Today i feel like speaking a bit about these two strong words.
Ethics:
- how can you define them?
If i had to pick 3 words to describe them, i would say: protocal of fairness and respect.
Business:
- a sort of activity whose main objective is to generate some sort of profitable results.
The combination of these terms and the adoption of their content practices should be ideally part of the idiosincrasy of todays companies. Notwithstanding, it doesnt have a true match with reality.
Perhaps, i am a true purist and my principles for doing business are based on other and alternsative values, but i cannot go without expressing a dislike when i see that ethics and business do not walk together – this was the case this morning.
It is like being a gentleman in the romantic sense of the word. You defend your ideals towards reaching a greater good. When business are done ethics nor code of conduct is a bit like working for the oldest profession of all times.
Think about… It just produces a feeling of desenchanment.
June 4, 2008 at 3:37 pm
YoBlog,
It does seem at times that ethics and business do not sit comfortably together.
Broadly speaking, I think your definitions above are an accurate summary of the two words.
Whilst I believe sound ethical practices produce positive business results over the long term, I think that in the short term, they often appear to be in conflict.
Executives today are under pressure to deliver positive results in the short term, The resultant short term focus may cause them to compromise on basic corporate integrity, notwithstanding the fact that, in many cases, sound ethical practices will also produce positive results over the long term.
Another issue I feel is that in order to see the benefits of positive ethical practices, business leaders need to see the world through a win-win mentality, where they develop solutions which are positive both from the view of the firm and the view of broader society. In some cases, I feel that business leaders may view ethics as a ‘cost’ to the company, and may not see that in many cases, there are approaches which benefit the corporation as well as being sound from an ethical standpoint.
You mentioned about values and being a ‘purist.’ I think its necessary to operate in life with a sound set of fundamental principles. If we don’t stand firm on our principles, we have no reference point to follow when situations arise in business that involve making decisions based around ethical judgments.
Principles, I think, provide us with a guiding framework which helps guide decision making when ethical considerations arise in the corporate world.
I personally believe business and ethics can work together. But I do sometimes feel that ethics are compromised too often in today’s business world.
Cheers
Andrew
June 4, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Hi Andrew,
thanks for the views. To be honest I could not agree more with you. I like the long term vision and how are here to stay for a least a few decades.
In my view, the businesses we build now will be here to treasure us tomorrow. I like to guide concept that will help us make judged decisions and give us light to move away from the ethicless darkness.
Thanks.
Yoblog
June 9, 2008 at 7:11 pm
The worlds of Business and Ethics are difficult to blend. Organizations such as XXX, have negative results because the people on board cannot tell the difference between right and wrong. Due to scope, these consequences usually take longer to materialize, but is the result the same? You can find a ton of articles and books about business ethics about businesses “losing their way,” e.g., WorldCom, Tyco, Enron. You can also sign up for seminars where they preach to “do the right thing.” They paint the world in stark black and white. These resources ask one-dimensional ethical questions, such as, “Should you take kickbacks from suppliers?” For me, ethics in the workplace is varying shades of gray. You have to rely on moral law, that is, does it ‘feel’ wrong? It’s easy to say, “There is right, and there is wrong.” In my management book, Wingtips with Spurs, I address these issue in detail. All major corporations have their written code of conduct. Each one is pretty much just a copy of the others and is a major dust bunny. The next time you walk into someone’s office, ask to see the company code of conduct. Good luck on finding someone who will produce it within five minutes. The moral law is much easier to find and digest. It resides in each of us. Michael L. Gooch, SPHR http://www.michaellgooch.com