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The Ethical Dilemmas faced by Business Corporations

Introduction

Ethics has become one of the most challenging issues for organization's today. There is no single way of practicing ethical ways in business as it poses great difficulties. Organizational ethics is formed by the individuals that are involved in decision making. Therefore, it is important to consider one's own ethics and those which are concerned with family, friends and colleagues. It is imperative to ask ourselves the consequences of my actions and if there is a possibility of damage. At a personal level, we must know what is right and wrong, acceptable and unacceptable, appropriate and in appropriate decisions in relation with others. Since, organizations are made by individuals; the ethical decisions made by the individuals will be the same ones for the organization (Deetz 1992). Organizations have a major influence on our lives since they provide us with many commodities we use with trust relationship. It is the right of every individual to know whether the product I am using is safe or has any side effects. Similarly, is the organization compensating and taking care of the needs of its employees? How is organization affecting our values, family and society? Every organization must answer and make decisions keeping in view the various stake holders involved (Al Gini 2005).

Discussion

Every organization has a different approach of working. Some may only work to maximize profit; others may be more interested in social welfare (Bonbright, 1997) like rural development and educating people. Organizations are a part of our lives as we are influenced everyday with the decisions they make. They don't operate in a vacuum and thus whether they are doing the right thing or not we are affected by them directly or indirectly.

Current Organizational Ethics

Many famous organizations have been part of an ethical situation in recent time. The scandals revolve around accounting mishandling; justice obstruction, cheating investors, financial frauds and availability of harmful drugs are the entire diverse paradigm in which businesses become aprt of time and again. Former CEO and chairman of Enron, Ken Lay were sued for fraud and conspiracy in January 2006. Many of the pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline and Merck had to pull out the medicines that were declared unsafe for public use. These are some of the examples at the corporate level. However, organizations like the government, non-profit organization and the churches are also part of frauds and scrutiny time and again. The US military guards were blamed for physical and mental torture to prisoners in Iraq. Similarly, individuals in a Catholic Church knew about the child molestation of their priests but they hid the facts and covered them up. These are some of the heinous unethical practices that many places are part of. Therefore, it is important for us to understand that as part of the same society we need to emphasis and lay foundations for making right ethical decisions. We as individuals can reflect upon how organizations operate their consumers and market mechanisms, ...