Ethics in the Workplace:
The Positive, the Negative and the Results Thereof
Ryan Fletcher & Bryce Koontz
Business 1040/Ethics at Work
Salt Lake Community College
Spring Semester
INTRODUCTION
When discussing the importance of ethics at work, many people question what is morally
ethical in their business. There are many positive and negatives with businesses and the ethical
practices businesses use to run their businesses. Now we know that the purpose of a business is
to make money and to progress as well as to provide an opportunity to make money and progress
to their employees. The purpose of our paper here is to discuss how many companies provide a
business of success to the community while maintaining high standards of moral conduct, while
others use immoral ways to make money and put themselves and their profits before the well
being of others. We will focus not only on a typical business but also discuss other things that
may not be generally associated with businesses, for example, churches and sport teams.
Business ethics and its controversies of morality are not something new but are as old as
humankind itself.
FINDINGS
Business ethics have been around for an incredibly long time; however it has not always
been the same. Business ethics change along with the business practices, for example the
practices of business ethics that were used in the trading of slaves in mid-evil times would not be
accepted by today’s standards. Business ethics is an ever-changing ideology. It changes with the
beginning of new business and the ending of old ones. The history of business ethics in the
United States of America is somewhat more recent. Since the 1970’s more and more people are
becoming concerned, and more open about good ethical business practices. The practice of good
ethical business standards is somewhat overlooked; there are still many people that continue to
do what is ethically right in business.
Good ethical business practices still exist in our society today, even though they do not
get the credit that they probably deserve. Richard T. De George, a professor at Santa Clara
University said, “In this broad sense ethics in business is simply the application of everyday
moral or ethical norms to business. Perhaps the example from the Bible that comes to mind most
readily is the Ten Commandments, a guide that is still used by many today”.(2003) Many
businesses try to do exactly what De George was talking about. In an interview with CNN, Ratan
Tata discusses how and Indian company GPS, which is family owned, prides itself in its utmost
moral standards of business ethics. The business was family started and owned, yet now only
owns two percent of the business. He goes on to discuss how sixty five percent of profit is
donated to charity (Zakaria, 2013).
The Tata family business is not the only company to pride itself in ethical business
practices. The international power house of online sales of Ebay also prides itself in ethical
business practices. Ebay’s President and CEO said the following about ethics, “We are
pioneering new communities around the world built on commerce, sustained by trust, and
inspired by opportunity”(Donahoe, 1995). Ebay does not only talk the talk, it always walks
the walk. Michael Fletcher, and associate for Ebay, stated that Ebay Inc. has saved people
millions of dollars of the years by protecting them from fraud and unethical practices by
other individuals (Fletcher, 2013). Ebay does this by preventing an illegal way to make
money which is called shell bidding. This is done by placing an item on Ebay for sell, then
creating an entirely different account and secreting increasing the value of your product by
placing higher bids. Ebay has over 250 employees that work every day with the FBI to hunt
down and eliminate these internet sceemers. Ebay also goes up and beyond the call for
ethical business practices by providing their employees with opportunities to grow and
progress by helping them pay for their higher education. Although there are many
examples of good ethical business practices we still have to deal with the fact that there are
many businesses out there that do not always do what is morally right.
In today’s society many people have an extremely hard time pin pointing what is
wrong and what is right. Today’s moral standards seem to be changing rapidly and
sometimes at a pace that we have a hard time keeping up with. It seems easier and easier
for today’s businesses to not have high moral standards as long as they are making money.
In an interview with Kevin Harper, a local business owner, he discussed how hard it is to
keep up with the competition but at the same time trying to stay within what is considered
ethically right. He said,
“Many of our competitors try to swindle business from us and make us appear not
so great. It is hard in a business to not want to do the same thing back to them”.
Many businesses now days are trying to crunch the numbers. They are trying to see what
they can do to limit their expenses and bring in the most profit. There are many holidays
that in the past almost every business was closed on, however those days are long behind
us. Most stores are open almost every day of the year. Paid vacations and sick days are
getting smaller and smaller. Now we are not suggesting that every business be closed on
holidays or the weekends. Hospitals, police stations, medical facilities and other important
places of work are also businesses and need to make money. We are merely suggesting that
employers and business reevaluate what is really important in life. We suggest that we get
back to the basics of life, family, friends and fun filled memories. Now as for these
businesses that must stay open all the time, we only suggest that it is morally right to fulfill
the law that states, An employer must pay a non-exempt employee a minimum of 1½ times
their base wage rate for all hours worked over forty (40) in a workweek. (Utah, 2013)
As we suggest that businesses keep their morality in check, we must also suggest that not
only businesses but also society in general do this. In 2013 Rutgers University in New Jersey
was accused of burying information about the ethical behavior of its head basketball coach, Mike
Rice. However, the knowledge of his inappropriate behavior was known as early as of July 2012,
when Director of Player Development Eric Murdock recorded Rice’s unethical behavior and
brought it to the University’s concern. The University did not fire Rice but decided instead to
fine him and suspend him only three games. The story continues to develop with what is
unethical behavior by Eric Murdock, who was fired from his position at the end of 2012. Instead
of doing what was morally right and blowing the whistle, Murdock contacted the University and
demanded $950,00 dollars, or else he would release the video of Rice’s behavior to the media.
Rutgers University declined his offer. Only after being declined his extortion money, Murdock
released the video (Eye on College Basketball staff). What is wrong with us as a society? We put
ourselves and how much money we can make, before the well being of other human beings? We
believe that most people would agree with us in saying that what Murdock did was ethically
wrong. He should have made that information public instead of putting himself in front of others
safety. Now this is not the only case of bad ethics in basketball; many sports teams turn their
heads when their players act out in unethical behavior. How many baseball players do you know
of have been convicted of using performance enhancing drugs? How many of us expect a great
product but as soon as we hear that they have done something illegal we turn a blind eye? They
do this because these player’s can make them a lot of money now and in the future as a franchise.
Sports teams are not the only businesses that turns it eye on unethical behavior. There are many
businesses that do not stand up for what is right and what is wrong, bars, advertising companies,
clothing industries, and alcohol and tobacco companies.
CONCLUSIONS
So as we analyze business ethics in our culture, we have come to the conclusion that
there are many businesses who try to do what is ethically right, and yet we still have in our
society those whose only focus is the amount of profit they can generate for themselves, no
matter what ethical thing that they have to do.
RECOMMENDATIONS
We recommend that we as a society support those businesses that pride themselves in living by
their ethical code of conduct. That they not only walk the walk but that they talk the talk! It is
our hope that one day we will not have to question if what a company is doing is ethically right,
but we are the ones who will help this come to pass. If we want to see a change in the world of
business ethics, we must be the ones to change it, with one small ethical step at a time.
Works Cited
De George, Richard T. (2005, Feb 15) retrieved from
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/focusareas/business/conference/presentations/businessethics-history.html
Donahoe, John (2012)retrieved from
http://investor.ebayinc.com/documentdisplay.cfm?DocumentID=649
Eye on College Basketball staff (2013, April 7) retrieved from
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/22022040/reportfbi-investigating-rutgers-whistleblower-eric-murdock
Utah Laws(2013) retrieved from -http://www.employmentlawhandbook.com/federalemployment-and-labor-laws/flsa/
Zakaria, Fareed (2013, April 13)- retrieved from
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2013/04/12/exp-gps-0414-tata-sot.cnn
Interviews:
Kevin Harper- 3/2/2013
Michael Fletcher-4/1/2013