The Cultural Dimension
of Business Ethics
3.1 Ethics in moral choice : what is ethical? / what
is an ethical issue?
How can managers grapple with the problems establishing what
constitutes the ethical in different cultures ?
Before answering this question, a more preliminary question
is : what is ethical ? , an ethical
issue ? We previously saw, that ethics was a set of customary
principles and practices embodying some sort of a normative code
(of behaviour, values) to adhere to being ethical would mean
carrying out that code (putting it into practice).
An ethical issue/dilemma : when there’s a conflict between
two or more parties where one is benefiting at the expense of
another (put into other words : the means justify the ends).
Is that all it is? An ethical dilemma can also arise when there’s
a conflict between moral rules or when one is violated. For example,
Being torn between moral rules: your best friend has a mistress
and his wife raises the question of his fidelity to you. How
would you respond ? The moral rules of loyalty and keeping one’s
promise versus being honest are at stake. This example is particularly
rich as it can be considered as an ethical dilemma in one culture
but not necessarily in another. Having a mistress in one culture
may not be considered immoral (France or in polygamous societies)
whereas in others (U.S., England) it would. Is an ethical dilemma,
an urgent cry to humanity for justice , a revalidation of moral
beliefs ?
What constitutes the ethical in different cultures depends
on their perceptions of :
Human nature : good good/evil evil
Freedom very important important insignificant
Man’s relationship to nature : dominant harmony
subjugation
Activity doing controlling being
Applying Mcgregor’s theory x and y based on the level of
trust in employees two cultures perceive it differently. For
example, if the manager trusts employees then he/she will act
differently from the manager who doesn’t trust his/her employees;
one will create an open environment with less controls, whereas
his/her opposite would create an environment with lots of controls.
Each reinforces his/her original perception through his behaviour.
In a society that deems human nature good, trust would be easily
granted and inversely in a culture that thinks of human nature
as evil. Given an ethical dilemma in this context would just
pronounce these two initial positions.
Another example, is whistle blowing, a procedure to report
peers misconduct : For Americans, it is considered a natural
procedure usually set up with an anonymous hotline ( not risking
one’s job) ; For the French, they are against using this procedure
and see it as denouncing peers . As solidarity is important amongst
colleagues, this procedure would undermine it. Fear of misuse
or abuse of the whistle blowing policy also characterizes its
refusal. Perhaps there’s also an uneasiness with their collective
historical consciousness between the collaborators and the resistance,
in which denunciation took on a negative aspect during World
War II. The French are more human relations oriented and feel
the management can discover the misconduct on their own, whereas
Americans are more rule oriented and have a higher sense of responsibility
to the company.
We would have to perform a cultural audit in order to discern
what is ethical.
1.0 Cultural dimensions of Business Ethics
1.1 Cultural dimensions impact on management
1.2 Management & ethics
2.0 Culture & cultural dimensions
2.1 Culture as context of interpretation
2.2 Cultural dimensions
3.0 Ethics & ethical theories
3.1 Ethics in moral choice : what is ethical? / what
is an ethical issue?
3.2 Evaluating ethical situations
4.0 Cultural relativism / ethical universalism
About Gale Prawda
Footnotes
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