It would be less ethical if we were toselect who received the real money versus passing out the envelopes randomly,but will those who didn’t receive the real money think that any way would havebeen more ethical? Since the subject of ethics isn’t easy to explain orunderstand, are the more examples we provide to our participants better? Or, isthis a misguided, unethical move on our part to receive a good grade? We willlet our participants decide.

Different environments affect what is"gray" and what is not. Something you may perceive in the workplacemay be a different concept in a social setting. "Gray area" isn’tconsistent and will always vary from situation to situation, and moreimportantly from person to person. Being able to rationalize may take a lot ofsoul-searching to decipher.

We would like to take a look at examplesof both ethical and unethical scenarios.

Scenario 1: AFarmer and an Old Mule
A mule fell into a farmer’s well. Thefarmer heard the mule praying, or whatever mules do when they fall into wells.After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule,but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving.Instead, he called his neighbors together, and told them what happened, andenlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well.

Is this ethical?

Initially, the old mule was hysterical!But, as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit theold mule’s back, a thought struck him. It dawned on the old mule that everytime a shovel-load of dirt landed on his back he would shake it off and stepup. He did this blow after blow – "shake it off and step up, shake it offand step up, shake it off and step up…" he repeated this to encouragehimself. No matter how painful the blows, or how distressing the situationseemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept on shaking it off and steppingup.

It wasn’t long before the old mule,battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of the well. Becauseof the mule’s manner in which he handled his adversity, what seemed like wouldbury him actually assisted him.

If must face our problems and respond tothem positively and refuse to give into panic, bitterness, or self-pity.

Scenario 2: Margaret
Margaret works in the marketingdepartment for a large American multi-family housing company. She was recentlyinformed that the company would be hiring to fill the Regional MarketingDirector (RMD) position in the central region. The position has been vacant forquite some time and Margaret has been performing the duties for both her joband the job of the RMD. The work, however, has been too demanding and Margarethas been working overtime to complete both jobs. Filling the RMD position wouldhelp lessen Margaret’s workload.

Margaret’s supervisor, Paul, has madethe final decision about who should be hired for the RMD position. The companyhas a process for new hires that includes paperwork that personnel in the HumanResources department help the new employee to complete. An additional part ofthis process for new employees is the completion of a drug test (the companyhas a strict drug free workplace policy). Every new employee must pass a drugtest prior to receiving a written agreement of employment from the company.

The candidate that Paul wants to hire isworking with the Human Resources Department, completing paperwork to take tothe lab for the drug test. In a conversation that Margaret is having with a coworkerin Human Resources, Margaret learns that the candidate listed all themedications she is currently taking: folic acid, and prenatal vitamins. Shealso reveals that she could be pregnant. Margaret feels betrayed and is worriedthat she will spend the next six months training the new employee, and aftersuch time, the new employee will go on maternity leave, or worse, quit. Onceagain, Margaret will be doing two jobs. Margaret is also concerned that thecandidate might be taking the job just to receive insurance benefits untilafter the baby arrives. What should Margaret do?

Since the offer letter is still pending,should Margaret tell Paul that she accidentally heard that the candidate mightbe pregnant and hope that he will pick another candidate? Should she ask hercoworker in Human Resources to "accidentally" mention the newemployee may be pregnant? Or, say nothing knowing that her coworker in humanresources let confidential information slip and saying anything couldjeopardize her job?
Do ethics differ in large corporationsversus small businesses? Large corporations are much more regulated than smallbusinesses due to corporation scandals such as Enron and WorldCom (http://sbaer.uca.edu/research/SBI/2010/p27.pdf).Preventions acts have been put into place to minimize unethical behavior. TheSarbanes-Oxley Act put into place to hold large corporations accountable. Largecorporations take a lot of heat and seem to have a bigger target on their chestdue to their relevance in the world and it seems to follow the quote that"one ruins it for all."

Small business makes up more than 80% ofbusinesses in the United States. Acts such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Actis argued to really be enforced among large corporations and that smallbusinesses can get away with more. Large businesses are monitored a lot morebecause of the investing that takes place among stock holders. Small businessesmay be harder to track ethically due to the more diversified categories ofbusiness. Andrew Sherman, a partner at Dickstein, Shapiro, Moring &Oshinsky Law Firm said: "what we’ve done with Sarbarnes-Oxley and othermeasures is to raise the level of awareness of ethical issues. It may be thatthe problem hasn’t gotten worse, it’s just that it’s now on more radarscreens."

It is interesting to see thepyramid effect ethics has. In all reality, ethics in business starts with theindividual person’s ethics. How someone was raised or their background has a largerole in the ethics of a business. 

Could it be possible that a person wears twoethical hats, one that they wear to work, and one that they put on at home?

If someone is unclear of whatethics are right or wrong, there are many tests out there that may help someonebetter understand what may be acceptable or not. For instance: Texas Instruments has aquick ethics test that can help make a decision if there is any question. Thequestions are:
· Is itlegal?
· Is itconsistent with the company’s stated values?
· If you doit, will you feel badly?
· How wouldit look in the newspapers?
· Do youthink it’s wrong?

