Crisis in Business Ethics

Crisis In Business Ethics

In today’s business environment, ethical misconduct has become a major concern. Most of the misconducts are reported from upper-level management in comparison to non-management employees and lower level supervisors. Specific issues such as accounting fraud, harassment, employee theft, abusive behavior, defective products and bribery are some examples of crisis in business ethics in today’s business world. There are several examples of companies such as Enron and WorldCom in which there was a failure of business ethics.

There is a survey by Ernst & Young, which reflects that senior executives are now more likely to make illegal payments in exchange for favors or influence to win business. The findings of survey suggest that among 400 CFO, 15% are willing to make cash payments to win or retain business. In concern to financial statement fraud, it is also identified that respondents of CFOs are ready to misstate financial performance. All these reflects “crisis in business ethics”. In today’s market, growth and ethical business conduct appear to be competing priorities. Companies now prefer to operate on a global basis and entering in new markets requires third party agents and local contracts, which adds greater risk to crisis in business ethics.

Besides this evidence, there is also an example that refutes the existence of the crisis. Raytheon Company follows business ethics, while operating business worldwide. The company has maintained a corporate governance structure for several years. Throughout the company, ethics training is strict. As stated in the news, employees completed over 150,000 ethics learning modules last year alone. By considering the lens of ethics rather than short term gain, decisions are made by employees in the company. There can be seen the culture of openness and transparency in the company. In this way, this article refutes to the existence of the crisis.

On the basis of above discussion, it can be stated...