Business Ethics - Dilemma Breach - Assessment Answer

Business Ethics Assignment

Assignment Task

Introduction

Business ethics has been one of the most commonly used terminologies in most business establishments. What most people understand about business ethics is that it entails all the codes of conduct that workers must follow to the letter in their field of work. This report analyzes the FIFA scandal, which is a case, related to business ethics. The FIFA scandal was a significant ethical dilemma case that almost led to a collapse of the highly esteemed sports body. For one to understand the actual meaning of business ethics it is first necessary to know the real meaning of ethics and how it relates to business. Ethics can be defined as the society’s perception of what is right or wrong. Polygamy for example is considered wrong by some while for other people it is actually considered a normal practice (Murphy, 2002). This is because most religious societies believe that marriage is meant for only two people while other societies believe that polygamy is a way of strengthening families. This by itself shows the complexities involved in understanding ethics (Ferrel, 2016). This is because ethics may be based on views and opinions of a group of people or society and these views may be viewed differently by other societies. Ethics may also change over time and therefore for us to understand the perception of ethics by different societies.

Business Ethics Related Scandals

Numerous case studies on business ethics have been carried out to analyze ethical issues encountered by workers in various companies. These case studies are carried out to help businesses understand the processes related with ethics and decision-making and offer recommendations for practice (Machan, 2007).The Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics co-hosted a forum that saw more than 50 compliance executives and legal professionals assemble. The theme of the forum was Demonstrating Ethical Leadership during Challenging Economic Times. The theme of the forum was designed to recognize unexpected changes in economic environments and emphasize on how leadership can positively contribute to a business’ commitment to ethics. It provides a summary of many important decisions that are made to achieve business ethics.

The FIFA scandal

A business owner has to find various ways of ensuring that there is an ethical working environment to ensure that there are no conflicts in the business environment. Such methods may include hiring of professional consultants or through seminars and workshops. Lack of or insufficient business ethics in an organization can spark colossal controversies that may put the concerned organization in the limelight for all the wrong reasons (Luis, 2013).

One of the large establishments that have suffered such a blow is FIFA. Numerous headlines have recently been made concerning the corruption allegations facing the federation. This saw the arrest of top officials in the federation by the Swiss authorities at a luxury hotel in Zurich. The corruption allegations were disclosed by U.S federal prosecutors and these allegations would lead to one of the most controversial corruption cases in FIFA history. The investigations were mostly focused on officials of Continental Football Bodies (South America) and CONCACAF (Caribbean, Central and North America), and sports marketing executives. The authorities carrying out the investigations revealed that four other individuals had secretly pleaded guilty to related charges in earlier years. On 29^thof May 2015, Sepp Blatter who was not among those arrested was re-elected to a fifth term as FIFA president. He beat his only challenger, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan by a margin of 133 to 73 votes. Such a controversy clearly shows that business ethics is an issue that affects even the largest global organizations and federations. The controversy that FIFA was met with does not mean that the federation did not have any ethics. On the contrary, FIFA has been able to successfully organize and hold numerous global sporting events such as the World Cup. This shows that the organization does actually have a code of practice but the problems are ensuring that all the concerned stakeholders adhere to ethics (CTI Reviews. 2016). This therefore brings the issue on how to ensure that the code of practice is maintained in a given establishment.

From the above happenings, it can be supposed that the “culprits” received just treatment by being arrested. This shows that authorities are working tirelessly to ensure individuals who do not adhere to ethics are brought to book despite their position in a given organization. According to the theory of utilitarianism, individuals may make decisions ensuring that the concerned stakeholders face the least harm (Luis, 2013). This was not the case when the 14 top officials were arrested in Zurich. The law enforcers may have breached a few ethics as well but this was done for the good of the majority while reducing harm to the minority.

According to the theory of denotology, an individual carries out his/her actions while being aware of the consequences. Some arrested officials pleaded guilty to the corruption charges and this shows that they were fully aware of the consequences of their actions before they even indulged in corruption. This shows that most unethical practices are carried out by an individual or few individuals but then end up damaging a whole organization (Milena, 2013).

The theory of realism also states that the actions of an individual are influenced by the individual’s environment. This means that the individuals who pleaded guilty to the charges were involved in the corruption schemes since they were not faced with any regrettable consequences until they were finally arrested.

How to Maintain Ethics

The job of maintaining ethics in any given organization is not the responsibility of the chief executive neither is it any department’s responsibility. The individual in the related organization however has a huge role in fostering ethical behavior. One of the ways of ensuring that the code of ethics are adhered to is by setting a standard for the practices carried out in the concerned organization or institution (Luis, 2013). This can easily be achieved by picking out the top performing workers as they model the ideal ethical attitudes and practices that others should strive to achieve. These individuals are at times referred to as the “positive deviants”. The management of the organization or institution must therefore ensure that the other workers meet the performance of the positive deviants to ensure efficient implementation of these values.

Another way of ensuring that ethics are maintained is by motivating all personnel to achieve and embrace the standards set by the positive deviants. Where the positive deviants strive to achieve optimal performance, the rest of the personnel will be empowered to do the same and the commitment will naturally spread to the entire establishment (Milena, 2013).

