The Future Behavior of the Business and the Anti-Corruption Legislation - Essay Example

Topic Inserts His/her Inserts Grade Inserts 24.10. Outline I. Introduction II. My ‘Hippocratic oath’ III. Factors considered when creating the oath a) Guide to ethical behavior b) Pitfalls to ethical behavior c) Ethical behavior practice in my organization d) How my ‘Hippocratic oath’ reflects my personal and community values e) Application of ‘Hippocratic oath’ on future behavior in business Business Ethics: My Hippocratic Oath Introduction ‘Hippocratic oath for managers’ is an oath which was taken in the year 2008 on 3rd June, in the unofficial ceremony at Harvard University by MBA students prior to receiving their MBAs. Among the things in which they swore include; to serve, act in uttermost integrity and to have concern for the society by not acting on their own ambitions which would geopardise the enterprise’s activities and that of the society as a whole. The oath served was part of the larger campaign of turning management from being viewed as a trade into one of the best professionals (Max A. & Peter E, 2010. P. 196). This is why up to date, students have continued to take this oath and put it into practice in their work. As a future manager, I have also taken my oath and have begun to put it in practice. My ‘Hippocratic Oath’ I took an oath not to involve in any corrupt deals with my workers, customers and the society at large. Knowing that both the bribe givers and the receivers are criminals, anyone in my organization that will be caught in any corrupt deal will be prosecuted. This oath has helped me serve the society with integrity and without being biased. Anyone in my organization is treated the equally regardless of ethical, racial or language background. This has seen my organization win various awards in recognition of the efforts I have put to fight corruption which is a worldwide disaster that needs eradication. Factors Considered When Creating the Oath Guide to Ethical Behavior What motivated me to make the decision regarding my future is the Routledge book ‘‘Ethical Decision Making & Cases’’ which outlines the seven steps of decision making (John F. 2010, p.237). I have followed the steps keenly and discovered the underlying power of decision making and ethics in practice. The factors I considered are; statement of the problem; here I analyzed what normally made me uncomfortable or have a conflict of interest. It followed that this issue could be affecting people around me or the society at large thus it called for an urgent address. After knowing the facts, I realized that there are other relevant factors that I needed to analyze; this was a close examination of the laws, situations or even people involved like my co-workers, customers or the society at large. I realized I owed these people responsibility and that I ought to take all the blame for my actions which would negatively affect this group. The only way to address the factors so indentified, I had to come up with a list of available options. The options were to assist in eradicating future occurrences of a behavior that must have affected one person or more in the course of my work. I designed options that address dilemmas for example, I made set rules to be followed by employees incase of conflicts or misconduct in my organization. Testing options, before implementing the options, I made sure that I put the options into a thorough test. This included asking questions like; how would the options affect the public? Does the option add value? Given chance to defend my option can I do so effectively? And finally what does the law or ethics say concerning this idea? Would I withstand any public scrutiny regarding my oath? If the option passed these questions, then, the option is worth practicing. The final step was to make a choice after reviewing steps 1 to 6. I chose to put an ethical oath to be taken by all my employees as this could help to safeguard the name of the organization while at the same time ensure ethical relationship between the staffs themselves and between the staffs, customers and the general public. Pitfalls to ethical behavior Fighting corruption has never been easy (Linda, 2010, p.372); I can attest to this because, I have received a blow ever since I took the oath. This however, has not lowered my esteem and I work earnestly to make sure I completely eliminate corruption in my organization. The major pitfall in fighting corruption is the fact that criminal activities have penetrated major political sectors and intertwined with the laws such that a corrupt activity is nowadays viewed as something very normal. This has made it hard to track down the victims, who in most of the cases are protected by the laws which they themselves have made (Richard & Lilian, 2006, p.74). First of all, for this battle to be won there should be amendments in the current laws which have a loophole for corruption. I have also experienced a great blow in effecting my oath because, as a manager, I have a lot of activities and this leaves me with less time left to scrutinise various operations within the organisation in order