Are Business Ethics an Oxymoron?

By Sherril Steele-Carlin

With what's been happening in recent business news, it seems more and more companies are particularly concerned with impressing their stockholders with false earnings, rather than actually doing ethical business. Are today's business ethics (or lack of them) a sign of the times to come?

Audit That Business

"Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How to Do It Right," written by Linda K. Trevino and Katherine Nelson is an excellent resource for anyone searching for ethical information. The two authors urge employees and businesses to analyze a firm on its culture before they do business with the firm, calling this process an "ethical culture audit."

Questions to Ask

Conducting an ethical culture audit may take some time, but it could be one of the wisest things you've ever done in this volatile corporate climate. Some questions to ask before your interview include, according to Trevino and Nelson:

  • How do organizational leaders represent ethics and related functions?
  • Are workers at all levels encouraged to take responsibility for the consequences of their behavior or to question authority when they are asked to do something that they consider to be wrong? How?
  • Does a formal code of ethics and/or values exist? Is it distributed? How widely? Is it used? Is it reinforced in other formal systems such as reward and decision-making systems?
  • Are whistleblowers encouraged and are formal channels available for them to make their concerns known confidentially?
  • Is misconduct disciplined swiftly and justly in the organization?
  • Are people of integrity promoted? Are means as well as ends important?
  • Is integrity emphasized to recruits and new employees?
  • Are managers oriented to the values of the organization in orientation programs? Are they trained in ethical decision-making?
  • Are ethical considerations a routine part of planning and policy meetings, new venture reports? Is the language of ethics taught and used? Does a formal committee exist high in the organization for considering ethical issues?

Look Online for Answers

There are many places you can go to begin your company research, including the Internet and your local library. At the library, look for the company's fiscal reports for prior years and news items about the company. You can also look for some of these items online - many companies now post their annual reports online. Yet, can you believe them? Enron cooked their books to make it look as if they were more profitable, to the tune of billions of dollars since 1997. WorldCom did the same thing. But their financial statements looked good, so potential employees need to dig deeper to find out what's really going on behind the scenes in companies today.

Online, you can check a wide variety of ethics resources. The Society for Business Ethics studies business ethic issues around the globe. You can read back issues of their newsletters online. Business Ethics Magazine offers a list of the "100 Best Corporate Citizens," and offers free subscriptions to an ongoing newsletter on current ethics and practices. The Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia offers a long list of links regarding ethics in just about every facet of business and industry.

Loyola Marymount University's Center for Ethics and Business also offers an entire site geared to ethics, and how to spot ethical companies. Time Magazine also has an online list of other companies who have come under scrutiny since the Enron scandal unfolded.

Managers Can Audit, Too

If you're a manager in a firm, and you're concerned about the ethics of your company, you might want to read the online guide "The Complete Guide to Ethics Management." It can help you spot ethics violations in your own company, and also give you tips on how to manage ethics in your department. It also includes model codes of conduct, and ethics codes. Another guide at the same site includes an entire toolkit for the workplace, and links to other ethics sites and information.

Business ethics can no longer be taken for granted. However, with a little planning and perseverance on your part, you can find out about your employer's ethics before a catastrophe occurs. You can also be assured that your new employer is above board. Asking some simple questions and performing an ethical culture audit before you begin working can give you peace of mind for years to come.