Ethics

Many people do not realize how important the subject of ethics is in business.

I had to take a university course in ethics a couple of years ago, and unfortunately the course did not cover much about ethics at all. It was more concerned with social justice--another subject entirely, but one beloved by many university faculty members. Maybe actual basic ethics is too simple for the university level.

Ethics has to do with simple things like telling the truth. In business it means not lying about one’s product or service, not trying to put one over on customers or investors and giving honest value for money received. These things are the backbone of success in business and of the health of the whole economy.

We see the consequences of rampant dishonesty in a case like Enron. A lot of people get hurt, and then Congress thinks it has to pass a raft of new laws to prevent it from ever happening again. The new laws fail to prevent it from happening again, but they take up a lot of time that could be better spent on more productive things.

It should also be pointed out to all observers that if someone commits a crime it does not mean that everyone else in his neighborhood or racial group is also committing the same crimes. Similarly, if a corporation breaks the law, it doesn’t mean that all corporations are doing the same thing. There are actually quite a few American corporations that are founded on ethical principals and who behave ethically. Some of them have been around for a century or more, quietly doing good work, producing good products. The ones that don’t behave ethically make the news, and luckily they don’t have much longevity, either. People catch on that their products are inferior or the deals their customers or investors get are unfair. Or they get into legal troubles.

People who think there are no consequences for dishonesty as long as they are not found out are kidding themselves. Such people often end up in jail or on the scrap heap of failure. And on the personal side, such thinking leads to broken marriages and family discord.

Where a sense of ethics comes from is beyond the scope of these comments. Religious education? An innate sense of right and wrong? Parents and teachers can try to pass on rules and lessons in behavior. Some take it to heart; others don’t. A successful society is built by and of those who do.