The importance of ethical behavior in business relationships. Immoral acts: examples from life
Ethical behavior of employees
1. Careful attitude towards company property.
2. Consensus of various interests.
3. Ethics in external business relations, including when working with government agencies.
4. Ethics in relations with consumers, partners and competitors.
5. Ethics of choice in sensitive situations. For example, keep it secret out of patriotism for the company or reveal facts of violations.
Rules of international business etiquette
1. Rules of greeting, address, introduction.
2. Rules business contacts: meetings, receptions, negotiations, business correspondence, etc.
5. Ethical standards of material relations: rules for the exchange of gifts and souvenirs; problems of tips and other rewards, etc.
Compliance with the rules of international business etiquette is one of the most important conditions company success. Any deviations or liberties can damage the reputation of the company, which will certainly negatively affect its economic activity.
American business and management researcher Peter Kostenbaum published a book with the eloquent title: “The Heart of Business: Ethics, Power, Philosophy.” He convincingly showed how non-economic factors can influence the economy of a company. Kostenbaum deduced components of the company's long-term success:
1. Profit must not only be legal, but also honest, obtained through labor and talent.
2. Employees must be moral, patriotic towards the company and respectful to each other.
3. Products and services must be of high quality and offered at a realistic price.
4. The prestige of the company must be well-deserved, the reputation adequate, the image of top managers consistent with their business and personal qualities.
Thus, international business ethics is not a fad. It is not only a socially significant phenomenon, but also an indispensable condition for economic success.
In the international understanding social responsibility(CO) of a company is interpreted as a voluntary contribution of business to the development of society in the social, economic and environmental spheres, directly related to the main activities of the company and going beyond the minimum required by law.
Thus, the scope of the company’s SO includes management of the company’s activities in the field of:
· ecology,
industrial safety and labor protection,
· personnel development,
· external social activities,
· the company’s relationship with all groups of stakeholders (persons interested in the financial and other results of the company’s activities).
A company’s social responsibility is the level of an organization’s voluntary response to social problems society.
Unlike what is common in Central and Eastern Europe(especially in developing countries) misconceptions that company SR is sponsorship, charity or social branding, leading international organizations define company SR as a strategic approach to business. That is, a company's CO is not an advertising, marketing or PR activity; it covers the entire company and determines how it does business, invests funds and builds relationships with partners.
What is social responsibility expressed in:
1. In relation to consumers. Consumers want to receive reliable goods and services from the corporation, reasonable prices, good service. Meeting consumer expectations is the social responsibility of corporations to consumers.
2. In relation to suppliers. All suppliers expect fair dealings with their counterparties and, of course, timely payments. This is many times more important for small suppliers, whose financial situation is such that they cannot tolerate payment delays due to the lack of reserve funds at these enterprises.
3. In relation to shareholders. Shareholders enter into a special relationship with the corporation as “suppliers” of risk capital. They provide the capital necessary for a corporation to emerge, develop, and grow. The corporation's social responsibility to shareholders is to ensure its profitability in order to enable them to receive such income that would make further investment in its activities attractive.
4. In relation to hired workers (staff). Employees expect more than just fair pay for their work. They are also concerned about factors such as equality of opportunity, protection of health in the workplace, financial security, non-interference personal life, freedom of expression and ensuring an appropriate quality of life. Indeed, practice shows that those employees who receive fair remuneration, are involved in the decision-making process, and feel comfortable (both physically and psychologically) at work work better.
5. In relation to the local population. The corporation does not exist in an “airless” space. It is surrounded by people for whom the location of the corporation is a haven of life, where they breathe air, live, raise children, etc. Corporations use the infrastructure created by these people and thereby ensure high profits for themselves. This is why local communities expect corporations to be directly involved in solving their problems. This concerns education, organization of transport, recreational conditions, healthcare system, problem solving environment etc.
6. In relation to society as a whole. The activities of corporations are the object of close attention from various government agencies, political parties, funds mass media. Their timely and full payment of taxes enables government agencies to resolve the social issues entrusted to them. At the same time, the primary responsibility of corporations is their concern, as employers and job creators, for their own economic viability and the quality of the goods and services they produce.
In other words, social responsibility involves conducting business ethically with all corporate audience groups.
