Business Ethics :: essays research papers

In Donaldsons Values in Tension Ethics Away From Home, he describes a policythat was shopworn at home, but unsuccessful elsewhere. In one example, the manager of a U.S. company in China caught one of the employees stealing. By following the companys practice and turning the employee over to the authorities, which was the right thingto do according to our values. The employee was executed because he was judged based on Chinas political, legal, and ethical codes, mend to us (Americans)the punishment did not fit the crime.While many cultures believe in some variation of The Golden Rule, there really isno detailed international standard of business shell out. U.S. firms should, at the very leastestablish company policies that take into consideration the principles of different cultures.There is clearly a balancing act to develop policies that position the ethics of the corporation, while understanding that codes of conduct vary greatly around the world. Firmslike Levi Strauss and Mo torola, not only define their policies, they understand that theirmanagers must be able to adapt to a great deal of moral uncertainty in international assignments. Many business practices atomic number 18 neither black nor white but exist in a gray zone, a moralfree space through which businesses and their managers must limit away to deal with. Levi Strauss and Motorola seemed to have protagonisted managers by treating company values as absolute and insisting that their suppliers and customers do the same. How this was addressed by these companies, was the development of detailed codes of conduct that provides cleardirection on ethical behavior, but leaves room for managers of these companies to use moralimagination that allows them to resolve ethical problems appropriately.Donaldson argues that companies must be guided by three principles in the shaping of ethical behavior respect for core human value, respect for local traditions, and the belief that context matters when decid ing what is right and wrong. These principles help in establishing a moral guide for business practice.James Rachels The Challenge of Cultural Relativism, argues that different cultureshave different moral codes. He is evidently taking the opposite approach to Donaldsons absolute approach, that of a relativist approach. The relativist concludes that there is noobjective truth in morality, therefore right and wrong are merely matters of opinion thatcan vary from culture to culture. The problem with this argument is that the stated con-clusion does not necessarily need to be the case if the premise is given.