Kelebit 1

Amanda Libbie Kelebit

2009060149
Lecturer Mr. S. Rajini Kumar
Business and Professional Ethics
25th February 2010

A global set of ethics is not impossible in business:

Each culture and region of the world can have it own ethics
as well as values and culture differences.

The statement above would clearly state that it is a complex situation when it comes

to ethics interpretation methodology. Some would be in the same shoes; some would be at

the opposition side. Business world is a risky world, thus it is not a game. Also the same with

ethics, although it is a variable, but it could be leading to different consequences regarding

how the ethics is interpret and how action is taken according to the ethics. Here is a good

example that was learnt in class:

A half naked body is shown in a newspaper with a headline about it. Whether or not it

is about bad or good news, the picture itself will show to the reader what the article is

about. Thus, many different people will think differently, depend on the values and

culture that they had learnt. Maybe if this article and the pictures are published in Asia

region, the reader would think differently from those readers who are at the west.

Those Asia maybe would think of taking legal action on the newspaper company but

those that are open minded will think that it is a normal situation for them.

From online sources Encarta, the word ‘global’ means worldwide and overall. For

ethics, its definition is study of morality's effect on conduct and code of morality. So, overall,
 Kelebit 2

global business ethics has to do with ethical issues affecting the business world. When

thinking about global ethics, we are concerned with actions taken by citizens and political

leaders of nations, and with international laws. As in Romans 12:16, “Be of the same mind

toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise

in your own estimation.” It sound ethically befits as human being. This verse can be apply in

business world too as there is many competency that apply to global ethics. It is applied in

many fields without us knowing about it. Here for an example that taken from the part of the

dialog on America’s Economic Crisis (26th September 2008) with Bob Abernethy, Father Jim

Martin and Reverend Jim Wallis.

“Father JIM MARTIN (Editor, America Magazine): Well, I’d like to go from the

general to the specific. You can start with the Jewish and Christian principles of

caring for the poor, which is very important in both the Old and the New Testaments.

Jesus speaks about that very forcefully. More specifically, the Catholic tradition in

their social teaching documents talk about solidarity with one another and the

common good. It’s not just every man in it for himself, or every woman. You know,

we Jesuits talk about not making decisions in a time when you’re freaking out. So

there’s a sort of discernment that’s needed. And then, finally, I think that the role of

conscience needs to play in this. There’s a reason why people feel uncomfortable with

so many people making money and with the bailout possibly helping only the

wealthy, and I think the reason people feel that sort of uncomfortable feeling is

conscience. I mean, it’s telling us that something’s wrong when only the wealthy

benefits, so I think those are some of the principles.

ABERNETHY: But, Jim Wallis, whatever we do has to be something that, first of all,

is practical, perhaps. Does it work? Does it work for the whole economy, and does it

also work for the very poor?

 Kelebit 3

Reverend JIM WALLIS (Editor-in-Chief and CEO, Sojourners Magazine): Well, I’m

an evangelical convert to Catholic social teachings, so I’m going to agree with Jim

about all this. You know, this crisis is structural and spiritual both, and this has come

about because private gain, greed, has prevailed over the common good. We’ve lost

sight of what the common good is, and it’s true, there’s a conversation going on about

rewarding the people who are indeed most responsible for the crisis.”

Furthermore, with values and cultures differences, global ethics would be impossible.

But some would against this statement. “Such a set of principles can only be agreed upon if

representatives of diverse organizations and cultural values will work together to understand

each others' perspectives. This approach is consistent with the goal of ‘mutual understanding’

that increasingly characterizes public relations practice. It is also consistent with recent

theoretical work in ethics and post colonialism,” according to the journal Public Relations

Review in Volume 22, Issue 2. By referring to the talk that was given by Aron Cramer, the

President and Chief Executive officer of Business for Social Responsibility on March 9,

2007, the social responsibility and ethical behaviour determine the business ethics in global

world. In his conference, he add that the growth of business ethics in China and India been

formed by those who are west-educated. Thus these show that these ethics is globalised by

referring to the example of China and India. But then, global change in business world will

lead to different perspective of thinking of businessman. These thinking will then create

different creativity. Taking the climate change in China and India as an example:

“China and India have several advantages in addressing this issue: Both are

committed to developing their technological expertise. Both have large domestic

markets, which make developing new services easier. And neither has legacy

industries – such as an auto industry built on cars that use gasoline – to offer

resistance to new technologies.

