Article #1 Business Ethics Article - Ethics in the Workplace By Myron Curry

Ethics in the Workplace - What's It About?

Ethics are about making choices that may not always feel good or seem like they benefit you but
are the right choices to make. They are the choices that are examples of model citizens and
examples of the golden rules. We've all heard the golden rules: Don't hurt, don't steal, don't lie,
or one of the most famous: Do unto others as you would have done to you. These are not just
catchy phrases; these are words of wisdom that any productive member of society should strive
to live by.

In our personal lives, most people try to do exactly that. Ethics are thought of by many people as
something that is related to the private side of life and not to the business side. In many
businesses, having ethics is frowned upon or thought of as a negative subject. This is because
business is usually about doing what's best for number one, not about what's really the right
thing to do. You probably are already feeling uneasy just reading this.

A Good Example
Take ENRON, for example. Were the actions of ENRON CEO a good example of ethics? No. But,
what they WERE was a CLASSIC example of two things: One, those actions displayed how ethics
were not used in any way. Two, their actions painted a grim and realistic picture of what can
happen when ethics are neglected. Had ethics been considered in the first place by the leaders
of the company, there would have been no scandal. If ethics were used on a daily basis in every
company, there would never be scandals.

Martha Stewart comes to mind when speaking of ethics. Again, there is a feeling of uneasiness
when dealing with this topic. But, why is it like that? Ethics are supposed to improve our lives
and invoke good feelings. Perhaps the reason ethics is such a sore subject is because they are so
often poorly used, if used at all.

A New Way
Ethics are making a comeback. To begin with, more and more corporations and businessmen
and women are now realizing that ethics are not checked at the door when entering the
workplace. Ethics have every bit as much a place in the public as they do the private. How it is
there should be separate sets of ethics, depending upon whether it is your personal life or your
work life? The answer is that there should not be a separate set and in light of recent events
that we see on our television sets as of late, more and more companies are realizing this fact.

Some companies are incorporating ethics into their training. It is a subject that can go hand-in-
hand with business and when employees and CEO's alike understand what ethics are about,
business can improve. Not only will the community take note of the ethical nature of a business
but also so will customers.

Periodic re-evaluations are suggested in ethics training as well, since times change many things
that some would never consider ethical or non-ethical. For instance, when the first computer
hacker sent a worm into a university computer system and crippled the entire network, it was
considered a prank more than an unethical act. Computers were new, at the time and no one
had ever been able to do such a thing before. With new times comes new technology and new
ways of doing things. Ethics will still play a part of it all and refreshing ethics training only
strengthens what has already been learned, when new ages come about.
In the end, it’s all about what a person understands about ethics. Many university curriculums
are now heavily applying the teaching of Ethics and for good reason. Young minds will take this
information into the workforce and understand that ethics need to be applied there as well as in
the private sector. Corporations will be able to avoid embarrassing scandals that are presented
all over the national news. Small business will be able to keep and attract more clients and
customers. Negotiations between businesses could be accomplished with more consideration
for the other company in mind, which would only help both.

Above all, a high level of ethics in your business should be in place at least for the customers. If
anything, it is the customer that should be considered the most when it comes to ethical
business practices. In the long run, a company will reap great profits from a customer base that
feels it is being treated fairly and truthfully.

Training Improves Workplace Ethics

Protect your organization from unethical behavior, devastating lawsuits, negative publicity,
wasted time, loss of money, and low employee morale by offering your employees ethics
training on a regular basis.

About the Author:

Myron Curry is the President and Founder of Business Training Media, a global provider of
human resources and business management training programs for employee development. His
company has provided corporate training solutions to many organizations from startups to high-
profile companies like American Express, Yahoo, IBM, 3M, FedEx, American Honda, Cisco,
Verizon, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Bank of America, Google and
thousands of others.

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Article #2 What Are the Key Components of a Code of Ethics in Business? by Jeri Sullivan

As infamous cases such as Enron and Goldman Sachs show, code of ethics violations go far
beyond the company walls. The code of ethics is the set of behavioral rules employees
should follow to ensure the company's values are reflected in all business dealings.
Regardless of the size of the business, clearly defined codes and closely monitored
transactions should keep your company from violating laws and make it a place where
employees feel comfortable doing the right thing.

Values
Business values typically are expressed in terms of how the company performs its day-to-
day interactions with suppliers, employees and customers. A primary objective of the code
of ethics is to define what the company is about and make it clear that the company is based
on honesty and fairness. Another commonly defined value is respect in all interactions,
regardless of the circumstances.
Principles
Principles are used to further support the business values by including operational credos
employees should follow. Customer satisfaction, business profitability and continuous
improvement are key factors in documenting business principles. Corporate responsibility
to the environmentally friendly use of natural resources is another business principle that
often is found in code of ethics.

Management Support
Manager support of the values and principles may be documented in the code of ethics.
Open door policies for reporting ethics violations can be included in the code, along with a
process to anonymously report any code of ethics issues. To reflect how seriously
management considers the code, some businesses display the code of ethics with
 management signatures in prominent areas, such as the break room, where employees will
see it on a daily basis.

Personal Responsibility
Another component is a statement regarding each employee's personal responsibility to
uphold the code of ethics. This may contain information regarding both the legal and moral
consequences if an employee violates the code. The requirement to report any violators is
normally a component of the ethics code's personal responsibility. This is meant to show
that it is not sufficient to merely adhere to the values and principles but to help ensure
every employee supports the code of ethics by reporting violators.
Compliance
Any laws or regulations may be referenced as rules to adhere to as part of daily business
interactions. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act--which was enacted as a direct result of the Enron
case, in which executives falsified financial records to overstate the company's worth--
details what financial reporting a company must do. Compliance to all financial reporting
and any licensing requirements such as ISO 9000 by the International Organization for
Standardization can be documented, along with the expectation that all licenses will be
maintained and legal regulations met.

