Effects of Compromising and Overlooking Ethics and Morals - Coursework Example

The Corporate Business Ethics in the Global Workplace Introduction The business organizations in the world are increasing year after year, and some of these organizations are embracing the international standards of services. The business organizations are taking into consideration the issues of ethics and morals more seriously. Every business organization wants to build a good reputation and image to both global and local community by adopting ethics and morals of international workplace. Ethics and morals work hand in hand in all workplaces. Ethics includes the tendency to act in accordance with global standards of right or wrong. It encompasses concepts of reliability, consistency and fairness. Moreover, it identifies what is right or good in the social environment. It is all about making moral and ethical choice for the good of the whole society (Dean, 1992, p.285) Ethics set the codes and standards by which an individual or organization should behave in the workplace and social environment. Kramar and Syed (2012) say that ethics relates to the person who observes ethics and, therefore, different ethical norms come from different conceptions of mankind nature. On the other hand, the application of morals is based on personal background or belief and is usually unchanging. Despite the size of the organization, it must uphold the ethical and moral obligation to conform to the set law and order of operation and treat its stakeholders with the utmost respect. These business organizations should conduct employee relations and business operations with the highest moral and ethical level. No one would want to work for an organization with unjust and criminal reputation. Therefore, companies and other forms of organizations should observe the set ethics standards of the government, profession and society. The research shows that the corrosion and erosion of ethics and morals occur especially when the completion is high, and market is weak. Most business organizations overlook morals and ethics when the economy is bad. A business should be clear about what is bad and good or wrong and right in the workplace. It should work in ways that are ethical, even if the competition is stiff, or the economy is doing awful. It should not engage into unlawful activities to sustain its profit margin or avoid making losses. Integrity is a very paramount part of ethics and morals and all individuals should hold a high standard of integrity in an organization. The management team should develop the professional standards of integrity for the organization and its employees, and ensures all are followed to the letter. The set ethics and morals should not be compromised any matter how badly the company or the organization if performing. Attention to ethics and morals in the workplace sensitize staff and leaders to how one should act. Ethics helps managers and leaders to maintain a strong moral compass during their struggle in times of confusion and crises (Kirrane, 1990, p.55). Effects of compromising and overlooking ethics and morals Tax payment is a law that exists in all states in the universe and tax evasion is a serious offence that bears an expensive price to culprits. The justice authorities of united states has been put under great criticism for a long period for not bringing large banks into the book of the law for acts that cause financial crash especially that one of 2008. The tax and justice authorities of United States have been carrying out underground investigations about the banking system of Credit Suisse. Recently, these authorities discovered that this Swiss bank has been aiding and abetting the evasion of tax. The bank has been assisting its clients evade United States taxes by establishing illegal offshore bank accounts. At first, Credit Suisse had a hard time admitting this breach and erosion of ethical and moral standards of international workplace but on the realization of its responsibility to stakeholders and the society at large, it made a guilty plea. However, James Cole, the Deputy Attorney general of United States has declared the act as a very serious constitutional offense and brought the Swiss bank to justice. In this regard, Credit Suisse has been given a penalty amounting to $2.81 billion for assisting and supporting its clients evade taxes of United States. Credit Suisse has accepted to pay both the fine and restitution to make up for its intentional, voluntary and unlawful act of helping the citizens of United States to falsify their income tax. The charge was filed in the federal district court at Alexandria, Virginia. The Swiss bank was charged with the offense of aiding Americans hide incomes in fake nominee accounts, hand-delivering money from accounts, and destroying account records to assist clients avoid taxes. Mr. Cole said the case show that there is no financial institution; however the global reach or size is above the law. Further, he said that when an organization engages in wrongdoing or misconduct should expect to meet the full law. The eight bankers of Credit Suisse have been indicted for conspiracy and use of foreign accounts to facilitate tax evasion. It is very shameful for big organizations such as Credit Suisse to compromise and overlook the professional ethics and codes of conducts. The Swiss bank does not only disobey the law but also lead and encourage the people to break the law. Ethically, it is unjust to break or aid and abet the people to break the law. Such unethical acts are regarded as criminal matters and should be persecuted to meet the full law. As is the case to Credit Suisse, the intentional compromise and erosion of the set ethics or laws should be accorded very expensive fines and penalties. In fact, the culprits should be put behind bars and fined. The justice department of the United States heavily fined Credit Suisse to discourage other