Every company leader should place high value on what you do, why you do it and make choices with transparency. When you take a look at a brand, the only thing you see are its products or services, not the way they are being made and put together. The question might be what can you find out enough by searching Wikipedia and business ethics? It’s clear today that Volkswagen is paying a huge price for subverting the rules so that it’s products could be sold meeting customer expectations (expectations that they established). The process needs of making sound choices to be efficient, productive and transparent, and for this to happen you need to implement sound business ethics.
However, just like with morality and ethics in general, there’s always a bit of a dilemma. There’s a really thin line between right and wrong for more than a couple of topics, and when faced with one of those crossroads we all need to know how to behave. Are the needs of the shareholders and company greater than the needs of the customers? The question is challenging, but the answer, when faced with making unethical choices that become public, is clear. Ethical choices win ever time.
As we all know…
Business ethics is a wide system of laws and guidelines according to which the world of business operates. This wide range of guidelines covers many different areas – from public relations to rules of behavior in a workplace, to compliance with laws and communication with both internal and external customers.
Thanks to business ethics, companies worldwide are able to establish their inner systems, communicate with the public, but also do business among themselves more efficiently. Because of those rules, we are all able to create professional relationships based on trust. You can read all about it on Wikipedia and yet, as good as that source might be, it can’t teach one the importance of making ethical choices. Sometimes its the school of hard knocks that really drives the importance of making ethics a prime value in both our business and personal lives.
However, things aren’t that black and white
In reality, it is a bit more complex than that. Sure, this system prohibits bribes – for example, company executives shouldn’t take money from other companies in return for favors, or take some extra money from their own company’s CEO to keep quiet about an issue that may put the public at risk.
That’s all pretty clear, isn’t it? Right until opera tickets, a new set of goal clubs or any other fancy gift comes knocking at your door.
This is a really gray area, it’s practically like asking that notorious question – is there such thing as white lies? The fact is that all people lie; some to protect their interest while others to protect their loved ones. But lie is still a lie, so should we do it or not? Again, Volkswagen, as a current example, created a software fix to effectively lie to emissions testers. The lie was effective till it was discovered and now the cost to fix that lie will be far greater than making the product work right the first time.
Basically, it’s up to individuals
Having a clear conscience is quite rare these days, even if we learn how to ignore that little honest voice in our head. We can all come up with various excuses for why we’re doing something that’s usually considered wrong, and justify our means with a seemingly worthy end goal. I call that “Rationalization” and that is the cement that holds together the idea that one can make an unethical choice and it be OK. In reality it is never OK.
It’s been argued that there is no such thing as Business Ethics. Businesses are made up of people and those people are the ones who make the choices to act within ethical guidelines or not. True…individuals do make corporate choices, but leadership is often the driver of corporate culture. If the folks at the top want to succeed at all costs then they risk suffering the consequences of their behavior. Just ask the former president of Volkswagen…
So, how to get it right?
It’s quite tricky, really. You should always start with yourself – when you’re confronted with a choice, you always try to select the best option. So, how are bad decisions really made when we all try to choose wisely? Ethics, by nature, it making the best choice at the time based on the all facts and circumstances.
I’m confident that not one person consciously decides to go with a choice they consider to be wrong, unless their life is out of balance and the choice they make to bring it back in balance is more powerful than carefully considering what should be done looking at long term consequences. Now I’m for giving others the benefit of the doubt for issues that fall within the moral grey area. Maybe someone made a poor choice because they forgot to include an important factor that somehow managed to slip their mind.
It can be quite hard to find a solution that benefits all parties included in a particular problem. After all – it’s people we’re working with, not machines, and people have emotions, egos, confidence issues, etc. So, in a situation where no law is broken, it’s good to stay open-minded and carefully evaluate the situation.
The secret in finding the right solution and making the right choices is practice. In order to establish a healthy way of thinking, you need to work on your value system and develop it as necessary. No matter what part of the triangle you are – if you’re an employee, a business leader, or a part of the government that conducts business ethics laws – you have a responsibility to fulfill your duties and act according to healthy moral standards. If that is done right, there will be less room for misjudgments and less ethical problems to solve.
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