#3 Real-World Examples of Bad Business Ethics

written by: N Nayab•edited by: Jean Scheid•updated: 10/8/2014

Reputation is a company’s biggest asset so you would think companies would avoid engaging in shady
business practices. However, many large corporate find their reputations and credibility destroyed due to
practices that are harmful and illegal.
 McDonald's
Very often, a company’s relationship with its stakeholders defines its ethical values. McDonald’s, despite
its global success, remains the target of a vitriolic public backlash owing to what many perceive as bad
business ethics in its relationships with employees and other stakeholders.
This bad business ethics example by McDonald's is what is known as the "McDonald's Legislation" in
popular parlance. In 1972, Ray Kroc, the company’s founder made a rare donation of $250,000 to Nixon's
reelection campaign and in return got a favorable legislation that allowed companies such as McDonald's to
pay teenage employees 20 percent less than federal minimum wages. Most observers consider this a typical
case of corporate influence on lawmakers to enact legislation that serve their selfish ends and harm society.
McDonald’s also doesn't allow employees to unionize, and in one instance where workers at St. Hubert Quebec did
form a union, the company closed down the unit promptly.

The McLibel case ranks as McDonald’s most disastrous cases of bad business ethics and spawned tons of
negative publicity. Between 1986 and 1990, activists of London Greenpeace distributed pamphlets with the
title “What's Wrong with McDonald's? Everything They Don't Want You to Know" and the wordings
“McDollars, McGreedy, McCancer, McMurder, McProfits, McGarbage," alleging that McDonald's
promoted Third World poverty, sold unhealthy food, exploited workers and children, tortured animals, and
destroyed the Amazon rain forest. McDonald's sued the group for libel. The court, however, held
McDonald’s guilty of exploiting children through advertising tactics, serving dangerously unhealthy food,
paying workers low wages, indulging in union busting activities worldwide, and ignoring animal cruelty
perpetrated by its suppliers.
 Nestle
The World Health Organization found children in developing countries who fed on Nestle’s infant-formula
had mortality rates five to ten times greater than that of breast-fed children. The problem was Nestle’s
sinister campaign of appointing uniformed nurses to distribute the baby formula to poor mothers for free,
long enough for lactating mother’s milk to dry up. The mother and child now became entirely dependent on
Nestle’s infant formula, and since most of them could not afford the formula, they gave their children an
insufficient quantity of the formula. The formula also required clean water, which most mothers could not
access.
 Nestle again made the news when they sued the country of Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries,
for six million dollars during the time when it was in the midst of the worst drought in 20 years. Nestle
wanted compensation for its stake in the Ethiopian Livestock Development Company (Eldico), which it
obtained through an investment in Schweisfurth, a German company. Ethiopia had nationalized Eldico and
sold it for a profit. Nestle finally reached a settlement of $1.5 million with Ethiopia, the maximum the
government could afford.
Recently, Nestle has made headlines again for getting caught spying on Attac, a non-government
organization. Nestle has been ordered to pay compensation to the organization.
(http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/21523).
Numerous other shady dealings have been reported about the big company, from allegations of murder
(http://www.dw.de/nestle-under-fire-over-colombian-murder/a-16195009) to harassment of a Corporate
Food Safety manager (http://www.multiwatch.ch/cm_data/PR_text-Final_15_05_2012_final.pdf). With
numerous scandals to its name, Nestle is one company that epitomizes poor business practices, not to
mention poor life practices.
 Mattel
The quest to drive down costs very often leads to poor product quality, and puts end users at risk, leading to
a strong case of bad business ethics. This is exemplified by Mattel, of Barbie doll fame.
Mattel has earned notoriety for manufacturing hazardous toys. The company outsourced manufacturing to
China to cut costs, but the toys that came back were coated with toxic lead paint and contained 180 times
the legal limit of lead content. The dolls also came with poorly attached small magnets that could perforate
the intestines if swallowed. The dolls became a major hazard, and Mattel had to recall them, and face
public ire for its unethical business conduct.
 Wal-Mart
The standard business practices of "bigger is better" does not seem to hold true when it comes to ethics, for
sheer size by itself raises allegations of poor business ethics, as seen in the case of Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart very often finds itself slapped with lawsuits that accuse it of predatory pricing, or pricing
products too low to drive competition out of business and gain a monopoly in local markets. Among
several lawsuits, the one in 2003 struck, where Germany's High Court ruled Wal-Mart's low-cost pricing
strategy "undermined competition."
Wal-Mart also faced charges of monopoly, by making suppliers dependent on them and forcing them to
indulge in self-defeating practices, such as pressuring them to sell goods below cost or at prices lower than
they would get elsewhere.
Wal-Mart regularly faces lawsuits from employees accusing the company of forcing them to work overtime
without pay and denying them health insurance. The allegations against Wal-Mart are so numerous that it is
a common example for bad ethics.
 CitiBank
Deciding to spend $50 million on a new private jet after taking $45 billion in taxpayer funds to stay afloat,
as Citibank did is a textbook example of bad business ethics. To make matters worse for CitiBank, CEO
Vikram Pandit lied to Congress that he received a compensation of one million a year when the actual
figure was $11 million.
 Companies indulge in unethical business conduct primarily to maximize profits. However, rubbing
customers and other stakeholders the wrong way in the quest to maximize profits can be self-defeating and
lead to loss of valuable patronage.
 Reference
MSN. “The Bad Boys of Business." http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/the-bad-boys-of-
business.aspx?slide-number=1. Retrieved April 22, 2011.
Questions:
In your opinion, what are the ethical responsibilities of companies and employees in the
workplace?
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