organizations from engaging in acts that are unlawful and unethical at global workplaces (Neems, 20-05- 2014). Developing and managing ethics in the workplace Most of the organizations aspire to operate in an environment that recognizes the highest ethical levels. Therefore, they have established a code of ethics that specifies rules of ethics of the operation. The set code of ethics has been tailored to concur with the local and international laws governing the behaviour of the people. The organizations need execute their activities under such set code of ethics in the global workplace and avoid compromise at all cost (Francis, 1991, P.9). However, there are some ethicists that argue that some code of ethics has no any value to the business. Ethicists are emphasizing that there is too much focus placed on the code of ethics that are not influential in the management of ethics in the workplace. These ethicists suggest that developing and carrying out progressive dialogue around values of the code of ethics is the most important thing (Dean, 1992, p.288). The development of the overall code of ethics and another separate code for each of the department or program can be of great help to big multinational organization such as Credit Suisse. Codes should be developed by Human Resources and legal departments. Codes an insufficient and ineffective if intended to make sure that set policies are legal. The ethics program should be driven to the staff by the top management. The management of ethics can be achieved by initiating ethics management programs in organizations. Ethics programs carry corporate values using policies and codes to guide decisions and behaviour. The programs involve training and evaluation of ethics. Ethics programs serve as guidance during the ethical dilemmas (Thompson, 1991, p.155). A corporate program of ethics should comprise of policies, values and activities that influence the property of business organization behaviours. The balancing of the competing values as well as reconciling them is the main purpose of ethics management programs. In fact, business organizations need information and more practical tools to have an insight their values as well as how to manage these values (Brenner, 1992, p.395). The business ethics in the workplace are meant for solving conflicts especially in an ethical dilemma to facilitate choice of clear and logical option. For instance, it is ethics that the guide an individual not to cheat, steal, lie or break the law as Credit Suisse did. The ethical dilemmas facing the managers are sometimes complicated and more real-to-life with no legible guidelines. A business organization can realize when it is facing a weighty ethical conflict where and when there are great conflicts amongst differing interests, real alternatives that are justifiable in term of equality, and significant consequences in the situation on stakeholder. The management of ethics programs is useless unless all personnel are trained about what ethics entails, how ethics works and their role in maintaining ethics. The operation of the ethics program should be open and honest to discourage invitation of suspicion. The organization and all staff should adhere to procedures and policies set for ethics program management. Also, business organizations should maintain a high level of social responsibility. Social responsibility is part of the business ethics. Social responsibility in the business ethics serves to increase public consciousness about business role that cultivate and maintain high ethical practices both in the society and natural environment (Strong & Meyer 1992 p.92). Moral and Ethical Frameworks Various philosophers have developed different ethical perspectives that depict the moral and ethical issues in the global workplace. These ethical approaches are utilitarian perspective, virtue perspective, care perspective, the right perspective and non-essentialist perspective. There are also other perspectives such as ethical absolutism, ethical relativism and ethical pluralism. All these perspectives have been developed to explain different perceptions of ethics in different human nature at workplaces. The utilitarian perspective stresses the ethical actions those acts that produce the greatest good over evil to stakeholders of the organization and the entire society. In this perspective, the business organizations choose well over bad activities in their operations. Therefore, the management of Credit Suisse should have opted to follow the good corporate governance set in the international laws from the start. The Swiss bank overlooked the utilitarian perspective of ethics and chose evil over good. There are there stages undergone to analyse the utilitarian approach. First, the organization identifies the available courses of action. Second, it asks whom to be affected and what harms or benefits to be obtained from each action. Third, it chooses an action to produce the least harm and the greatest benefit. The ethical action should be the one that produces the greatest good for many people. The ethical rights perspective is the approach that recognises the rights of people to choose for themselves. The perspective argues that human beings are different from other things on things on the earth because they have the ability to choose freely what to do with their lives. Also, they have a moral right to have their choices respected. To use human beings in ways contrary to their choice is a violation of human dignity (Motilal 2010, p7). In the case of Credit Suisse, the bank violated the right to equal treatment by helping its clients to evade paying tax. The rest of people holding accounts with other banks paid tax and felt their right to fair treatment is violated. The practice of Credit Suisse disrespected the moral rights of all citizens of America, therefore, ignored the ethical rights and fairness perspectives. In the virtue perspective of