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Historical Ethical Dilemmas
Artifact 3
Management Ethics
March 28, 2021
Abstract
This paper deals with modern business unethical conduct and what leaders need to act to lower such behavior. Further, it raises concerns that business ethics is evolving with time, and as such, businesses are obliged to respond to such changes agilely. Additionally, it points to the role of ethics in the 2007-8 financial crises. Again, it presents current business concerns on diversity and discrimination and their overall consequences. Ultimately it outlines the inherent effect of company volunteer programs in addressing particular business concerns. By the end of the intellectual discourse, it becomes apparent that modern businesses are affected by various ethical circumstances in their various business activities of investing, operating, and financing conduct. That leadership must be aware of the dynamic marketplace they have to navigate on a global scale. Consequently, businesses founded on sound business principles are bound to withstand all business storms. For that matter, business ethics becomes a vital aspect of current business practices because it offers a rational basis for establishing empires.
Historical Ethical Dilemmas
Unethical Behaviors in Workplaces
In life, there is ethical and ethical behavior in businesses. For this discourse, the focus is on unethical actions in business. Most business activities fall under-investing, operating, or financing, and during their performance, they are prone to unethical acts (Peters & Maniam, 2016). In the most general sense, modern unethical behaviors involving employees several actions like violating access to company internet, thievery, use of foul language, falsifying matters, and abuse of company time (Askew, Beisler, & Keel, 2015).
Leadership Role in Cabbing Unethical Behavior
Now that unethical behavior is prevalent in modern businesses, it is the onus of business leadership. At the topmost is for the establishment of codes of ethics within the company. Such establishes and reinforces the potential consequences for being caught offside on any one article. It can best be enforced when the leadership becomes an example to all other employees (Adelstein & Clegg, 2016). Additionally, leadership must instigate business policies that seek to employ individuals with values that match the company strategy. Similarly, leadership must establish checks and balances to cab any excess in behavior.
Furthermore, the administration must strive to appreciate employees that demonstrate ethical behaviors. (Mele’, 2014) Leadership must institute a culture that promotes ethics in their business conduct, including making employee lists to talks by invited speakers to the company meetings. The essential benefit of leadership dealing with unethical conduct outweighs ignoring them in the workplace. There are outright examples where ethical and unethical business ethics have fared differently for different companies and businesses. Businesses rely on their reputation to grow, and any unethical behavior impedes such growth. As it is recognized in business, limited growth equates to stagnating or dwindling revenues, while exponential growth results in increased revenue. As such, the benefits of ethical conduct outweigh unethical conduct in business—the reason for ethical or unethical behavior stems from thinking so (Schwartz., 2017). Therefore, ethical thinking leads to ethical decision making and the contrary impedes such.
Evolving Business Ethics
The industrial revolution businesses were less ethical in the conduct. They were made for their time where such cavalier attitude prevailed. Subsequently, public opinion has tended to shape company performance as such businesses began to attach the importance of public relation, which inevitably affected their ethical conduct. To change public perception, company ethics shifted to become somewhat moral. Similarly, businesses have instituted social responsibility through various schemes to reinforce their value in the face of their consumers and themselves. Additionally, business ethics like culture change with time (Schwartz., 2017). With such modifications, ethics change to keep with technological and attitude changes in people besides their culture.
The industrial revolution business rarely had regard to how they treated their human capital. It is in this era that labor rights movements began agitating for more employee rights. The brutal reprisal of such industrial action cannot be a common feature in today’s industrial activities; it is a meaningful symbolic gesture of changing business ethics in dealing with their behavior (Mele’, 2014). Over the years, due to the exposure of unethical actions in the forms of fraud and thievery, legislations have sprung up to deal with the ever-changing nature of white-collar crimes. The 19th, 20th, and 21st-century business ethics is dissimilar. Current ethical issues range from health and safety, social media, harassment, discrimination, and accounting. Their ethics have metamorphosized unlike before, thus requiring new insightful principles to address them.
Explanations for the 2007-8 Financial Crisis
The combined failure of processes and people led to the 2007-08 financial markets burst. The banking process in various business activities before the crash led to people losing confidence in the market. It has essentially been claimed that there have not been issues on the whole with needs but by people’s shifting attitudes. It is so because, after the loss of confidence, the process of building confidence began, and not long people again had faith in the financial market, and the boom started again—the swing of people’s emotions from positive to negative affect the financial markets. Emotions significantly affect people’s conduct, which tends to swing from ethical to unethical due to conservative and entrepreneurial spirits pervading the market (Schwartz., 2017). It is a widely accepted fact that losers and winners are within the financial market.