In many multinational corporations such as Toyota, Siemens, General Mills And Johnson & Johnson Special guidelines have been drawn up that describe in detail how company employees should deal with suppliers, customers, competitors and other participants in the business process. In other companies such as Philips, Nissan, Daewoo, Whirlpool And Hewlett-Packard, developed ethical codes Codes of ethics are written declarations of the values and ethical standards that guide a company's actions.
In multinational corporations, a decision must be made as to whether a single code should be developed for all of the corporation's worldwide divisions, or whether it would be more appropriate to develop a specific code for each division, taking into account local conditions. If a company is acquired overseas, the corporation must also make a decision about whether to impose a corporate code of ethics on the company or whether it is better to maintain the same ethical standards of behavior that the company followed previously. To be effective, a code of ethics must be clearly stated and free from ambiguity. In addition, this code should regulate the main components ethical behavior related to the company's business environment and its commercial activities. The company should have a rule according to which those who make decisions on emerging problems must strictly follow the standards of conduct set forth in the code of ethics.
If we summarize the definitions of social responsibility of business (CSR) of more than 50 international organizations, social responsibility as an approach to business has the following set of characteristics:
· SOB is a voluntary choice of a company in an environment of increasing competition and decreasing trust in business;
· GSS goes beyond the legal obligations of businesses to pay taxes, create jobs and generate profits;
· GSS includes all members of the local community: business, media, government, non-governmental organizations, population, investors, etc.;
· Social security is not a way to solve society's problems at the expense of business, but a way to participate in the development of the environment in which business operates;
· SSB is an approach to sustainable development with a direct (usually long-term) impact on the financial performance of the company.
With the right approach, a company’s CO contributes to its commercial success, distinguishing it favorably in a competitive environment.
Emerging markets are characterized by the following: areas of practical benefit CO:
Improving environmental processes – increased productivity and income, cost savings when using environmentally friendly and cleaning equipment.
Building a company's reputation – it’s no secret that business image today is not the last factor that allows an enterprise to maintain its competitiveness. Among the abundance of homogeneous goods, when the consumer satisfies not only physiological needs through the product, but also emotional, aesthetic, spiritual needs, he (the consumer), among many factors in the process of making a purchase decision, pays attention to social policy enterprises. Those. It's about increasing customer loyalty and trust.
Reduce litigation costs.
Human Resources – reducing staff turnover, increasing employee engagement. People don't want to work for companies that don't make social responsibility a priority in corporate policy.
Access to new markets – standardization according to international criteria (ISO, etc.).
Reducing pressure from inspection bodies. The publication of principles and policies regarding employees, the environment, and relations with suppliers also provides an answer to government agencies about the company’s approach to these issues. In fact, today, improved relations with authorities remain the main benefit acquired by the company as part of social responsibility programs.
Not all business opportunities of a joint venture company are listed above - there are many more.
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Each of us is a member of the society in which we traditionally exist. specific model behavior considered normal. It is enshrined in the concept of universal human values. And most importantly, it does not violate ethics and does not harm others. However, there are people who do not follow it. On the contrary, they, neglecting moral principles, commit immoral acts that harm other members of society. Such people are called deviants, and their behavior is unacceptable.
Turning to Spirituality
Many immoral acts are immoral not only from a human point of view, but also from a religious point of view. Take greed, for example. An unhealthy craving for material wealth often pushes people to commit terrible acts, with the help of which they manage to satisfy their self-interest.
Pride, which is one of the seven deadly sins in Catholicism, also refers to immoral qualities. Excessive arrogance and disrespect for other people do not make anyone better. Just like adultery. Adultery is a sin, an immoral act, betrayal and humiliation of the one to whom the oath of allegiance was given. The person who committed it is not worthy of trust, respect and good treatment.
Vanity is perceived by many as a socio-psychological personality trait, which, however, does not make people beautiful. They are often selfish, arrogant, and constantly crave conviction of their own superiority. It would seem, is it really bad to appreciate and love yourself? No, that's normal. But only vanity involves putting everything listed on display, which is usually done through humiliation or neglect of other people.
Famous examples
Many of us have long ceased to notice the immoral actions of people who meet us at almost every turn. A striking example is the use of obscene expressions, observed everywhere. Profanity is speech filled with indecent expressions. They are also called obscene. Why? Because they are shameless, which means they violate public morals.
