International Business and Professional Ethics

According to Thomas Donaldson (1992), societies have the right to expect business to function ethically: «All productive organizations can be viewed as engaging in an implied contract with society. Corporations must have bestowed upon them by society... authority to own and use land and natural resources. In return, society has the right to expect that productive organizations will enhance the general interests of consumers and employees. Society may also expect that corporations honor existing rights and limit their activities to accord with the bounds of justice».

So, under this social contract between society and business, what rules guide business? If you watch television and movies and read newspapers, you may believe that all business leaders he and cheat, want to destroy the environment, make any compromise for financial gain, and risk the lives and health of their employees and the public to make money. Frontpage news reports of illegal stock market trading and sweatshops make all business professionals appear to be greedy, selfish, money-hungry villains. Of course, this is not true.

Business professionals have responsibilities to make decisions based on ethical principles. They also have a responsibility to the people who work for them and to society in general to provide employees with guidelines for making ethical decisions. In the 21st century, the role of ethics in international business transactions and interactions will receive more attention. Corporate leaders have discussed the adop­tion of an international code of business ethics. These leaders are concerned about ethical decisions and want to help employees learn to work in an ethical way.

Ethical decision making

Ethical decisions are made by business leaders based on these considerations:

• How employees feel fulfilled professionally

• How customers can be satisfied

• How profit can be assured for shareholders

• How the community can be served many pressures affect business leaders. Ethical considerations are sometimes difficult for business leaders when they must choose among different priorities. Making decisions based on the needs of employees, customers, shareholders, and the commu­nity requires a good leader. All good leaders are interested in achieving ethical standards and in motivating employees to do what is right.

There are laws that guide business leaders.

Breaking laws can lead to arrest and imprisonment. For example, one company's sales manager decided to discount prices of old fruit, which turned out to be contaminated. In the end, some children who ate the fruit got very sick with hepatitis A. The disease was traced to the company's spoiled fruit, and several of the company's leaders were indicted on criminal charges. Today the company no longer exists.

But laws are not always enough to ensure that behavior is ethical. Individual leaders and their decision-making behaviors (ethical or unethical) set examples for employees. In the United States, anony­mous surveys show that 30 percent of managers admit they have submitted inaccurate reports. Clearly, there is a need to develop ethical decision-making skills.

On-the-job ethical conflicts

Four main ethical conflicts confront leaders and managers in business:

1. Conflict of interest — An individual may be able to achieve personal gain from a decision he or she makes.

2. Loyalty versus truth — An individual must decide between loyalty the company and truthful-ness in business relationships.

3. Honesty and integrity — An individual must decide whether to be honest or lie, and whether to take responsibility for decisions and actions or blame someone else.

4. Whistle-blowing — An individual must decide whether to tell others (media or government authorities) about the unethical behavior of the company or institution.

QUESTIONNAIRE on INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ETHICS

Answer the following questions by yourself

1. It is better to avoid conducting business outside one's own country because of the complexities that occur across natural borders (yes, no, not sure)

2. Ethics is a philosophical issue, not a business issue (yes, no, not sure)

3. In business, keeping a code of ethics is like keeping wedding vows (yes, no, not sure)

4. It's better not to think about ethics when you are making a business deal (yes, no, not sure)

5. International business ethics is a subject important to me (yes, no, not sure)

UNIT 20

 

CULTURE AND SOCIETY

 

The crowing rooster wakes Jabu very early. Her mother has already carried a bucket of water from the community tap and put it on the fire to heat. Bread wrapped in newspaper and lying on the ground is ready to cut and spread with jam. Jabu wraps her crying baby brother in a blanket and ties him on her back, soothing him with a melody as she begins her chores. The goats must be milked and the cattle need to be watered and let loose to graze. After her chores, Jabu quickly washes up and dons her school uniform. Her friends are waiting for her on the dirt path. She gossips and laughs with the girls as they half-walk, half-run the two miles to school. Jabu stops to greet a village elder who inquires after her father who is working in the distant diamond mines. By now she is worried because the time is late. As she approaches the school, Jabu sees that the daily school assembly has already begun. Unluckily, the headmistress decides to set an example and calls Jabu up front to slap her hand with a ruler. After singing hymns and the national anthem, Jabu moves quickly to her first class under a large acacia tree in the courtyard.

At first glance, Jabu's life appears very different from yours. If you use your sociological imagination to look beyond the surface differences, though, you will see that both you and Jabu attend school and church; obey authority figures; and have strong family bonds, supportive friends, parents who work, and ties to the larger community. When sociologists look at societies around the world they discover similar patterns in all cultures.

Culture consists of the knowledge, language, values, customs, and physical objects that are passed from generation to generation among members of a group. On the material side, the culture of the United States includes such physical objects as skyscrapers, fast-food restaurants, cell phones, and cars. On the nonmaterial side, American culture includes beliefs, rules, customs, family systems, and a capitalist economy.

Culture helps to explain human social behavior. What people do and don't do, what they like and dislike, what they believe and don't believe, and what they value and discount are all based on culture. Culture provides the blueprint that people in a society use to guide their relationships with others. It is because of culture that teenage girls are encouraged to compete for a position on the women's basketball team. It is from culture that teenage boys come to believe that "pumping iron" is a gateway to masculinity.

Culture and society are tightly interwoven. One cannot exist without the other, but they are not identical. A society is a group of people who live in a defined territory and participate in a common culture. Culture is that society's total way of life.

Human behavior, then, is based on culture. Since people are not born knowing their culture, human cultural behavior must be learned. In this section we will examine the relative importance of biology in influencing behavior.

 

Language and Culture

Symbols, Language, and Culture

If culture is to be transmitted, it must be learned anew by each generation. Both the creation and the transmission of culture depend heavily on the use of symbols. The most powerful symbols are those that make up language.

What are Symbols? In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, n Humpty Dumpty says to Alice, "When I use a word, it means just what I v choose it to mean—neither more nor less." So it is with symbols—things that stand for or represent something else.

Symbols range from physical objects to sounds, smells, and tastes. As you read in Chapter 1, the meaning of a symbol is not based on physical char- s acteristics. For example, there is nothing naturally pleasing about the sound a created by hands loudly clapping together. Applause warms the heart of an r entertainer, a politician, or a high school athlete in the United States, but in Latin America the same sound means disapproval. The ball Mark McGwire hit for his 70th home run in 1998 is a symbol. The Confederate flag that represents oppression for many African Americans and a proud cultural heritage for many white Southerners is a symbol with different meanings attached.

How are language and culture related? Language frees humans from the limits of time and place. It allows us to create culture. The Wright brothers' successful flight did not come just from their own personal efforts. They built their airplane according to principles of flight already existing in American culture. Through language they could read, discuss, and recombine existing ideas and technology.

Equipped with language, humans can pass their experiences, ideas, and knowledge to others. Although it may take time and repetition, children can be taught the dangers of fire and heights without being burned or toppling downstairs. This process of social learning, of course, applies to other cultural patterns as well, such as eating, showing patriotism, or staying awake, in class.