The Washington Outsider

All Businesses Must Strive To Be Ethical and Socially Responsible Amid Mounting Ethical Concerns

5/2/2018

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Facebook, Google, and other social media giants keep making headlines as the world continues to learn more about what they do and plan to do with user data.  To summarize the information gathering and sharing practices of these companies, they are essentially stalking everyone then selling the personal data they amass.  Not only have these firms failed to consider the social, moral, or ethical ramifications of these actions, they are also developing technologies that encourage dysfunctional behavior.  Ironically, most tech  firms like to consider themselves progressive, as well as socially responsible and ethical, but they clearly have not actually examined the social impact of their policies and products. 
Compared to the industrial sector, for example, the negative impact of the tech industry is far less obvious and, thus far, far easier to ignore.  Manufacturers pollute, can easily endanger the health of their employees and members of the communities in which they operate, consume massive amounts of resources, and impact the purchasing power of consumers, among other things.  When the practices and products of companies like Ford, for example, fail to address the needs of society and cater to consumer indulgences instead of leading to sustainable production and consumption, they impact a whole host of social issues.  Revelations about Facebook and Google demonstrate the need for all companies in all industries to take an in-depth look at the ethical implications of their policies and practices, which requires a basic understanding of actual ethics.
 
Business ethics exist to ensure professionals consider interests other than opportunities for their immediate gain.  This helps employers guard against unrealized and long-term fallout from improper employee behavior.  One of the principle reasons for an ethics code in a business is to protect that business from the actions of employees.  When employees interact with clients, other employees, or new employers, a business must guard against any perceivable damage an employee could cause.  By scripting responses to consumers and the Public, limiting workplace relationships, or instituting nondisclosure agreements, employers are attempting to control long-term costs as well as sculpt the business culture within the firm and beyond.  It is, however, not enough to prevent the firm from engaging in unethical practices.
 
Business ethics also exist to ensure a firm does not undermine the integrity and longevity of its industry.  Ethics represent an attempt to address factors which cannot be fully measured or understood, to ensure success now and in the future.  Although the need for ethics may appear to be a moral issue wrapped in subjective reasoning, ethics are actually a major concern for any business viewed as an enduring entity designed to last.  A firm lacking ethics can only build a supposed ethics policy through a superficial attempt to ensure legal penalties exist for employees who violate company policies.  As such, unethical firms can only address preconceived threats as employees will not be bound by actual ethics.
 
The second half of the Twentieth Century was marked by a shift in business philosophy that pushed for massive short-term profits and short-sighted cost cutting measures without taking into account ethics.  Business ethics exist to help promote top quality products and/or services at the best possible price, healthy competition, and strong community relations.  Without ethics, employers cannot expect employees to respect their firms, nor can they expect customer loyalty.  Business ethics must factor into every aspect of business, because ethics are part of a culture that a long-term business and industry must instill into their employees.  An industry without ethics, in any aspect of business, is one that earns the spurn of its consumers and eventually causes pain across the entire economy when failure is eminent.
 
The Baby Boomers and their children's generation learned most businesses are not necessarily loyal or ethical, thus they act solely on what they immediately perceive to be in their best interests.  Employees have learned to do the same.  A firm looking to instill ethics into their employees, therefore, needs to lead by example.  Ethics must go beyond punitive action.  A company, which treats its employees poorly, rips off consumers, and/or undercuts other firms with unhealthy competition, is going to teach employees to behave unethically.  This means business ethics extend beyond employee relations to include how a firm treats its competitors across its entire industry as well as the quality of products and services at what cost the firm provides its consumers.
 
If an interviewee stepped into most companies and said he wanted a job for as much money as he could get, yet cared little about what the business did, he probably would not have a very good job.  Regrettably, businesses do this all the time to society, sometimes with grave consequences to the firm in addition to society.  When businesses are motivated solely by profit, they eventually fail or create unhealthy business environments that result in catastrophes for economies and communities around the world.  While business entities have their own interests, including profit, they are run by and for people who have interests of their own.  Businesses do not simply act on the interests of the company.  They act on what executive managers perceive to be the company's interests and the interests of the executives.  
 
When profit is the only motive of a business, the goal of the executives will always be profit while they will be rewarded with even larger salaries when they amass larger profits with fewer expenses.  Profit, when it serves as the sole motive, success means the decision makers of a business will ignore employee, consumer, and social interests.  Unfortunately, profit can be inflated when long-term and other unrealized costs are ignored or displaced onto the rest of society.  After all, an inferior product will sell whether or not it is made by employees, who are treated well, in a factory that controls pollution. The same is true of services that fall short of customer expectations, unless there is a concern for future business or better alternatives.
 
