Jaewoo Koo

Professor Mark Hannan, Courtney Bohr

BADM 2003W-11

November 5, 2012

Ethical Framework

Introduction

Standards of behavior and codes of conduct are created in organizations in order to establish and sustain ethical culture which each individuals value the most. Those who maintain individuals' core values, such as honesty and trustworthiness, incorporate ethical culture, make the organization more reliable and profitable. Making the right decisions as per the organizational and individual code of ethics is pivotal, and causes not only the top manager to benefit, but also to make the business operations more sustainable. A well-known consultant, a writer, as well as a teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technology, Clay Shirky, defines this content as the 'civic value', which is “a value created by the participants but enjoyed by the society as a whole.” The objective is not just to make life better for the participants but better for everyone in the society. Moreover, Shirky states that the civic value opens up the human motivation, and designs the culture of generosity where individuals not only consume, but also create and share (TED). This concept regulates organizations to transform their management into ethical and responsible structures; they value integrity, decisiveness, and innovation. In order to adapt to the changes, organizations are incorporating ethical frameworks such as corporate social responsibilities and transversal learning into their management roles.

Discussion

Today, organizations are facing complex management responsibilities because they develop the way of visioning problems from different perspectives by creating values between two societies. Corporations are implementing transversal learning to identify problems that influence the ethical behavior of individuals. Individuals apply innovation and honestly to obtain better performance as well as corporate responsibility so that the results reflect to their ethical behavior. Furthermore, corporate social responsibilities direct the commitment of an organization to fulfill its obligations to the society through policies, which leads the well being of the corporation. Organizations must self-regulate their ethical judgments with careful decisiveness or else they will end up with a global business problem. For example, Hyundai Corporation, one of the top leading companies in South Korea, had ethical challenges in the earlier years, such as financial fraudulent and bribing government officials and other influences to the corporation's benefits. Although publicly renowned for motors and heavy industries, the Chairman of Hyundai Motors was charged with fraudulent accounting in order to greatly benefit his own interest, not for the company. Moreover, one of the chairmen of Hyundai Corporation was alleged for bribing government officials in order gain favorable contracts and maintain the 'close relationship'. In this case, the top management of Hyundai Corporation - the CEO and the Chairman of the Board -irresponsible for the illegal actions and, as Corporate Social Responsibilities, the corporation as a whole obligates to fulfill social, political, and economic expectations judged from the entire society including consumers and stakeholders.

Apparently, one of the CEO Chung Mong-Hun committed suicide from the Hyundai Asian Corporate Headquarters after being charged for making illegal payments to the North Korean government. The payment was made so ...