Business Ethics :: essays research papers

In Donaldsons Values in emphasis Ethics Away From Home, he describes a policythat was standard at home, but unsuccessful elsewhere. In one example, the manager of a U.S. corporation 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 harmonise to our values. The employee was executed beca drug abuse he was judged based on Chinas political, legal, and honorable codes, while to us (Ameri toilettes)the punishment did not fit the crime.While umteen cultures believe in some variation of The Golden Rule, in that treasure really isno detailed international standard of trade transmit. U.S. firms should, at the very leastestablish company policies that take into consideration the principles of antithetical cultures.There is clearly a balancing act to develop policies that sterilize the ethics of the corporation, while understanding that codes of conduct vary greatly or so the world. Firmslike Levi Strauss and Motorola, not only define their policies, they understand that theirmanagers must be able to adapt to a great deal of moral suspense in international assignments. Many business practices are neither downhearted nor white but exist in a gray zone, a moralfree space through which businesses and their managers must find forth to deal with. Levi Strauss and Motorola seemed to have helped managers by treating company values as irresponsible 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 manoeuver by three principles in the shaping of ethical behavior respect for core human value, respect for local traditions, and the belie f that context matters when deciding 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 distinct cultureshave different moral codes. He is obviously 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 of necessity need to be the case if the premise is given.