Continued from Friday...
The search engine 'Google' has almost 10 million references to 'ethics and business'. Yet for all the words, many in business find themselves in as big a quandary today as ever about how to conduct themselves in society. Many have mired themselves in a fog of their own making when it comes to the question of ethics in business.
Everyone knows of the great complexity of our world. Some point up business and social 'realities', which argue that basic morality and long held values need to be set aside as incompatible with today's march of 'progress'. All that is strange considering that at the individual level, people generally know what is the 'right' thing to do. We know with whom we should and should not deal. We are clear, instinctively, in knowing what is ethical and what is not.
But when a person moves from 'individual to group' there is often a change. Some individuals are tempted to become part of the group-think, or to conform to strong voices forcing a different course of action. Even those with real values take a passive approach and allow 'group think' to override personal and company values. (In children it is a form of bullying.) Then comes the move to acquiesce to the group or company decision, and too many think they are absolved from the consequences. This is the moment when the responsibility for behaving ethically is somehow placed in the hands of an abstract entity–the company.
See full Article.
Also see Part 1.
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