Reaction Paper: Ethics vs. Profit
A large American company participates in a highly competitive industry. To meet the competition
and achieve profit goals, the company has chosen the decentralized form of organization. Each manager
of a decentralized center is measured on the basis of profit contribution, market penetration, and return
on investment. Failure to meet the objectives established by corporate management for these measures
is not accepted and usually results in demotion or dismissal of a center manager.
An anonymous survey of managers in the company revealed that they felt pressured to
compromise their personal ethical standards to achieve the corporate objectives. The chief executive
officer is disturbed by the survey finding. In his opinion, the company cannot condone such behavior. He
concludes that the company should do something about this problem.
I think businesses with written codes of ethics and ethics programs for their employees have
fewer ethical problems because they have guidelines to follow so they can easily see what's right and
what's wrong. Since their employees go to ethics programs, they are taught what they should be doing.
In concluding, yet no matter what, it is up to each of us to understand what ethical behavior is,
think about it each and every time we make a decision, and to alert our leaders when we see it happening.
We cannot afford as a society to let unethical behavior become normalized.