Profit is supposed to be the measurement of how successful a business has been in what capacity it serves our society.  Managers and investors have forgotten over the past two decades that a decent profit is still a profit, so massive, short-term grains are not necessary.  When profit is the primary or sole motivation, a firm cannot continue to be successful.  Regrettably, the immediate interests of a company's decision makers will be served by short-sighted profiteering.  For ethical professionals, whose goals are to build up an enduring entity with socially responsible behavior, profit is the secondary goal.  Profits represent a tool that incentivizes excellence for the benefit of our entire society instead of personal gains that fatten a handful of society’s most gluttonous.
 
Under profit driven models, the existence of business is rather cyclic, i.e. firms exist to exist.  It is, therefore, helpful to step back and understand why society supports the existence of commerce.  It is because it services the interests of communities.  Only when a company exists to fulfill its role in our society can it continue to exist.  Consequently, the primary motive of all businesses must be to serve their purpose better than all other firms with profits serving as a means of continuing operations in the short and long run.  Socially responsible and ethical businesses focus on their long-term and broader interests, so they can ensure their long-term survival and success.  
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        • Should the Government Control Talk Radio to Make it More "balanced"?
      • How the People Are Lost in the Extremes of 'Right' and 'Left' in Politics
      • Should One's Faith Influence a Citizen's Vote?
      • Should the U.S. Government Help Fund Election Campaigns?
      • On Defunding Political Science Research
    • Worldview >
      • Justice for All: The Case for Legal, Social, Economic, and Personal Justice
      • Why Hardliner Thinking in the NSA and CIA is Doing Damage
      • On the Baby Boomer’s Self-Centeredness
      • The Case for Personal Responsibility
      • What Modern Day Revolutionaries Need to Learn from Leader's like Mandela
      • Rising Western Acceptance of LGBT Primes Culture Clash
      • The Need for Wisdom Beyond the Numbers
      • Perceptions of the United States
      • How Honesty Relates to the Great Recession
      • Why the Middle Class and Rich Need to Support Their Long-term Interests
      • The Aristocratic Republic of the United States of America
      • Discussing the Need for Community Support
      • Why New Forms of Capitalism and Socialism Will Compliment Each Other
      • The Reason We Need to Understand What it is to Be Poor in America
      • Why the World Needs to Reinvest in America
      • Why Are We Against Terrorism?
      • Why Does Terrorism Exist?
      • US Influence: The Value of American Citizenship Around the World
      • Responding to "the Soldier as Sacrficial Victim"
    • Human Nature >
      • How comfort defines us as people >
        • Is Suicide a Cowardly Way Out?
      • Defense Against the Dark Arts of Manipulators
      • Defining Abuse >
        • On the Willing Victim of Abuse
        • How to Understand Abuse Victims
        • Recognizing Abuse
      • The Role of Substitution in Decision Making
      • Trying to Understand PTSD and Other Trauma-induced Mental Health Issues
      • Exploring Human Emotion >
        • Mental Illness is Not the Cause of Anger and Violence >
          • Trying to Understand the Boston Marathon Bombing and Other Violent Crimes
          • Getting into the Twisted Mind of the Tucson Murder
      • Describing the Mind as Modes of Thought >
        • It’s Just Sex?
      • Relationships, or Arrangement
      • Understanding the Effects of Groupthink in the Workplace
      • Relating Circular, Inductive, and Deductive Reasoning to the Scientific Method and Religion
      • What is a Redneck? Understanding Different Cultures and Thinking
    • Economics >
      • The Need for Greater Economic Leverage >
        • Evaluating NAFTA and TPP
        • Undercutting Logistics with the Underpaid Independent Contractor
        • Unions: Hindrance or Essential to Free Markets
        • Eminent Domain Used Against Banks
        • Haitians Sue the UN for Failure to Help With Cholera
        • Looking at How Corn-based Ethanol and Other Alternative Energy Subsidies Stack Up
      • Empowering the Sovereign Nation-State by Rethinking Trade Policy >
        • Irish Sovereignty Lost Before Bailout
        • Why Sudan's Greatest Long-Term Hurdle is Our Lowest-bidder Economy
        • Reduce US Imports by Buying American Made Products
      • Ending the need for government support and tackling poverty
      • Income inequality: understanding the limitations and psychology of disadvantage
      • Looking at the Future of American Jobs >
        • On Questioning the Need to Address Economic Disparity
        • Minimum Wage is Not the Problem
        • Responding to the "Blip"
