickner, P. (2017). Fraud and Corruption in Public Services. Routledge.
13. Turley, G. (2017). Transition, taxation and the State. Routledge
14. Van Zyl, L. (2018). Virtue Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge.

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