Introduction
In order to provide the integrity of a company and the harmony of its corporate spirit and corporate “body”, its proprietors and top-managers resort to such a widespread tool, as corporate ethics.
Aspiring to make the “body” of the company reasonable and to civilize its spirit, managers build a complete system of corporate ethics: develop documents from which deduce policies, programs, and practice, as well as establish a special infrastructure – positions, departments, and communications lines. In the basis of ethical programs and policies some companies initially pawn the risk-management concept, others regular, strategic, and risk-management concepts. The code of corporate ethics can contain rules and norms of approved behaviour of the employees in the company in general and in so-called «risk zones» (the conflict of interests and so forth). These norms also can include an ideological part and describe the mission, the vision, and the values of the company. Thus, the norms possess standard-regulating influence, although they also can contain inspiring potential.
Under the concept of risk management, legal and ethical dilemmas might arise. In that context, this paper analyzes four possible situations in “Diversified Worldwide Industries” in which the ethical considerations do not correspond to the legal norms.
Analysis
The first case of legal-ethical consideration can be examined through DWI’s activities in the field of Leisure and Recreation. The case is about the complaints raised by the customers against the other guests of a Resort owned by DWI. The complaints were based mainly against guests of Arab descent which resulted in a series of arguments and fights inside the resort. The case’s outcome is similar the case of “The Queen of The Nile” – a casino, on the Mississippi River waterfront in New Orleans which is an Egyptian themed hotel and casino popular with Arab-Americans and visitors who are citizens of nations in the Middle East and Northern Africa. In the light of the increase of anti-Arab sentiment, the hotel received threats warning the hotel administration to stop accepting guests from Arab and Middle Eastern descents. The business ethic aspect requires the determination of the main purpose of a company. If the company’s main purpose is to maximize profits on behalf of its shareholders then it should concentrate with such functions because deviating from this would be unethical for any company to consider the rights of any of else. In the situation raised above BSSL main purpose is maintaining its social responsibility in the society. In that case the legal aspect which is prohibiting the discrimination on basis of race, colour, religion or national origin comes against the ethical consideration which is the safety of all the guests and the hotel administration as well. (Ferrell,Fraedrich,&Ferrell, 2008) In this case the right thing to do would be administering the safety as an ethical soluiton.
The second case of legal-ethical consideration can be examined through DWI’s activities in the field of communications. The possible example is shown through an internet adult site which is part of DWI communication hosting providers. The case concerns the bill that was issued based on the actions of a person under the age of 18. The decision of the case is similar to the payment bill regarding 900 numbers to which calls were made by a child of 12 years old and some of his friends. The legal aspect to consider is the awareness of the customers to the number dialed by their children as DWI was not aware the 900 number calls from the Kettle’s bill, were from a 12 year old. DWI does not advertise any hot line but they do provide the 900 services.
The ethical aspect to consider is the consideration of the case as an unintentional error after which the customer should be aware of the possibility of visiting such sites and implement a software block. Probably, the most important reason why it is necessary to follow behaviour ethical standards in this case consists that such behaviour will save the company from court proceedings and the related expenses.
The third case of legal-ethical consideration is another case of Real Estate activity owned by DWI. The case concerns a robbery of an a couple renting an apartment owned by DWI by an employee working for the company. This outcome of this case is similar to the case of the Lowell’s who were on a cruise ship which carried the Liberian flag and were rubbed on that ship which is owned by DWI by the company’s employees. In this case the legal and the ethical consideration almost coincide as the company is responsible for the safety of their travelers as well as the background of their employees. The dilemma might lie in the applicable laws which should be established in order to proceed with case. This case could also be used as an example of risk management which should have been administered by the company. The given type of risk arises when hiring employees in the organization. The main damage can put on the image of the company in the opinion of the public if the employee does not correspond to the requirements, and accordingly the enterprise can have financial losses. In that case the occurred corporal issue emerged due to many possible reasons such as:
- Failure to understand the role of business ethics in an organizational culture
- Downloading of responsibility to lawyers & accountants
- Ineffective corporate governance
Thus what is right and what is right to do in this case is to provide a settlement and a compensation for the couple.
The final example of ethical-legal dilemmas is based around the case in the field of Manufacturing. The case surrounds the refusal of a promotion of Smith – an African American employee. The promotion was refused based on the recommendation of the HR manger who decided that Smith lacks the personal qualities needed for the available position. Smith however, considered this refusal as a case of racial discrimination. The outcome of this case is similar to the case of Crone who was a woman wanted a supervisory position based on UPS concern that Crone was over sensitive and she had a tendency to cry. Incorporating the ethical consideration which is providing another position for Smith in order to avoid any media attention or criminal lawsuits, as any negative attention to the company can ruin any future prosperity with any other contracts.
Conclusion
The full possibilities of corporate ethics as a management tool can be revealed and used, if its nature is understood and the laws were followed. The nature of corporate ethics is based on dialogue: any moral rule in business is a convention, the agreement reached as a result of dialogue. Even what is considered here unconditional and absolute, was once, probably, several centuries ago, a point of issue. As a whole corporate ethics in the company are not results as much as they are, as a matter of fact, never stopping process of discussion of standards, values, norms.
References
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- McCoy, B. H., & Stanford University. Center for Social Innovation. (2007). Living into leadership : a journey in ethics. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Business Books.