Swearing, which has long become familiar and has lost its ability to shock members of modern society, has practically ceased to fall into the category of immoral acts. In contrast to insults, which are deliberate humiliation of the dignity and honor of an individual. And such immoral acts as insults are punishable by law. All provisions relating to this are spelled out in Article 5.61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation.
Conflicting Behaviors
If a person commits an immoral act, then he definitely does not fit into the generally accepted moral framework. But it corresponds to certain forms of behavior that contradict the norms. There are several of them. These are drug addiction, substance abuse, prostitution, crime, alcoholism and suicide.
It is believed that a person adheres to one or another form of behavior according to one of three reasons. The first, the most common in modern society, is inequality on the social ladder.
Everything is simple here. A person’s behavior and upbringing are influenced by his income. The smaller it is, the higher the likelihood of personality degradation. Many people try to cope with disappointment in their lives through drugs or alcohol. They cannot be blamed for the lack of an internal “core”. Poverty is truly a psychologically difficult experience.
External factors
The commission of an immoral act by a person who follows a particular form of behavior may also depend on his environment. It is no secret that the thoughts and actions of an individual are often formed under the influence of family, friends, colleagues, and classmates. Unfortunately, those people who grew up surrounded by individuals with immoral behavior and saw nothing but deviant actions, begin to consider everything like this the norm.
The environment and society are one of the fundamental reasons that shape human consciousness. Often, eradicating immoral acts requires the help of sociologists who work not with one guilty individual, but with a whole group of people.
The level of education is also important. Sometimes people do not know about such basic concepts as “morality” and “morality” due to their ignorance. Rules, norms and traditions must be passed on from generation to generation, and this is the task of parents. But some people simply forget to raise their children and instill in them an awareness of how to act and what not to do.
Attitude towards animals
It is impossible not to pay attention to the immoral actions of people regarding our smaller brothers. Cruelty to animals is not only a crime, but also a pressing moral issue. Individuals who allow themselves to mistreat our smaller brothers are not accepted by normal, modern society. They are condemned and condemned by other people.
It is a truly immoral act. It does not pose a threat to public safety. But nevertheless it is unacceptable and unacceptable from another, moral point of view.
Real cases
A variety of immoral acts take place in our lives. And you wouldn’t wish to become their victims or witnesses even to your enemy.
How many situations are known when sons got drunk to the point of insanity and threw their fists at their mothers? Or when someone’s beloved pet was subjected to cruel acts by juvenile deviants for the sake of entertainment. Often many people have witnessed suicide, which also falls into this category of behavior. And of course, none of us is immune from betrayal for the personal benefit of a trusted person.
When you realize how often these and similar cases occur, it becomes extremely clear that morality in modern society, unfortunately, is by no means in the first place in the value system.
Bad manners
When discussing moral and immoral actions, it is worth mentioning that the latter also includes behavior that is perceived by many as simple uncouthness and bad manners.
And examples of this accompany us in everyday life. In public transport, you can often see how ill-mannered individuals push those in front in the back, just to quickly leave the cabin. When leaving the premises, many do not hesitate to slam the door right in front of the noses of those who follow them, and without even looking back.
But most often, perhaps, there are individuals who openly violate the rules of the community. They put trash on landing, smoke in the entrance without opening the windows, violate sanitation and hygiene in other ways. These are also immoral actions. Examples surround us everywhere, but we have stopped noticing many of them because, no matter how sad it may be, they have become commonplace.
Ethical or unethical? - this is a subject of controversy for the philosophical discipline of ethics. In everyday life, we usually talk about morality and moral criteria for human behavior, about good and evil, based on the traditions and rules that have developed in society. And when scandals break out in the business environment, sometimes turning into the subject of global discussion and condemnation, experts, and we ourselves, try to determine the degree of morality or immorality of the actions of the management of a particular company.
Most often, scandals break out in connection with corruption, financial fraud, tax evasion, falsification of information, classification of personal expenses as business items, and a number of others. All of them are in the nature of an economic offense, but the reason that gives rise to them is always associated with behavioral components.
