Ethics in business-does this phrase represent an impossible ideal or an oxymoron? Having endured the financial collapse of 2008 and multibillion dollar Ponzi schemes, one wonders if such a thing exists in business as thinking with regard for consequences further down the line than tomorrow.
The worst of the recession is said to have passed, but scandals crop up day by day in the illustrious world of business. There have been a few new occurrences in what is less like solitary occurrences than a trend.
Last week, the processor chip maker Intel was charged for bribery and use of coercive tactics to strong-arm the market for computer chips in their favor. In May, the same company was fined $1.5 billion in Europe. JP Morgan recently paid out $75 million to settle bribery charges in Alabama. In September, Pfizer, a drug manufacturer, was fined $2.3 billion in a settlement for mislabeling drugs in an attempt to use them for purposes not yet approved by health officials.
Most famously, those banks using the taxpayer as a lifeline have mysteriously reported record profits-and record bonuses. At this point, you're probably wondering how corporations could possibly take such risks and pay out so much in bonuses.
It should be noted that relative to the average consumer, the penalties levied represent several lifetimes of pay at an hourly wage; relative to the offending corporation, these penalties may mean little relative to their overall assets. And judging by the penalties, these offenses were brazen, willful and intentional. In other words, these corporations were simply following the creed of capitalism, which apparently reads: "Make profit at any cost."
The bonuses in question exist mostly to 'help retain talent'-the same talent that sank the planet's economy. Besides, there is no use in caring about people quitting over lack of bonuses; most people who lose their jobs tend to have a hard time finding another and there are certainly dozens of people willing and able to take their places.
At this point, fraud is clearly more profitable and more desirable than playing by the rules and failure is rewarded with extra bonuses. It's no longer considered sane to do so much as to simply play by the rules. It's a world worthy of Joe Keller; if it is not profitable, is slow and is ineffective-it thrives. Markets determine things, lots of things and morality doesn't seem to rank among the dependent variables anymore.
Ethics in business has become what honesty is to lawyers-a joke. Bruce R. Scott, Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School, even made the point on the radio program Here and Now that business ethics aren't even taught to future businessmen and businesswomen. Apparently, the whole concept of capitalism is entirely self-righteous and immune to the effects of human nature, morally superior to other professional fields which 'do' require ethics training.
Perhaps this is simply a plea to cut the crap and program the next generations of businesspeople to exhibit some concern for the world at large. At this point, it is quite obvious that despite their imaginations, they are in fact working with ultimately working with the lifeblood, incomes, retirements and savings of people and not simply numbers on a page.
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