BUS200: Business Ethics

All employees want and deserve a physically and emotionally safe workplace where they can focus on their job responsibilities and obtain some fulfillment, rather than worrying about dangerous conditions, harassment, or discrimination. Workers also expect fair pay and respect for their privacy. This section will explore employers' ethical and legal duties to provide a workplace where employees want to work.

The concept of a fair wage has a greater significance than simply one worker's pay or one company's policy. It is an economic concept critical to the nation as a whole in an economic system like capitalism, where individuals pay for most of what they need in life rather than receiving government benefits funded by taxes. The ethical issues for the business community and society at large are to identify democratic systems that can effectively eradicate the financial suffering of the poorest citizens and generate sufficient wages to support the economic sustainability of all workers in the United States.

The issue of worker representation in the United States is a century-old debate, with economic, ethical, and political aspects. Are unions good for workers, good for companies, good for the nation? There is no single correct response. Your answer depends upon your perspective – whether you are a worker, a manager, an executive, a shareholder, or an economist. How might an ethical leader address the issue of the gap between labor's productivity gains and their stagnant wages compared with that of management?

Employers are justifiably concerned about threats to and in the workplace, such as property theft, data security breaches, identity theft, viewing of pornography, inappropriate or offensive behavior, violence, drug use, and others. They seek to minimize these risks, and that often requires monitoring employees at work. Employers might also be concerned about the productivity loss resulting from employees using office technology for personal matters while on the job. At the same time, however, organizations must balance the valid business interests of the company with employees' reasonable expectations of privacy. New technology lets employers track all employees' Internet, e-mail, social media, and telephone use, compounding privacy concerns. What kind of monitoring do you believe should be allowed? What fundamental privacy rights should a person have at work? Does your view align more closely with the employer or the employee?

The relationship between employee and employer is changing, especially our understanding of commitment and loyalty. An ethical employee owes the company a good day's work and their best effort, whether the work is stimulating or dull. A duty of loyalty and our best effort are our primary obligations as employees, but what they mean can change. A manager who expects a twentieth-century concept of loyalty in the twenty-first century may be surprised when workers express a sense of entitlement, ask for a raise after six months, or leave for a new job after twelve months. This chapter will explore a wide range of issues surrounding how employees contribute to the overall success of a business enterprise.

A good employment relationship is beneficial to both management and employees. When a company's products or services are legitimate and safe, and its employment policies are fair and compassionate, managers should be able to rely on their employees' dedication to those products or services and their customers. Although an employer should not call on an employee to lie or cover up the firm's missteps, every employee should be willing to make a sincere commitment to an ethical employer.

All sorts of personalities populate our workplaces, but employees owe one another courtesy and respect regardless of their working style, preferences, or quirks. That does not mean always agreeing with them, because evaluating diverse perspectives on business problems and opportunities is often essential for finding solutions. At the same time, however, we are responsible for limiting our arguments to principles, not personalities. This is what we owe to one another as human beings, and to the firm, so worksite arguments do not inflict lasting harm on the people who work there or on the company itself.

Employees may face ethical dilemmas in finance, especially in situations such as bribery and insider trading in securities. Such dubious "profit opportunities" can offer the chance of realizing thousands or millions of dollars, creating severe temptation for an employee. However, insider trading and bribery are serious violations of the law, resulting in incarceration and significant fines.

This chapter has explained the many responsibilities employees owe their employers. But workers are not robots. They have minds of their own and the freedom to criticize their bosses and firms, even if managers and companies do not always welcome such criticism. What kind of criticism is fair and ethical, what is legal, and how should a whistleblowing employee be treated?