Descending Road
“The surest road to hell is one that is gradually descended, a smooth, soft road, without sudden turns, without signposts,” noted the writer and theologian Clive S. Lewis. In business, everything also begins with petty thefts and fraud, the “innocent” use of office supplies brought from work in everyday life. Research conducted by Harvard Business School found that about 75% of firm employees surveyed said they had witnessed unethical and sometimes illegal behavior by their colleagues.
The problem of unethical behavior is aggravated by the fact that, noticing the unethicalness of an act, many employees tend to “not notice” the immorality of the actions, considering them a trifle. Role play in the course of the study, reproducing the audit, clearly demonstrated that the “auditors” did not report a gradual and slight overestimation of reporting data, but the “accountants” who immediately wrote down a large figure were required to report.
Unethical Leadership
Experts note that leaders at all levels of the corporate hierarchy are characterized by inflated self-esteem, which sometimes leads to a separation from reality and pushes them toward permissiveness. This is at a time when their ethics, values and behavior have a direct impact on the attitudes and behavior of those they lead, i.e. on organizational culture. This impact can be positive or negative.
Ethical leadership behavior must be specific enough to remain within the boundaries of leadership behavior and decision making based on fairness and morality. The concept of “unethical leadership” is quite broad and includes many ways to “manifest oneself.”
The “moral” standards of an unethical leader can be defined as illegal behavior, actions and decisions that violate moral standards, incl. promoting unethical behavior of subordinates. A leader, to be ethical and effective, must confront.
To identify the essence of a problem means to conduct a meaningful analysis of it and understand the system of main contradictions. Identifying the essence of problems requires knowledge of the functional and aggregate structure and values of the parameters of the control object during its normal functioning. “When we formulate problems or discuss them, we always thereby form a certain program and plan of our actions.” We always evaluate and select problems, characterizing some of them as very important and significant, and others as unimportant. Thus, we determine and predetermine our future actions.
One of the problems of journalism is the “yellow press,” which spoils the reputation of the profession as a whole, but despite all this, it is one of the most read. Then the thought involuntarily arises that it is not the press that is to blame, but the reader, who himself is ready to pay money for such information, “for every viewer there is an actor, and for the consumer there is a product.” “People have a right to know,” but the form in which they find out also matters. great value. The problem here is that if you simply present the facts, then the journalist will not be visible, but if you embellish the events so much, then there may be nothing left of the fact, but only the distorted fantasy of the journalist. Indeed, the work of a journalist is an act of indirect communication with readers, radio listeners, and television viewers. This is a communicative act.
Information is an intermediary between a journalist and an audience; it is a tool used by journalists of all ranks. The very essence of journalism is the search, collection, processing, interpretation and dissemination of information.
Some actions of journalists violate not only the Code of Professional Ethics, but also laws, so the newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda” published an article entitled “The Secret Diary of Mikhail Kozakov: I gave my wife Anya everything I earned!” And you can’t trust her about anything!” which included excerpts from personal diary artist (Appendix B). This publication violates the twenty-third article of the constitution Russian Federation- “1. Everyone has the right to privacy privacy, personal and family secrets, protection of one’s honor and good name. 2. Everyone has the right to privacy of correspondence, telephone conversations, postal, telegraph and other messages. Restriction of this right is permitted only on the basis court decision", also article twenty-four, paragraph one - “Collection, storage, use and dissemination of information about the private life of a person without his consent is not allowed.” We conducted a survey (Appendix D, survey No. 1) in which we asked the question “in your opinion, can the behavior of the journalist(s) who published excerpts from the diary of People’s Artist of the RSFSR Mikhail Mikhailovich Kozakom be called unethical?” 50% of respondents considered the behavior of journalists unethical and illegal, 28.57% considered it unethical, but not violating the laws, and 21.43% of respondents considered the behavior of journalists acceptable.
There are journalists who happily try on the role of the arbiter of human destiny, so journalist Alexander Nikonov, in the program “clinch”, radio station “Echo of Moscow”, stated that “extra people need to be killed.” An extra person, in his opinion, is one who cannot take care of himself, cannot support himself. The word euthanasia is used as a cover, but decency must still be observed: murder is bad, but euthanasia is humane. Nikonov lives with the confidence that such things as love and pity do not exist. Or rather, they were simply invented. It is impossible to rationally explain pity and love - this means that they do not deserve the right to exist, just like disabled children. Sick children are saved by their mothers. After all, they are driven by maternal instinct, and this is unconscious, at the level of instincts, so to speak. So we need to help them realize that they are mistaken. From his point of view, they will only say thank you later.
