Think about these business ethics scenarios that happen in organizations every day.
- An employee surfs the Internet shopping for personal items on company time.
- A plant manager decides to ship product to a customer even though he knows the parts have a quality problem because the problem doesn't affect part function and the customer probably won't notice.
- An employee spends several hours a week on her cell phone talking with her children and their associated caregivers, schools, and friends.
- A salesman marks parts as "sold" in the company data base thus depriving others of the ability to sell the parts, even though his sale is uncertain.
- An employee takes extra office supplies home to stock his home office.
- A finance officer accounts questionably for purchases and expenditures.
- An accountant tells a supplier that their "check is in the mail" when he knows he hasn't written the check.
Do any of these situations sound familiar? Sure they do. You encounter these and others like them regularly if you spend any time in organizations. Are these "bad people" or "good people" making questionable ethical choices?
Read more about workplace ethics.
Your perspective is appreciated but seems to be a bit contradictory. You first mention that “Opinion does not enter into the equation” but then state “it should be noted that the scenarios in the 1st, 3rd and 5th bullet items are not necessarily unethical, since any of those activities could be perks permitted under the rules of the particular organization.” “Not necessarily” and “could be” seem to infer less than black and white. If ethical behavior is all or none, then it should not be subject to a culture’s norm but be universal.
Behavior is either ethical or it is not. Opinion does not enter into the equation, nor will the inevitable rationalizations we can expect to follow alter that fact. However, it should be noted that the scenarios in the 1st, 3rd and 5th bullet items are not necessarily unethical, since any of those activities could be perks permitted under the rules of the particular organization. Even the salesman’s actions in the 4th bullet are ethical if consistent with the company’s process. We simply don’t have sufficient information about the companies in question to be certain.
I know which would be acceptable within my organization, and would anticipate no lack of clarity amongst my colleagues, as each employee must annually meet requirements regarding awareness of our Code of Conduct and its implications.