I have to disagree with my colleague blogger, Kip Goldhammer.
He wrote today that business ethics are a matter of balance.
I agree with him that “One of the serious problems that businesses face these days is [tag]business ethics[/tag] problems.” But that’s about as far as we see eye-to-eye.
Mr. Goldhammer explains that “these problems are conflicts between the interest of a business and that of the employees/customer or the society in general.” I don’t disagree with his statement about ethics problems, nor his conclusion that dealing with conflicting interests positively will benefit the business in the long-term.
I’m concerned by the explanations of the customer wanting the best possible product for the least possible price and the company wanting to create the product for the least cost and sell it for the highest price. To me, this sounds less like conflict of business ethics and more like lousy marketing.
More so, I’m not following the logic of an employee wishing to be paid the highest wages and work the least number of hours, and the company wanting to minimize cost and have employees work more productively and how these become an issue of business ethics.
You see to me, ethics is about a choice of right and wrong (and yes, I know people think it’s usually gray). I must be missing something thinking that employees should want to be paid well, and companies should want to minimize expenses (and thus Mr. Goldhammer’s point of balance).
But what’s missing is that productive, [tag]engaged employees[/tag] want to come to work, don’t leave when the clock hits says it’s quitting time, and willingly give extra efforts to make the business work. And to me, this becomes a point of focus:
- Do business leaders choose to do what makes employees want to come to work and then demonstrate fair value in return?
- Do business leaders choose to provide an excellent product or service for customers that creates value, and customers want to buy their products or services?
- Do business leaders choose to contribute to society in a supportive manner, which creates societal goodwill?
The day my business ethics become a matter of “balancing your needs against mine” will be the day my business ethics become subjective — because my needs will always be greater (to me) than yours. As long as I “choose to” make decisions and actions that are ethical they will stay objective:
- Business leaders will choose to invest in infrastructure, technology, and causes that support societal needs;
- Business leaders will choose to provide products and services that create value for consumers, who are then willing to pay for them because of the value;
- Business leaders will choose to create workplace environments that people admire, are proud of, desire to work in, and give more than what is expected of them – because they want to.
Am I dreaming?
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