When the confidence is high, internal market processes are loosely adhered to and invite unethical conduct, which not long leads to people acting unethically (Askew, Beisler, & Keel, 2015). The only road is a spiral one until an order is restored upon confidence is lost. Rebuilding begins again, and the see-saw process starts again. It is evident through history with the enumerated booms and bursts of the past. The financial market’s only problem is morality answered by the moral theories around. After the crash, the decisions made also fall under ethical theories to restoring the people’s confidence.
Business Dealing with Diversity and Discrimination
The human species though the same, is diverse in thinking and behavior. Today’s companies have to factor this aspect in all of their business activities. Because markets are found in various geographics, it concludes that companies conducting their actions are culturally diverse. When it the case, a business must strive to display such diversity. In any case, today’s business concerns are global, and as such, the various section of the world need to be at display in the human capital (Mele’, 2014). Such is beneficial to business because their reputation for being diverse attract potential customers who desire to be associated with it. The contrary attracts a tag of the company engaging in discrimination even if that is not their intention. The unintended consequences are considered unethical business ethics in a world with diverse stakeholders. Business leadership has to be keen for such consideration in their hiring policies to ensure that representation is broad enough. The trending business ethics is towards diversity and cabbing discrimination tendencies that are culturally inherited (Schwartz., 2017). Considering that consumers for business products and services are diverse, it is inevitable for their workforce to be trustworthy.
Generally, business discrimination tendencies invite for the quality of services and products offered to be varied. The typical scenario is for the discriminated sect either on race or gender receiving inferior products or services. Business cultural diversity affects many decisions made concerning hiring and promotion and relationships by stakeholders, among others. The absolute benefit of cultural diversity is that it allows for sharing experiences of all involved in a business. With such a cultural diffusion, the outcome is a novel experience for employers and employees on production. It is because stakeholders will feel valued and their self-esteem enhanced. A happy employee drives the production efficacy up and the overall value of the business. As a result, it will be found that employees stay longer in such companies like a majority of Google’s top leadership has. However, should such an issue be of no concern to businesses, the net effect is miscommunication and dysfunctional business activities due to barriers created from such an attitude. Dissemination of information on these matters must be done through scholarships, diverse scrutinizing panels, training on such issues, instituting various job boards approaches.
The Case for Company Volunteer Programs
Various forms of corporate social responsibility are beneficial to the business finance and workforce (Schwartz., 2017). It is evident through the vast sums of money spent for such endeavors in the United States of America and globally. However, the general business leadership tendency is to perceive such efforts cost-benefit analysis point to a contrary view. Despite the apparent, it is upon leadership to institute such programs for their current accepted advocacy. The changing demographics call for direction to help these programs pull millennials to their business products and services. Essentially the return on investment f these programs is as a result of the following. Such programs promote workforce collaboration due to such ventures strengthening trust. Such programs bring diverse individuals in background and age, thus offering intensive connection opportunities lacking in offices. Additionally, they increase individual self-awareness among people, thereby influencing conflict solving, making decisions, and coordinating (Peters & Maniam, 2016). Furthermore, the results affect increased business revenue due to satisfied employees increasing production efficiency due to minimal turnover.
Additionally, the current workforce is skewing towards more millennials whose job satisfaction is on growth opportunities that lead to their development, and such programs keep these segments engaged. Through these programs’ millennials find themselves perfectly suited to transfer what they prefer most, their skills, over their money. They are pulled more towards bettering the world they found more than anything. These programs make the workforce feel appreciated because the company treats them favorably. Similarly, they aid in dealing with discrimination and race, age, and gender lines, which in the long run addresses business ethics (Carden & Boyd, 2014). Various theories support human treatment along with these outreach programs in tackling multiple business concerns.
References
Adelstein, J., & Clegg, S. (2016). Code of Ethics: A Stratified Vehicle for Compliance. The Journal of Business Ethics, 53-66.
Askew, O. A., Beisler, J. M., & Keel, J. (2015). Current Trends Of Unethical Behavior Within Organizations. International Journal of Management & Information Systems, 107-114.
Carden, L. L., & Boyd, R. O. (2014). AGE DISCRIMINATION AND THE WORKPLACE: EXAMINING A MODEL FOR PREVENTION. The Southern Journal of Business and Ethics, 58-67.
Mele’, D. (2014). “Human Quality Treatment”: Five Organizational Levels. The Journal of Business Ethics, 447-471.
Peters, S., & Maniam, B. (2016). CORPORATE FRAUD AND EMPLOYEE THEFT: IMPACTS AND COSTS ON BUSINESS. Journal of Business and Behavioral Sciences, 104-117.
Schwartz., M. S. (2017). Business Ethics: An Ethical Decision‐Making Approach. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.