Business Ethics
Businesses and social order would come to a halt but for the fact people can depend upon and fundamentally trust one another. Business begins with trust. Without it nothing would move forward. No one could count on anyone's word and all verbal agreements would be bogus. Meetings couldn't take place, if they did, what was said would be worthless.
Despite the numerous examples of bad behavior in business, most business people are still ethical. It becomes increasingly problematic as companies become outsized and impersonal, when the stakes are huge and the people who are hurt are faceless masses. Under these circumstances, it is difficult to resist temptation and it is too easy to rationalize unethical behavior.
Capitalism works to everyone's advantage if and only if those doing business are moral in the first place. Moral values must be the background and among the values upon which business rests. Without moral behavior, the market system fails, as it slides into chaos from a lack of trust.
Government regulations keep cheaters from gaining an unfair advantage and causing a race to the bottom of the ethical barrel. At its best, regulations help people become their better selves when they can't regulate their own ethical behavior.
Arthur Dobrin
Psychology Today
No comments:
Post a Comment