Introduction
Business ethics are obligations that the management of a business should follow in doing business activities. Reflectively, when a business fails to follow these obligations, ethical dilemmas are likely to occur and negatively affect such the business. Based on the code of ethics, the management of a business should exercise integrity.
Business ethics are presented as influenced by internal and external factors which when improperly aligned, result in an ethical dilemma. The main contributory factors to ethical dilemmas in the business environment include personal feelings and thoughts that are improper, especially on self-concept, motivation, attitudes, emotions and perceptions.
This analytical treatise attempts to explicitly review the OSHA benzene exposure rule in terms of business ethics.
The OSHA Benzene Exposure Rule
An ethical decision can be defined as a decision with moral and legal appeal to the wider community. The aspect of commitment is a crucial element in examining ethicality of a decision. In precision, for these decisions to hold and be positively assimilated into the market environment, a series of tests are carried out by gathering facts and incorporating them in defined issues surrounding ethics to test the consciousness in application.
The aspect of competency is critical in separating the premises from assumptions in making ethical decisions. Thus, the suggestion is ethical since it considers the moral value of doing business.
Lowering the limit of benzene exposure to 1ppm is not enough since even an exposure of this small magnitude has effects of health of employees. Despite the lower exposure, the effects in long term may be as severe as higher exposure in short term. Besides, little health protection will be observed by companies or work environments that have lowered their benzene exposure to meet the1ppm standard (Harris et al. 34).
I disagree with the ruling since it creates a vacuum in companies to lower their strategies for complete work environment safety. Besides, companies that obey the lowered exposure will be very reluctant to compensate employees who are victims of benzene exposure in the long run. However, the lowered benzene exposure level will protect the employees from extreme carelessness on the part of the work environment.
Besides, employees will be in a position to defend and sue companies who do not obey the benzene exposure limit and may demand compensation when necessary. The OSHA rule is currently for time-weighted average limit of Benzene exposure since it tracks the exposure limits continuously in work environments that use benzene (Harris et al. 34).
Similar ethical dilemma or conflict currently in the news
The recent move to lift the tap water ban in some divisions of West Virginia after the chemical spill which was widely believed to have contaminated the water supply is an ethical dilemma. Despite Governor Tomblin’s assurance, it is apparent that the contaminated water is not fully good for consumption. It is unethical to make a rush decision of resuming consumption of water in West Virginia when the chemical spill is less than two week old.
The dual pillar approach to ethical leadership comprises of a combination of moral being and moral management skills. The combination of the two aspects is critical in building ethical leadership reputation since executive responsibility functions on moral codes that promote proactive leadership (Harris et al. 24).
In fact, it may destroy the West Virginia Water Company’s external market since customers will opt for other alternatives. Besides, it is the responsibility of the management team at the company to give the customers quality water products. This suggestion would betray the elements of trust between the company and the market.
The process of decision making is dependent on heuristic since it provides assumptions, integration of options, and ethical control. Decision environment often experience dynamics and swings which create short and long term effect on chances of survival for two alternatives to solve a problem.
When faced with a decision dilemma that requires critical assessments, analysis resorts to analytical tools that ensure competitive positioning advantage. Each option is assigned to a quadrant with predetermined response strategies and ‘follow-ups’ upon implementation. The water company ought to have considered the views of the customers before deciding to resume water supply after the chemical spill.
The economical consideration in making a socially responsible ethical decision is a dichotomous path. The social responsibility of a business is to make profit. However, reducing ethical behavior to solely economical consideration is not enough.
If companies are solely driven by profit motive, they will end up taking an unethical decision that may do society more harm than good. Today businesses are responsible in taking prominent roles in societal building and therefore ethical conduct devoid of profit motive becomes more important.
Bribery/gift giving and other scenarios
Some ethical beliefs portend that necessary economic rationality leads to ethical behavior. In other words, such ideas of ethical conduct believe that unethical behavior is not profitable for the business such as bribery and gift giving. However, in case of the conspiracy, fraud, and misreporting, it must be understood that following the unethically correct path necessarily mean that it would be financially viable.
In order to make the whole process to be ethically right, it is necessary to understand that it would restore the faith of customers and employees. This is summarized in the diagram below.
(Source: Self generated)
Works Cited
Harris, Charles, Michael Pritchard, Michael Rabin, Ray James, and Eliaine Englehardt. Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases. Alabama, Al: Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.