We conducted a survey (Appendix D, survey No. 2) in which we asked the question “Do you think Alexander Nikonov’s statement “about the use of euthanasia for disabled children immediately after birth” can be called ethical? and 18.92% considered it ethical, 51.35% considered Nikonov’s statement unethical, and 29.73% considered the behavior unethical, but taking place, since every person has the right to express his point of view.
Some journalists do not even hesitate to bury living and healthy people in their articles. The news about the death of Jackie Chan has become one of the most read on the Internet (Appendix E) March twenty-eighth, 2011, in social networks and Internet news reported that the famous actor Jackie Chan had died. Fans began to express their condolences on Facebook, but it turned out that the actor was alive. Rumor of Jackie Chan's death from heart attack was launched through the Twitter microblogging service 10 days before the Actor’s 57th birthday.
We conducted a survey (Appendix D, survey No. 3) in which we asked the question “Do you think it was ethical to distribute unverified information about the death of Jackie Chan on the Internet?” Most of the respondents, 85.71%, believe that this is unethical, but there were people who had the opposite opinion (14.29%). We were also interested in how the artist’s fans think who could have spread such rumors (Appendix D, survey No. 4); according to the survey, it turned out that the majority of respondents, 39.28%, believe that this could have been done by people who wanted to make money by disseminating this information or simply to attract attention, 25% of respondents thought that these were the artist’s enemies and ill-wishers, and 17.86% each received the following answer options: This is just a thoughtless joke, this could have been done by the artist’s PR people to attract attention to him.
The surveys we conducted helped us find out people’s attitudes towards this type of information. The majority of respondents, relying on their moral principles, believe that, in general, in these situations, journalists acted unethically in relation to the heroes of their articles. But if we imagine that all journalists acted as prescribed in the code of journalists, would this profession be so interesting? And wouldn’t a situation of information starvation arise then? Transgressing the bounds of decency is wrong, this is well known, but in our world of double standards, other journalism cannot exist.
Immoral behavior- this is a special type of behavior of subjects that is denied and punished in a certain way in society. What should be understood by immoral behavior? Let's try to figure this out...
What is immoral behavior?
Immoral behavior is the behavior of a subject in which all the formed moral principles of society are assessed as insignificant, the usual moral and ethical view of the world is ignored, and is often perceived disdainfully or even aggressively.
Immoral behavior is often identified with the concept of deviant behavior, but in fact these concepts have different meaning, although very close. Immoral behavior should be considered those actions of a person that are not accepted and condemned by society, but at the same time do not carry a pronounced antisocial meaning and do not pose a threat to public safety. Measures of influence on persons leading such a lifestyle are usually public condemnation and censure.
Deviant behavior is a deviation from the norm and established rules. This type of human behavior requires correction - otherwise it can create favorable conditions for the development of crime. Deviant behavior, for example, is typical for many teenagers who have not yet formed a stable positive model of behavior in society, or, due to the notorious youthful maximalism, are ready to defend their ideas using radical methods. As measures of influence on such persons, punishments are used in the form of placement in special medical or educational institutions, up to isolation.
Examples of immoral behavior
To make it more clear, we will give examples that clearly demonstrate what distinguishes immoral behavior from deviant behavior.
There are many examples of immoral behavior in our everyday life. For example, when a person, getting off the bus, pushes the person in front in the back in order to leave the cabin faster.
Human behavior can also be called immoral:
- using profanity in conversation (of course, provided that he does this publicly and not in a narrow circle of his “confidants”);
- not observing the rules of basic politeness (for example, closing the door in the face of a neighbor following);
- violating the rules of the hostel (for example, putting garbage on the landing, neglecting the duties of keeping it clean common property) etc.
The use of violence in the family or among others, excessive or uncontrolled alcohol consumption, suicidal tendencies, and drug addiction should be considered deviant. Some experts tend to include prostitution here as well. However, if we talk about prostitution as an illegal business (organizing brothels, etc.), then this is already a crime, in accordance with the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. In addition, excessive cruelty, for example towards stray animals, can be considered deviant behavior. Agree, all of the above does not have much in common with immoral behavior.