        • Why Education Is Not The Civil Rights Issue Of The Twenty-First Century
      • Considering the Impact of the Capital Gains Tax Deduction
      • Embracing a Capitalist Mindset >
        • Capitalism Versus Socialism
        • The Negatives of Socialism
      • Stealing Intellectual Property
      • Changing Business Models: From Enduring Entities to Cash Cows
      • Consumer and Investor Evolution in the Great Recession of 2008-09
      • Dealing with the Issues Surrounding the Patenting of Self-replicating Technologies
      • Is Technology Threatening Jobs?
    • Education >
      • The Role of Education in Creating a More Dynamic Workforce
      • Primary Education in America and the Changing Needs of Society
      • The Greatness of the American Education System
      • Ideas for Improving the United States Education System
      • Are Teachers Treated as Professionals?
      • Is Engaging Parents in Their Children's Education a Major Factor in Turning Around Low-performing Schools?
      • Should Grants Be Awarded to School Districts that Try Innovative Methods to Improve Student Achievement?
    • US Constitution >
      • On Reading the US Constitution
      • The Senate should not do more to limit the powers of the Judicial Branch
      • On the DOJ Justifying the “targeted Killings” of US Citizens
      • Corporations Do Not Have the Same Rights as US Citizens >
        • Corporate America Pleads the First
      • Discussing the Constitutionality of Per Capita Taxes
      • Was the California Supreme Court Right in Legalizing Gay Marriage?
      • Should the Bible Continue to Be Used for Swearing-in Ceremonies and in Courtrooms?
      • Should Religious Student Clubs Be Allowed in Public Schools?
      • Should the Government Control Talk Radio to Make it More "balanced"?
      • The Second Amendment: Not Outdated >
        • Are We Losing Our Second Amendment Rights
      • Eminent Domain Used Against Banks
      • Should a Woman Have the Right to Choose Abortion? >
        • Should Fathers Be Able to Opt Out of Parenthood?
      • Should Smoking Be Allowed in Public Places?
      • Is Teen Driving a Right or a Privilege?
      • Should US Companies Be Required to Provide Equal Pay to Women and Men?
      • Is eighteen too young to vote?
      • First Amendment Rights: The Priviledge of The Press
      • Do Mandatory Seat Belt Laws Violate Individual Rights?
      • Should cell phone use be banned while driving?
      • Dealing with the link between video game violence and children's behavior
      • Should police have to submit to routine drug and alcohol testing?
      • Public schools should not impose mandatory drug testing on students
      • Are High Taxes on Cigarettes Proper?
      • Should pharmacists be required to violate their religious beliefs and dispense the "Morning After Pill?"
      • Should school counselors uphold patient privacy or report students who become unstable?
  • For the record
    • Ongoing Issues >
      • Red Dawn in Ukraine: Understanding the Actions of Russia >
        • On Russia’s Coercion of Ukraine
        • The Russian Annexation of Crimea in the Eyes of the World
        • Putin Has Overplayed His Hand With Crimea
        • Ukraine in Terms of Resovereignization
        • Avoiding a Conflict Between America and Russia Over Ukraine
        • What Drives the World’s Interest in Russia’s Actions in Ukraine
      • China’s Aggressive Pursuit of Interests Demands a Global Response
      • Iran Makes a Deal: A Start to a Long-term Diplomatic Effort to Denuclearize Iran >
        • On the Future of a Nuclear Negotiations with Iran
      • America's Sphere of Influence: Retaking South-East Asia >
        • Power in Asia: Looking at the Power Shift in Japan
        • The China Paradox: Why America is Worried About China
      • Assessing US Support of Israel >
        • Tread Softly Israel for a Heavy Step May Be Your Undoing
      • Understanding the Dysfunctional Nature of the US-Pakistani Relationship
      • Recognizing the True Threat Behind the Current Unrest in the Middle East >
        • Reacting to the Escalating Crackdown in Syria
      • Assessing the Threat of North Korea >
        • Answering North Korea's Call for Food Aid: Breaking the Vicious Cycle Forced Upon Us by a Warring Nation
        • Dealing with the Restarting of the Korean War
        • North Korea Attacks South Korea
      • Dealing with the Ill-effects of Climate Change
      • Racial Inequality and Oppression Do Truly Exist in Today's Society
      • Should energy independence be a high priority in the US?
      • An overview of world wide Human Rights violations
      • Nuclear Threat from Pakistan
      • Return of The Cold War?
    • World >
      • Coverage of FIFA World Cup is a Chance to Focus on Poverty >
        • The FIFA World Cup Offers Benefits for More Than Brazilian Soccer Fans
        • FIFA Can Bring Brazilians Together as a Nation
      • Being Prepared for Any Potential Dangers at the FIFA World Cup Games
