I.

Rationale

According to the findings of Ethics & Compliance Initiative, Russia, Brazil and India are the
countries where most amount of misconduct are observed by employees. Misconduct is defined
as the violation of the law, organizational values or universal ethical principles such as fairness
and honesty. Economic conditions, local customs and national cultures differ, but when it comes
to workplace behavior, a few types of misconduct predominate everywhere. Although much of
the conversation focuses on high-profile problems such as bribery and fraud, the most common
issues involve problematic communication and poor conduct in day-to-day relationship.

To give a sense of scale, “lying” was reported, for example, by 11% of employees in Japan,
22% of employees in the US, 26% in China, 28% in Italy, 30% in France, 31% in Russia, 33% in
India and 37% in Brazil. China, the report noted, was overall an interesting exception. “As in
other countries,” stated the report, “lying on the job was an issue in China among both private
and public sector respondents; however, violations with greater implications for the supply chain,
such as offering bribes and hiding potential regulatory infractions, were more common than
abusive behavior.

In the Philippines, the 2012 Global Fraud Survey conducted by Ernst & Young shows that
corruption and unethical behavior are on the rise, particularly in fast-growth emerging markets.
Examples of these are offering or paying bribes to customer officers and employees to win
contracts, and paying bribes to government employees to facilitate the grant of permits and
licenses and to minimize duties and taxes. These unethical business practices affects recruitment,
talent retention and business continuity. According to the survey of SGV & Co., roughly
seven out of ten local respondents polled in a survey claimed they would be unwilling
to work for companies and organizations involved in bribery and corruption. This is
yet another strong reason to manage fraud, bribery, and corruption effectively.u

II. Paper Presentation Proper

A. Background of the Topic

In recent years the issue of unethical business practices have received lots of attention
around the world especially by the media. Ethics in business can be defined as behaviors that a
business bond to in its daily dealings with the world or in other words what society believes is
right or wrong which involves or impact how a business is carried out. Business ethics have
evolved into standards and policies, not only in the Philippines, but also around the world. One
reason for encouraging the development and evolution of business ethics is the demand for moral
and ethical behaviors in domestic and international businesses. Ethics in business varies from
country to country. There are certain policies from a country that may or may not be applicable
to another country.
 Ethical or unethical business practices concerns not only to how the business interacts with
the world at large, but also to their one-on-one dealings with individuals. Many businesses are
interested in making money, and that is the bottom line. Many businesses that making money do
a lot of unethical business practices just for money. There is often conflict between the pursuit of
profit and the exercise of ethical conduct because of self-interested goals. Business owners must
usually fulfill both profit expectations and acceptable business practices. Most executives are
almost compelled in the interests of their companies or themselves to engage in deception when
dealing with their clients, labor unions, government officials, or even in their own departments
(Carr, 2004). Business owners must usually fulfill both profit expectations and acceptable
business practices.

B. Theories

Each day roughly 120 million people walk into a workplace somewhere in the United States.
Within the past year, almost half of these workers personally witnessed some form of ethical
misconduct, according to a recent survey conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics
Resource Center (ERC). Misusing company time, abusive behavior, employee theft, lying to
employees, and violating company internet policies are the most common unethical business
practices that ERC enumerated.

First is the misuse of time which tops the list of unethical business practices. It is where an
individual conducts personal business on business hours. Second, abusive behavior can be seen
when an individual uses his or her position to mistreat or disrespect others. Third is employee
theft. According to a recent study by Jack L. Hayes International, one out of every 40 employees
in 2012 was caught stealing from their employer. Even more startling is that these employees
steal on average 5.5 times more than shoplifters ($715 vs $129). Employee theft is the fast
growing crime in the US today. Fourth, lying to employees. Lastly, violating company internet
policies. Cyberslacker and cyblerloafers are the terms used to identify people who surf the web
during working hours. A survey conducted recently by Salary.com found that everyday at least
64 per cent of employees visit websites that have nothing to do with their work.

The good news from the ERC study is that most American workers and employers do the
right thing. The survey reveals that most of us follow our company's ethical standards of
behavior, and we are willing to report wrongdoing when we see it. But for those of us who track
ethical behavior in the workplace, there are some troublesome trends in the ERC survey. The
percentage of employees who experienced some form of retaliation for reporting non-ethical
behavior climbed from 15 percent to 22 percent. Confidence in the ethics of senior leaders
declined from 68 percent to 62 percent. When it comes to the ethical workplace, we may be on a
downward shift.

There are also unethical business practices affecting the environment. Unethical behaviors by
companies such as releasing pollutants into the land, air and sea can greatly affect the society and
environment. An unethical business practice such as selling of tobbacco products affects the
users health and also the people around them. According to a study conducted by the US
Department of Health and Human Services (DOHHS), tobacco smoke contains many chemicals
that are harmful to both smokers and nonsmokers. Breathing even a little tobacco smoke can be
harmful and of the more than 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be
harmful, including hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and ammonia.

Another practice that affects the environment is the improper disposal of wastes into the
bodies of water. These byproducts contaminate the water leading to water pollution. According
to a study conducted by the University of Hawaii, the effects of water pollution are varied. They
include poisonous drinking water, poisonous food animals (due to these organisms having
bio-accumulated toxins from the environment over their life spans), unbalanced river and lake
ecosystems that can no longer support full biological diversity, deforestation from acid rain, and
many other effects. These effects are, of course, specific to the various contaminants.

III. Conclusion
IV. Recommendations