Ethics

Ethics is an issue that comes up countless times in the business environment. To some people, Ethics come as common sense, but to others, their unethical acts always seem to have some justification - if nothing more than the fact that they just want ONE SONG illegally downloaded to their MP3 player. Nonetheless, any action like this is unethical. Other words I like to associate with unethical behavior are deviant, shady, secretive, and "Will I get caught?". Unfortunately when it comes to right and wrong, there are very skewed beliefs among us.

For businesses, acting unethically can seriously affect the bottom line profits. Whether it is executive level management like the ENRON case, or even down to the micro level at a small retail shop, small or big, these mistakes should all be treated as wrong. I have worked for a company where cashiers were in charge of ringing customers, adjusting promotion prices,  taking coupons, and ultimately deciding whether to give into peer pressure to "make an acceptation" to the policies. Giving into these situations is not only unethical, but it is stealing from the company. It is not fair for Sally Sue to always grant customers extra discounts, while George always stands firm in the company policy and only honor company-presented promotions and coupons. If any of George's customers ever found out what Sally Sue was doing, there would be problems to be sorted out and likely some  upset customers. This unequal treatment is unethical.

http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13073

The site above links to an article called Ethics in the Workplace Written by Joshua Joseph in October 2000. He talks about some recent implementations of Ethics programs in the workplace. Having Ethics Training, an Ethics hot line(somewhere to call and ask about if something is ethical or not), and written ethics standards seems to have dramatically increased ethical behavior in the workplace. If employees are aware of what is expected of them from the start of their job, they are more likely to report misconduct, feel good about their organizations, and feel valued as employees (according to the Ethics Resource center's 2000 National Business Ethics Survey)

The next time that you doubt whether you should do something or not, don't ask yourself "will I get caught?" anymore. Let's start asking "Is this really ethical?" and when the answer to that question is "no", then do it - but usually if you have to ask yourself, then you may as well forget about it.

This cartoon was taken from a Denver Post Staff Writer, Chuck Plunkett

The image above demonstrates what not to take away from an Ethics training. If people know how to act ethical, they are more likely to do their own work. Here, these students do not take Ethics seriously. Either that, or they missed out on some vital human skills when they were growing up.