Business Ethics :: essays research papers

In Donaldsons set in Tension Ethics Away From Home, he describes a insurance policythat was touchstone at home, unless unsuccessful elsewhere. In one example, the passenger vehicle of a U.S. company in china caught one of the employees stealing. By adjacent the companys pr flakeice and turning the employee over to the authorities, which was the right matterto do according to our determine. The employee was executed because he was judged based on Chinas political, legal, and honest codes, while to us (Americans)the punishment did not tog the crime.While many cultures believe in some variation of The booming Rule, there really isno detailed international standard of business conduct. U.S. firms should, at the very leastestablish company policies that realize into consideration the principles of incompatible cultures.There is clearly a balancing act to develop policies that define the ethics of the corporation, while discovering that codes of conduct digress greatly aro und the world. Firmslike Levi Strauss and Motorola, not only define their policies, they understand that theirmanagers moldiness be able to adapt to a great involve of honorable uncertainty in international assignments. Many business practices be neither black nor white but exist in a gray zone, a moralfree space through which businesses and their managers moldiness find away to deal with. Levi Strauss and Motorola seemed to have helped 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 outgrowth 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 legal opinion 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 different cultureshave different moral codes. He is obviously taking the other approach to Donaldsons absolute approach, that of a relativist approach. The relativist concludes that there is no accusing truth in morality, therefore right and wrong are barely matters of opinion thatcan vary from culture to culture. The problem with this argument is that the verbalise con-clusion does not necessarily need to be the case if the premise is given.