 Kelebit 4

Cramer also predicted that the fragmentation of power and information would

continue. This presents real challenges for both India and China. For example, the

Internet is developing differently in China than in the West, because of government

restrictions on free expression.”

Apart from that, there is Institute of Global Ethics (IGE) which works with Fortune

500 companies, professional business associations, and with local, state, and federal

government departments. With offices in Maine, New York, England, and Canada, IGE seeks

to raise the profile of values and ethics by working with foundations, other nonprofits, and

global thinkers. This institute help to explore the global common ground of values, elevate

awareness of ethics, provide practical tools for making ethical decisions, and encourage

moral actions based on decisions. Mr. Rushworth M. Kidder, the President and Founder of

IGE, stated that:

“But a code, like a strategic plan, has a life cycle. Codes need periodic refreshing.

Their core principles should remain immutable. But their examples change with the

decades, as does the relevancy of their language. This report admits the obvious:

Firms that have built codes will sooner or later be rebuilding. Doing so, it takes the

lead as the essential companion to any executive team charged with making ethics

matter.”

This statement is referring to the Ethics Newsline which reported according to the ‘Global

Corporate Ethics Practices: A Developing Consensus’ on Jul 26th, 1999. This demonstrates

that a global set of ethics can be done so as to uniform the organization in the world to avoid

any confusion or wrong interpretation by any people in this world.

In brief, Business Ethics (A Global and Managerial Perspective) defined that business

ethics is the process of evaluating decisions, either pre or post, with respect to the moral
 Kelebit 5

standards of the society’s culture. Again, the culture and the society itself verify whether a

conduct of behaviour in business world is ethical or not. Thus, the situation itself that vary

can create different understanding on whether it is right or wrong. Either both, global ethics

can be apply but it should using the principle of charity whereby the majority is getting the

benefits because it will influence the society and the surrounding culture. Thus, it is to

conclude that a global set of ethics is not impossible in business world, but the values and

cultures should be applied as well to create a balancing human world of business.

(1254 words)

REFERENCES

Book

David J. Fritzsche. ‘Moral Standards’, Business Ethics (A Global and Managerial

Perspective), McGraw-Hill International Editions 1997, ISBN 0-07-115281-4, Pages 42.

Websites

ENCARTA MSN Dictionary

<http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx>
 Kelebit 6

Learnwell.org

<http://www.learnwell.org/globalethics.htm>

Institute for Global Ethics

< http://www.globalethics.org/>

Articles and Journals

Marjaana Kopperi. ‘Business Ethics in Global Economy’, Electronic Journal of Business

Ethics and Organization Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2 ISSN 1239-2685.

< http://ejbo.jyu.fi/articles/0401_1.html>

Orland Hooge. ‘Some Uplifting Ethics of The Bible’

< http://members.shaw.ca/tfrisen/Holy%20Books/gdverses.html>

Nancy L. Roth, Todd Hunt, Maria Stavropoulos and Karen Babik. ‘Can't we all just get
along: Cultural variables in codes of ethics’, PUBLIC RELATIONS REVIEW, Volume 22,
Issue 2, Summer 1996, Pages 151-161.

<http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W5W-45HD9T4-
3S&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F01%2F1996&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search
&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1228666656&_rerunOrigin=google
&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=51b7cc84f34
beae813cb01e91c85d840>

Rushworth M. Kidder. ‘Blueprint for a Global Code of Ethics’, Ethics Newsline, Jul 26th,
1999.

<http://www.globalethics.org/newsline/1999/07/26/blueprint-for-a-global-code-of-
ethics/>

Dialogs, Conversation and Podcast (with summary)

Bob Abernethy, Father Jim Martin, Father Jim Wallis. ‘American Economic crisis’, Religions
and Ethics. (September 26th, 2008)

<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/september-26-2008/americas-
economic-crisis/646/>

Aron Cramer, President and CEO, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). ‘Business
Ethics in a Global World: An Introduction to the Issues’. (March 9th, 2007)
 Kelebit 7

<http://media.scu.edu/ethicsCenter/businessethics/Cramer_Business_Ethics_in_a_Glo
bal_World_MP3_192.mp3>

Summary of podcast:

<http://media.scu.edu/ethicsCenter/businessethics/Cramer_Business_Ethics_in_a_Glo
bal_World_MP3_192.mp3