Ethical Business Standards and Social

Ethical Business Standards and Social Influence

The Role of Culture and Social Learning in Business Practices and Ethics

Society strongly influences the perceptions and expectations of individual in virtually every conceivable area of life. Much of the way the individual views himself and the external environment is determined by social learning. It dominates and shapes the reality that the individual comes to regard as normal through the socialization process beginning in early childhood. By the time the individual enters professional life, society had dictated his expectations and professional values; it also plays a large role in the values and corporate culture within organizations.

Generally, the elements that make up professional norms and values reflect the norms and values of wider society: in societies that emphasize social hierarchies, rigid gender roles, timeliness, or fiscal responsibility, business organizations tend to mirror those concepts. That is equally true with respect to the role of ethics: generally, business organizations operating in cultural environment that emphasize scrupulous ethical standards of behavior tend to adhere to higher ethical standards than business organizations in social environments that maintain lower ethical standards generally.

Typical examples of the way wider society and cultural values and norms shape business ethics would include the manner in which American companies like Enron and Tyco became overrun with corporate greed and leadership dysfunction. The connection would be the parallels between corporate indulgence and ostentatious displays within a nation obsessed with material success, particularly during the time period involved, during the "dot com" boom. Other examples of social influence on business ethics would include the rampant corporate abuse and misconduct in several Middle Eastern and African nations where corruption of government functions through bribery and black market economies are a social reality for most people since childhood.

BRIBERY AS AN ETHICAL ISSUE

Bribery is fundamentally unethical because it is inherently unfair. Regardless of the situation, bribery means that someone is transferring some form of compensation that is not permitted and that necessarily undermines the fair efforts of competitors or the purpose of rules and regulation. Where bribery occurs in connection with gaining an unfair advantage over others (such as bribing a college professor for a good grade), the ethical violation is a function of the fundamental right of others competing for the same goal to achieve it through only legitimate means. The student who bribes a college professor and receives a grade for it harms the other students by lowering the grading curve for everybody. In the long run, many instances of bribery of this kind would also diminish the value of the educational degree from an institution whose reputation as lowered by unqualified graduates who perform less well in the professional world after graduation. The ethical violation would be harmful to the entire college community of that institution.