Ethics in the Trucking Industry

Ethics in the Trucking Industry

Abstract

The trucking industry sheds a bright spotlight on the fact that there are often ethical conflicts between making money, and doing the right thing. The trucking industry has some very real ethical concerns. Truckers are all either independent business-people or employed by businesses. The relevance of trucker ethics to business ethics is clear. The deregulation of the trucking industry thirty years ago changed the way businesses were run and how employees were treated. Companies have changed the way they do business and treat their employees in the name of increasing competition but unfortunately not for the better. Companies as well as employees must remember their obligations to each other and society as a whole. Companies may choose unethical behavior by rationalizing the decision that it is better for the whole. Employees may choose unethical behavior to satisfy authority. Whatever the reasons there is a push to bring both companies and their employees together to become more ethical through guidance.

Introduction

The trucking industry provides an essential service to the economy of the United States of America. An industry with this big of a responsibility needs to function safely as well as competitively while being ethical. Ethics involves learning what is right or wrong, and then doing the right thing. The right thing is not nearly as straightforward as conveyed. Most ethical dilemmas in the workplace are not simply a matter of yes or no.

We may consider ethics to be the "Science of Conduct”. Ethics includes the fundamental ground rules by which we live our lives. Philosophers such as Socrates and Plato have given guidelines for ethical behavior. Many ethicists consider emerging ethical beliefs to be legal principles, i.e., what becomes an ethical guideline today is made into to a law, regulation or rule. Therefore following law of the land is one of the...