If you’re not sure, ask. If you don’t get a clear answer,keep asking until you do.
Because there are many people who mayhave different background, cultures, beliefs, and so on, companies big or smallcan help safe-guard against unethical bahavior by creating a code of ethics.Many companies may help individuals see what is right or what is wrong. Thereare five principles of justice, individual rights, utilitarianism,individualism, and categorial. Each company is different. Location and otherfactors will affect how a business runs, and that is why it is crucial to havesome type of ethical backbone to make a company, community, or individualsuccessful.

When scandals, fraud, theft, dishonestyor unethical actions happen in big business it is more likely that thepopulation will hear about it due to mainstream media and because it affectsthe economy or investing world. The world does not always hear about the smallbusiness, due to many factors. There were 2,000 public and private sectoremployees surveyed nationwide. 56% said they had personally seen at least oneviolation of company ethics standards, policies, or the law in the past year(up from 43% in 2003). At the same time, less than 42% said they reported theincident through company channels. People fear that by reporting the behaviorsthey witness will cause retaliation of employees. Some suggestions state thatit is up to management of small and big business to reward and publicallynotice ethical behavior instead of work performance. As managers dothis, they will increase awareness among their businesses and hopefullyeliminate unethical behavior among the company and increase ethical behavior amongindividuals who work there.

Concerningcurrent events, is gender selection of a fetus ethical? Current debate before this technology is evenclinically available has ignited. Thereare many fears that it will be used for a reason that has nothing to do withmedical outcomes. The fear lies withinparents using it for sex selection, aborting fetuses that are of an unwantedsex.

Culturalpreference for boys is documented in countries such as China and India. In China, parents have been usingultrasounds, followed by abortion, to avoid giving birth to girls. In parts of India, where basic healthcare ishardly available, clinics use privately owned ultrasound machines (which areillegal) for sex selection (www.cnn.com/opinion/08/15/ravitsky.gender.selection/index.html).

Thesepractices have skewed sex ratios in these countries – in China, there are approximately 32million more men under the age of 20 than there are women. In turn, this has skewed men’s perspectivesof marriage and has raised concerns about social instability, and the sexindustry has expanded.
In the United States,research does not reveal partiality toward boys, but rather a preference forgirls. Gender selection promisessignificant benefits from a medical perspective, but raises serious social andethical concerns.

Socialresponsibility means putting ethical standards to work in all areas of theglobal community in which you live. Being socially responsible is acting ethically while understanding thatyour actions are part of the larger, interactive picture of the workplace, thecommunity, and the world (Human Relations Strategies for Success, Lowell HLamberton, Leslie Minor).

Environmentalissues play an important role in our society. Recently, BP experienced an oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Ethically, and more importantly, BP had a social responsibility to cleanup the oil spill.
Manycompanies will focus their attention on giving back to communities in manyforms. Some examples are:
· Shopko; Vision Division will grow a tree for everypair of eyeglass frames sold
· Smith’s Food and Drug; makes money donations tolocal elementary schools from the sale of certain goods
· BD (Becton & Dickinson); provides donations tothe Utah Food Bank, United Way, Project Perfect World which sends volunteers toNigeria to help with Cleft Palette surgeries
· MAC Cosmetics AIDS Fund donating 100% of the saleprice of Viva Glam lipstick to fight HIV/AIDS

Expanding on the MAC Aids Fund; the fundwas established by Frank Angelo and Frank Toskan in 1994 to support men, women,and children affected by HIV/AIDS globally. The MAC Aids Fund is a pioneer in HIV and AIDS funding, providingfinancial support organizations working in the underserved regions and withunderserved populations.  As thelargest corporate non-pharmaceutical funder, MAC has donated over $235 millionthrough the sale of Viva Glam lipstick. One Viva Glam lipstick costs $14.50 and provides such things as: 3nutritious meals for 3 children affected by HIV/AIDS in South Africa, HIV testsfor 14 pregnant women, 4 HIV tests for newborns to determine their HIV status,8 home delivered meals for a person living HIV/AIDS who cannot cook for themselves,and 2 nights of shelter for a homeless person living with HIV/AIDS.

We arein contact with ethical and unethical circumstances daily, regardless of ourage, or status. Working in an ethicalenvironment, everyone deserves to feel protected, and treated fairly. When there is mutual trust and respect,productivity increases. When working inan unethical environment, employees feel uncomfortable, which causes depressionand productivity decreases.

Understandingthe importance of business ethics, managers or workers should find the rootcause of problems, and help each other to strengthen ties. Values will be created – honesty, trust, andrespect.




Works Cited:

"Business Ethics."Encyclopedia of Small Business. Ed. Kevin Hillstrom and Laurie CollierHillstrom. Vol. 1. Gale Cengage,2002. eNotes.com. 2 Jul, 2012

"Gender Selection."cnn.com. Cable News Network. 10 July 2008.
Lamberton, Lowell H. and Minor,Leslie. Human Relations: Strategies for Success. New York: McGraw-Hill,2007. 464-483. Print.

Loten, Angus. "What EnronDidn't Teach Us" inc.com. 1January 2008.