An organization can also maintain ethics by ensuring that the commitments to ethics are sustainable even in contrary situations (CTI Reviews. (2016). Optimal ethical behavior is long term and it is so engrained in an organization that the concerned personnel cannot imagine the organization functioning in any other way. This means that the management of a given organization creates a sense of commitment towards achieving ethics in the running of the organization (Milena, 2013).

Scaling the ethics in an organization enables the management to know where to emphasize more on ethics to ensure that the ethical standards set by the organization are not overlooked. This ensures that the personnel in an organization contribute to its success.

Business Ethics and Decision Making

From the views argued on issues relating to business ethics, it can be seen than any business venture can be faced with different reactions from societies who view ethics in different perspectives. This means that for an entrepreneur who aims at starting a business, there may be a black and white side relating to the business operations as the concerned parties may have different views about the objectives of the business. The same case to a large sports body like FIFA (Milena, 2013). The body is entrusted with managing football affair all over the world, which means that the aspect of corruption is the body is such a big scandal. As much as there may be different opinions regarding the business, the entrepreneur has to find a grey side on the opinions so as to be able to make decisions that will have little or no effect on the reactions of the concerned parties.

Making ethical decisions in a given industry may however require years of experience as the entrepreneur has to know what is acceptable or not in the industry. For an entrepreneur to make ethical business decisions he/she has to understand clearly the framework in which the businesses in the related industry work. The entrepreneur must therefore identify specific ethical standards in his/her business and understand that the standards may be met with different reactions by different individuals (Ferrel, 2010). This is because as the business continues to expand over time, the entrepreneur may have to hire new workers. These new workers may have different work ethics from the workers who have been working in the business establishment. This difference in business ethics therefore forces the business owner to create a business framework that is effective to all the workers. This is because the ethical standards of the workers may vary depending on the business decisions that the entrepreneur makes. It is therefore necessary to identify the types of ethical standards to establish the different views and opinions people may have on ethical standards.

Types of Ethical Standards

The different types of ethical standards include utilitarian, rights, fairness, common good and virtue. The utilitarian ethics approach mainly focuses on the good of the majority while limiting the amount of harm to the minority. The rights approach on ethical standards protects the moral rights of individuals impacted by decisions. The fairness approach on the other hand seeks to promote equality while the common good approach aims at bettering the society (Frederic, 2002). The virtue approach of ethical standards focuses on the ideal virtues that are necessary for promoting individuals in the society.

Codes of Behavior

Any entrepreneur seeking to start a business must understand that the key starting point for any business is the law. This is evident by the fact that most leading businesses have their own statements of business principles, which comprise of their core values and standards. The business must then follow these standards and follow the relevant codes of practice that cover its sector. These codes of practice can be drawn up in consultation with local communities, governments or other stakeholders. Most companies however create voluntary codes of practice that regulate operations in their industrial sector (Ferrel, 2010). This is to enable the given business establishment to avoid any conflict with stakeholders especially local communities.

An example is in a mining industry where a given company aims at accessing a mineral in an occupied geographical area. For the company to acquire the mineral, some communities may have to be resettled (Fraedrich, 2013). This may spark controversy among the local communities concerned. The presence of a code of practice therefore ensures that all stakeholders’ rights are fully practiced to avoid any conflict.

Expert Insight

Most business owners experience challenges in making ethical business decisions due to varying reasons. This is because creating an ethical business environment is not an easy task. Companies and other business establishments may use professional consultants or other training methods to enlighten employees on ethical decision-making. This may provide the companies with an objective review of their current tasks and provide advice on how to implement effective ethical codes in their operations (Jones et al. 2005). Most business owners may be able to create an ethical business environment through this method despite the fact that it may be expensive.

Conclusion

It has been clearly laid out that business ethics greatly varies according to an individual or society’s opinion on a given subject. It is therefore not only the business owners’ responsibility to ensure that business codes of practice but also the workers and the concerned stakeholders. Business ethics can therefore be easily achieved if all the stakeholders come together to ensure that each individual adheres to ethics. The element of corruption in the world’s football governing body was a scary scandal that raised serious ethical dilemma questions.

When explaining ethics in a concept of business, business ethics refers to the principles and standards that guide business operations. As mentioned earlier, ethics may be viewed differently according to an individual’s or a society’s point of view. A good example is a business corporation that created a market for trade in blood. The business corporation may purchase blood from African nations then supply the blood to hospitals in Australia. The blood may have been purchased at very low prices in Africa then sold to Australian hospitals at somewhat exorbitant prices. This may spark a significant controversy due to the entrepreneur’s actions. Many questions relating to business may then be asked. Such questions may be whether the business operations should be allowed to continue or if it is ethical to trade in blood. For some individuals, the business may be unethical since the blood is acquired at very low prices then sold at extortionate prices. For other people however, the business may be considered ethical since its core goal is to satisfy a market need for blood. This shows how business ethics can be argued since there is a right and wrong side in the business venture in terms of business ethics.