what would you do if you're in a store
paying for an item and the cashier gives
you back more money than you are
supposed to receive
would you walk away happy that you got a
better deal than you're supposed to or
would you correct the cashier and give
the money back
Ethical Dilemmas
hey guys travis stewart here and welcome
back to the business mindset
we are faced with ethical dilemmas
almost on a daily basis
and unfortunately some people don't
always follow the moral code of doing
what is right
they don't consider the cause and effect
of their actions putting their own
benefits before anyone else
going back to the example of the cashier
if you walked away with the extra cash
thinking well they should do their job
better or
it's fine the company factors in for
human errors what if that wasn't the
case
what if the cashier had to personally
pay back any differences when cashing
out at the end of the day
or worse what if they lost their job as
a result let's do another classic
example of an ethical dilemma
let's say that you controlled a switch
on a set of train tracks the train is
currently going to hit and kill
five people on that track if you switch
it it'll only kill one person
but here's the dilemma you are now
responsible for the death of that person
what do you choose not an easy choice is
it likely most of you would save the
five over the one but let me add another
factor to the trained dilemma
what if that one person on the other
track was someone that you knew if that
person was your mother your spouse or
your child
is your answer still the same each year
one in seven large corporations commit
some sort of fraud where they put their
personal gains before those who would be
impacted by the unethical action taken
we've seen this in the banking industry
with wells fargo where employees created
millions of savings accounts for people
without their permission
car companies like volkswagen lying
about their car's emission results
oil and gas companies such as enron that
had billions of dollars in debt from
their financial statements
as well as facebook who provided users
personal data to cambridge analytics
without their users consent so why is it
there are some companies putting the
cart before the horse when it comes to
ethical behavior
is it ego they don't want to show
weakness was it the pressure from
shareholders to meet or exceed quarterly
or annual results
despite the ever-growing regulations to
stop unethical decisions from being made
these type of unethical business
decisions are still happening today
of course the examples i gave are from a
general outside perspective of large
companies
but consider the impact of a lack of
ethics within all levels of an
organization
Employee Performance
not only at the executive level a lack
of ethics has a negative effect on
employee performance
there are cases when employees are so
concerned about getting ahead and making
money
they ignore protocols of their work
which can lead to errors that impact
various departments in the organization
because
the work has to be done again the right
way there are also times when employees
have the mindset that acting ethically
and following the rules will not get
them ahead
so they're demotivated which also leads
to a decrease in performance
Employee Tension
a lack of ethical behavior can also
cause tension among employees
if some employees are breaking the rules
to get ahead it creates a culture where
you can't trust
anyone out of the fear that they take
advantage of you to satisfy their own
desires
this is incredibly damaging to a
business since most businesses rely on
teams or departments
collaborating to make the company
successful worse yet
Lack of Ethics
if a manager shows a lack of ethical
behavior he'll likely lose the respect
from his staff
as i'm sure you know it's difficult to
run a successful business without
leaders who are well respected within
the organization
it's far too common when managers and
supervisors use their position and power
to mistreat and disrespect others
there's little protection against
abusive behavior in the workplace
unless the situation you're in involves
race gender or ethnic origin and even
this will vary depending on the country
you're working in
the quickest way to lose trust with your
Lies
employees is to lie to them but
employers do this all the time one out
of every five employees reported that
their manager or supervisor has lied to
them within the past year
i don't know the severity of the lies
from the statistics some consider white
lies as being acceptable in cases where
you're protecting someone's feelings
but in the end lies always reveal
themselves and at some point the
employee will still lose trust with you
for not being honest and straightforward
with them and if a lack of business
ethics becomes known by the public
the business will lose credibility and
trust which is very difficult to
overcome because
the brand will be associated with that
negative action for years into the
future
especially today when there's an
increased focus on corporate social
responsibility
and their impact on labor practices the
environment discrimination etc
some businesses are able to overcome a
negative public image however
it comes at a price the time and the
money spent on advertising campaigns to
rebuild the image in a positive way
most companies still lose a large amount
of their customers and in many cases
never win back the customers that they
lost
for example nike was faced with a
negative public backlash about child
labor in developing countries
starbucks was hit with a negative
headline for violating fair trade
agreements on coffee beans
this kind of media can have detrimental
consequences for a brand because
even if they rectify the problem the
brand has still been associated with
that unethical action which
remains in the minds of consumers
despite the several cases of unethical
business practices there's still hope
at the beginning of the video i
mentioned that there's one in seven
companies that commit some sort of
unethical business action
what about the other six companies what
keeps them on the path of ethical
business practices
according to economist alexander wagner
Protected Values
the driving force of ethical behavior of
individuals is what he calls protected
values
where these values are so deeply rooted
in the individual they can resist the
temptation to giving in to unethical
behavior
and do what's morally right the reason
for this is because
acting according to your protected
values holds more meaning intrinsically
if you find ways to earn money that's
consistent with your protected values
Experiment
rather than
finding shortcuts or taking some sort of
unethical actions to make a quick gain
mr wagner conducted an experiment where
individuals would flip a coin
four times in a private room
participants were instructed that they
would receive five dollars for every
coin flip that landed on tails
because the experiment was anonymous the
participants could provide any answers
they wanted
although the probability of flipping
tails four times in a row is very low
forty percent of participants reported
flipping tails four times which
is still higher than the probability
however what was interesting was the
other sixty percent of participants who
didn't report flipping tales four times
they could have
no one was watching them and there was
no penalty or disciplinary action for
falsely reporting
these individuals hold much stronger
regards for their ethical values than
the other 40
which is mr wagner's conclusion although
that one in seven companies commits some
sort of fraud there are six
companies that follow ethical business
practices because they're protected
values which is
a part of their organization's culture
Conclusion
when management is leading an
organization ethically
employees will follow accordingly
because they're holding those protected
values
employees make better decisions in less
time with business ethics as their
guiding principles
this results in an increase in
productivity and a much higher employee
morale and pride in the company they
work for when employees can work in a
way that is based on honesty and
integrity the whole company benefits
employees who work for a corporation
that demands high standards of business
ethics in all areas of operation
they're more likely to perform tasks at
a higher level and are more likely to
have loyalty to an organization
business ethics doesn't only improve
employee morale loyalty and culture
it directly impacts the company's
short-term and long-term profitability
a company's reputation in the public
also plays a major role when looking for
investors
if a company is perceived as operating
unethically investors are less likely to
purchase stocks because
the reputation will then be associated
with them as well i hope this video gave
you a lot to think about when it comes
to ethical
decisions in your organization and the
effects it has on your employees
customers and your reputation
if you like this video let me know by
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if you haven't already
let me know your thoughts on business
ethics if you have examples positive or
negative
on ethics in your workplace let me know
in the comments section below
that's all for today see you in the next