ethics, people should strive towards ideals that provide full humanity development. People discover these ideals by thoughtfully reflecting what potential they have to become. Virtues are character traits or attitudes that enable people to act in ways that will develop their highest potential. Virtues make people pursue the ideals they have adopted. These virtues are prudence, self-control, fairness, integrity, fidelity, generosity, courage and compassion. Virtue forms habits and characteristics of people. The organizations and individuals that develop virtue, naturally dispose of to act in ways that are consistent with ethical and moral principles (Sommers-flanagan, 2006, p24). In this respect, Credit Suisse does not respect the virtue perspective of ethics in the global workplace. It does not openly and honestly conducts the banking activities just by having an offshore bank account that helps its clients break the law. In the non- essentialist perspective of ethics, there is a belief that a subject or entity cannot be defined in terms of identified characteristics or values which the entity have in order to be described as that entity. The theory suggests that there be no traits or essences of humanity that make something human. Therefore, a conclusion cannot be made about an entity or a person just by possessing a particular essence or trait. Non-essentialism can be related to culture. That is an individual or entity of culture does not have all the traits recognised with it. The non-essentialist perspective applies to the case of Credit Suisse. No one could have thought a large multinational bank like Credit Suisse could engage in unlawful and unethical practises of aiding and abetting the citizens of United States to evade taxes. The Swiss bank has international standards and characteristics, and it is very difficult to doubt its code of ethics. Therefore, the identification of an entity and individual cannot be based on the observable characteristics (Neyers, 2004, p.106). The care perspective of ethics posits that there is moral and ethical significance in the primary elements of dependencies and relationships in human life. Care ethics seeks to sustain relationships by contextualizing and promoting the well-being of the care-receivers and care-givers in the social relations networks. The theory involves meeting the needs and maintaining the world of others and ourselves. It motivates the care for people who are vulnerable and dependent. In the case of Credit Suisse, the government of United States has a responsibility to care for all citizens and distribute the wealth between the poor and the rich. The government achieves this objective ensure all the citizens of America pay taxes in accordance with the provisions of the law. However, Credit Suisse forms a major obstacle to this effort of the government of America. The Swiss bank helps the citizen of America to evade taxes that are a criminal offense in the law of United States. The tax evasion makes the government have a hard time in caring for those citizens that are vulnerable and depend on it. Therefore, the conduct of Credit Suisse is unethical and unlawful (Preston, 2007, p.48). However, the Credit Suisse may use the concepts of ethics absolutism, ethical relativism and ethical pluralism to argue out its position. In moral relativism, entity tends to believe that it culture is its culture and your culture is your culture. There is no wrong or right in ethical relativism because different communities have a different morality. The validity and invalidity of culture depend on one culture. Nonetheless, Credit Suisse cannot argue in this perspective because it harmed the culture of another entity while executing its culture. The ethical pluralism assumes that all cultures have room to exist but with limits. Therefore, a culture that causes harm to another entity or people has no room in pluralism. In this regard, Credit Suisse is acceptable not exist in pluralism. The ethical absolutism believes that the culture of an entity is the best and no one can challenge it. It posits that no other culture exists except its culture. The culture of absolutism is very dangerous because it leads to extremism, intolerance and dogmatism. In the real world, this culture does not exist and, therefore; Credit Suisse cannot argue its case based on absolutism (Wulandari, 15-10-2010). In conclusion, international workplace would be better and happier place if all business organizations act lawfully, morally and ethically. The fact that a perfect world of ethical business appears to be unachievable should not encourage multinational organizations to engage in unethical and unlawful activities. The managers of organizations should realize that they are personally liable and responsible for the harm caused to other entities and people due to their unethical and unlawful practices or activities. They should know that the erosion and corrosion of set ethical standards will be met with the full law in sought of justice. The law binds every individual and business organization regardless of their size, power and geographical location. Let the case of Credit Suisse be lesson to business organizations compromising the code of ethics. The multinational organizations should be recommended to adopt the international law and codes of conduct, train their staff in line with the global provisions of conduct and adhere to professional ethics in their workplaces. These recommendations will help to mitigate the cases of unethical practices (McDonald & Zap, 1990, p.11). Reference List Neems, M., 20-05- 2014. Credit Suisse admits guilt over tax evasion, fined $2.8 billion. [Online] Available at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/companies/credit-suisse-admits-guilt-over-tax-evasion-fined-28-billion/story-fn91v9q3-1226923681277 [Accessed 07 06 2014]. Wulandari, I., 15-10-2010. 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