      • Treading Softly on the Politicizing of the 2014 Sochi Olympics Over Gay Rights
      • Why NATO Operations in Libya Lack a Well-defined Mission
      • China Hijacks the Web
      • Lessons from the Great Japanese Earthquake of 2011
      • A Modernizing Cuba Offers an Opportunity for Capitalists
      • The Seeds of Democracy Take Root in the Middle East
      • The Rebirth of Democracy in Tunisia
      • What May Come from the Hurt Revolution in Libya
      • Responding to the Violence of Qaddafi and Other Besieged Leaders
      • Embracing the Rise of a Democratic Egypt
      • Protests in Afghanistan Turn Deadly for Coalition Forces and UN Personnel
      • Haiti: Another Failing Humanitarian Investment
      • What Karzai Can Learn from Calderon
      • START II: A Necessary, Easy Success that Nearly Failed
      • Why Does the U.S. Government Support Independence for the Breakaway Serb Territory of Kosovo but Oppose Independence for the Breakaway Georgian Territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia?
      • Iraq's Electric Issues: When Human Wants Trump Economic Sense
      • The International Community Reacts to Wikileaks: We May Be Moving Toward a Third World War in Cyberspace
      • On Climate Gate
      • Assessing Obama's Afghanistan War strategy
      • 2009 Iranian Presidential Election: The Fallout
      • Resolving Sri Lankan Conflict through Free Media
      • What are the Global Consequences of Russia's Invasion of Georgia
      • The War in Iraq: an assessment of President Bush's surge strategy
      • Drug War: Actions of Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador in terms of Resovereignization
      • Is the Iraq Refugee Crisis America's Responsibility?
      • US support for a united Kosovo, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia: why?
      • Should the US withdraw from Iraq?
      • Setting a Timetable for Troop Withdrawal from Iraq is a Terrible Mistake
      • War on Terrorism is needed
    • Law and Order >
      • Rape in the US Military
      • Ethics of Force-feeding Guantanamo Bay Detainees
      • Reacting to the Aftermath of the Tucson Massacre
    • Economy >
      • Affordability Drives Fear of Obamacare and the Individual Mandate
      • Is the Economy Built for a Job's Recovery?
      • Gutting Healthcare Reform of the Individual Mandate
      • Arizona Budget Cuts Lead to Lethal Healthcare Rationing:
      • Shameful Collection Practices of American Banks
      • The Fed Reveals it Actually Undertook an International Bailout
      • Thoughts on French Budgetary Reforms
      • Seniors Start Businesses
      • The Case for Slimming Down the US Military to Make it Better
      • Looking at the Obama Administration's New Approach to Economic Policy
      • Should the Government Regulate the Credit Card Industry?
      • The Big Three's Big Chance
      • The Unhealthy Tone of the Healthcare Reform Debate
      • Should the federal government offer a bailout for home owners?
      • Environmentalists: Do They Do More Good Than More Harm?
      • Responding to Scott Walker's Contribution to the War on Unions
    • US Government >
      • America Needs to Focus on the Impending Fiscal Crisis
      • Reacting to the Bush Era-tax Cut Extension Deal
      • Quitting the Obama Revolution: The Fickle Nature of American Politics
      • John Boehner's Circus
      • Is the Fed Putting Itself in Jeopardy?
      • Wikileaks Goes After the US State Department
      • Discussing the Political Environment Surrounding the 2011 Budget Debate
      • What the Democrats Can Do to Ensure a GOP Year in 2012
      • What the 2010 Midterm Actually Said
      • Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper
      • Democrats Minus Nancy Pelosi Equals Opportunity
      • Terrorists Go Postal: The Terrorism Threat Reexamined
      • Victory in the 2008 Election: Reaction to Barack Obama'a Win >
        • Expectations for Barack Obama
      • President Obama's first one hundred days
      • John McCain's Negative Campaign
      • Reasons People did not Elect John Mccain
      • History judges the George W. Bush Administration
      • Should the next US President focus on domestic issues?
      • President Bush, should he resign or be impeached
      • Should the Ban on Government Sponsored Assassinations be Repealed
    • Off Topic >
      • A Face of America’s Greatest Generation
      • A Story About a Man Who Made the World a Better Place
      • Making the World a Better Place
      • The Bipolar Ethical Nature of Google
      • Learning Computer Plays Jeopardy
      • Verifying Medicine is the Real Thing
      • Taking a Practical Step Forward in Optical Computing Using Slow Light
      • Scientists Take a Closer Look at How Lithium Batteries Work
      • Remarking on the First Blizzard of the 2010-2011 Winter Season
      • Driving in the Snow: Acceleration is the Key
      • How People in Northwest PA Are Coping with the Increasing Cost of Oil
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