In a perfect world, it’s always clear what’s right or wrong. In the real world, things are often not so clear. Someone’s wrong can be your right, which means your right will definitely, at some point, be someone else’s wrong. Most of the time, the “right” choice is subjective. In business, many of these ethical challenges appear in the form of bribes, conflicts of interest, issues of honesty and integrity, and whistle-blowing.
In business, sometimes ethics comes down to deciding whether or not to tell the truth. Admitting an error, disclosing material facts, or sending a customer to a competitor are all decisions that business people make based on issues of honesty and integrity. Because honesty and integrity are often used in the same breath, many people believe that they are one and the same. However, they are decidedly different, and each is important in its own way. As Professor Stephen L. Carter of Yale Law School points out in his book Integrity, “one cannot have integrity without being honest, but one can be honest and yet lack integrity.”
Integrity means adherence to principles. It’s a three-step process: choosing the right course of conduct; acting consistently with the choice—even when it’s inconvenient or unprofitable to do so; openly declaring where one stands. Accordingly, integrity is equated with moral reflection, steadfastness to commitments, and trustworthiness.
The major difference between honesty and integrity is that one may be entirely honest without engaging in the thought and reflection that integrity demands. The honest person may truthfully tell what he or she believes without the advance determination of whether it’s right or wrong. Sometimes the difference is subtle. Take the following example:
Being himself a graduate of an elite business school, a manager gives the more challenging assignments to staff with the same background. He does this, he believes, because they will do the job best and for the benefit of others who did not attend similar institutions. He doesn’t want them to fail. He claims integrity because he is acting according to his beliefs.
The manager fails the integrity test. The question is not whether his actions are consistent with what he most deeply believes but whether he has done the hard work of ascertaining whether what he believes is right and true.1Thomas, Jim. “Honesty Is Not Synonymous With Integrity,And We Need To Know The Difference,For Integrity Is What We Need.” Alliance for Integrity RSS. August 15, 2011. Accessed February 27, 2019.
Companies that value honesty and integrity can expect to see those values permeate their company culture. In such a climate, coworkers trust one another, employees view management with less suspicion, and customers spread the word about the company’s ethical behavior. Honest companies also don’t have to worry about getting into trouble with the IRS or the media on account of ethical wrongdoing. Even though a company may have to give up short-term gains in order to maintain an atmosphere of honesty and integrity, in the long run it will come out ahead.
Bribery
Bribery is the act of giving money, goods, or other forms of compensation to a recipient in exchange for an alteration of their behavior (to the benefit/interest of the giver) that the recipient would otherwise not alter. Many types of payments or favors can constitute bribes: tips, gifts, favors, discount, waived fees, free foods, free advertising, free trips, free tickets, donations, campaign contribution, sponsorship/backing, higher paying job, stock options, secret commission, or promotions. The key to identifying bribery is that it is intended to alter the recipients behavior.
The simplest form of bribery: a parent who tells a child that if he behaves while at the grocery store, he will get ice cream or a toy. This is a common and mostly harmless form of bribery, but does it set the tone for expecting a future favor in exchange for good behavior? In business, bribery can be very subtle. Consider the following example.
You are the purchasing manager for a manufacturing company. There are several suppliers from whom you can purchase component parts used in the production of your finished product. One of the supplier representatives comes by every Monday morning with biscuits for you and your staff. He calls you on occasion and offers you tickets to sold-out sporting events and sends a lavish gift basket every Christmas.
Is this just good business on his part, building a personal relationship with you and your staff, or is there an expectation that, in exchange for his generosity, you will select his company’s product over the competition—even though he’s not the most cost-effective choice? Are you taking a bribe when you accept the football tickets?
These small “tokens of appreciation” can be construed as bribes, and as a result, many companies prohibit their employees from accepting gifts from suppliers and vendors.
One of the challenges in determining whether or not someone has taken a bribe or simply accepted a gift is that the social and cultural norms governing bribery and gift giving can differ from place to place. Certain monetary transactions are acceptable and appropriate in some cultures but not in others. For example, political campaign contributions in the form of cash are considered criminal acts of bribery in some countries, but in the United States, as long as they adhere to election law, they’re legal. Tipping is considered bribery in some societies, but in others the two concepts are very different.
Kickbacks
A kickback is a form of negotiated bribery in which a commission is paid to the bribe-taker in exchange for services rendered. Generally speaking, money, goods, or services handed over are negotiated ahead of time. The kickback varies from other kinds of bribes in that there is implied collusion between agents of the two parties, rather than one party extorting the bribe from the other. The purpose of the kickback is usually to encourage the other party to cooperate in the illegal scheme.
Gifts
Gift giving in business is both commonplace and controversial at the same time. Business gifts are usually seen as an advertising, sales-promotion, and marketing-communication medium. Such gifting is usually practiced for the following reasons:
- In appreciation for past client relationships, placing a new order, referrals to other clients, etc.
- In the hopes of creating a positive first impression that might help to establish an initial business relationship
- As a quid pro quo—returning a favor or expecting a favor in return for something
Conflict of Interest
A conflict of interest is an ethical challenge that occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests that are at odds with one another. Conflict of interest is especially problematic in situations involving someone in a position of trust—e.g., a doctor or lawyer—who has competing professional or personal interests. These competing interests make it hard to act on behalf of one interest without compromising the integrity of the other. The following are some of the most common forms of conflict of interest:
- Self-dealing, in which an official who controls an organization causes it to enter into a transaction with the official, or with another organization that benefits the official, i.e., the official is on both sides of the “deal.”
- Outside employment, in which the interests of one job contradict another.
- Family interests, in which a spouse, child, or other close relative is employed (or applies for employment) or where goods or services are purchased from such a relative or a firm controlled by a relative. For this reason, many employment applications ask if one is related to a current employee. In this event, the relative may be recused from any hiring decisions. Abuse of this type of conflict of interest is called nepotism.
- Gifts from friends who also do business with the person receiving the gifts (may include non-tangible things of value such as transportation and lodging).
A code of ethics can help to minimize problems with conflicts of interest because it spells out the extent to which such conflicts are to be avoided and what the parties should do if they do arise (disclosure, etc.). Such codes also help raise awareness, making it less likely that professionals can legitimately claim that they were unaware that their behavior was unethical. In addition, the threat of disciplinary action (for example, a lawyer being disbarred) helps to minimize unacceptable conflicts or improper acts when a conflict is unavoidable.
Management 2020 text remixed from multiple sources under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. View a complete list of original sources.