to ensure that they are corruption free (Queensland, 2009, p.82). I have developed strategies to assist in fighting corruption which include; strict penalties, like job termination, for those found guilty of corrupt activities. This has instilled fear in many employees who would not risk having their work terminated as a result of corrupt activity which they would have avoided (Steven, 2010, p.28). I have also published many posters which are mounted in every office to act as a reminder and show the customer his rights in attaining our services, in addition there are suggestion boxes around the organisation where the customers express their level of satisfaction or complain about our services. This has greatly helped in knowing those employees who are corrupt or do shoddy jobs (Max & Peter, 2010, p.53). Ethical Behavior Practice in My Organisation Employees in my organization are required to wear staff identification tags for the customers to know who is serving them. This has helped in identifying the name of the employee in case the customer has any corruption complain. Every employee is supposed to take an anti-corruption oath before taking office during employment; they are also supposed to sign an anti-corruption declaration book baring him from taking any form of bribes or giving bribes in the course of his operation in my organisation (Rotunda, 2002, p.72). Finally everyone in my organisation has to be liable for any consequences of behavior committed as a result of negligence which turn outs to be injurious to the customer. Every employee should take responsibility and duty of care when serving the customers. This has helped in eliminating careless behaviors which are avoidable while at the same time improved performance (John, 2010, p.41). How my ‘hippocratic oath’ reflects my personal and community values I value integrity, equal treatment of people and transparency in operations; this is why I chose to take an anti-corruption oath which supports all these values. This ‘Hippocratic oath’ not only reflects my concerns but the need and wishes of the society as a whole (McDowell, 1991, p.23). Community does not value evil and corruption being evil, it then follows that anti-corruption is what every society will stand for. In have received a lot of support from the society that I serve and this shows that the society at large are behind my oath and everyone is determined to keep corruption out of our organizations (Madsen, & Jay,1990, p.14). Application of ‘Hippocratic oath’ on future behavior in business I have set a trend which will be followed by future managers and employees in my future. The future behavior for any employee will be shaped by the anti-corruption oaths in place and everyone will endeavor to follow them. Going by the statistics, the future business will be guided by ethical behaviors and corruption free slogan (Kaufman, 2002, p.45). The oath will also help future business to identify, resolve and deal with any liability issues before closing any deal. This will include thorough financial accounts review and key employees interviewing. It will also help in negotiating reduction in the price of purchased goods to assist in accounting for probable liability. This will ensure that the organisation minimises losses. Reporting of violations to the authorities will ensure that people remain focused on their duties and do them diligently. This has the potential of improving performance and behavior change in the future organisation. Contracts, payments, licenses and other business operations will be reviewed before closing the deal. This will ensure that future business operate with minimal losses arising from fake licenses, unlawful contracts and any other suspicious operations. Preventing risk is better than letting it occur. This oath would thus act as one of the preventive mechanism for the business. In conclusion, the future behavior of the business will be defined by tight security that ensures their foreign and domestic operations are in line with the anti-corruption legislation in place. This will ensure importance is attached to conduct and appropriate due diligence observed in transactions. Bibliography John F. 2010. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases. South western College Publishers, 8th edition. ISBN-13: 978-1439042236. Kaufman, A. L., 2002. Problems in Professional Responsibility for a Changing Profession. 4th ed. Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press. Linda, K., 2010. Managing Business Ethics. Wiley Publishers, 5th edition. ISBN-13: 978-0470343944. Madsen, P., & Jay M. S.,1990. Essentials of Business Ethics. New York: Penguin Books. Max, A. & Peter E, 2010. The MBA Oath: Setting a Higher Standard for Business Leaders. Portfolio Hardcover publishers. ISBN-13: 978-1591843351. McDowell, B., 1991. Ethical Conduct and the Professionals Dilemma: Choosing between Service and Success. New York: Quorum Books. Queensland, 2009. The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training). [online]. Available at: [accessed 23 October 2011]. Richard, A. D., & Lilian, D.D., 2006. After the Hippocratic Oath. Bloomington: Xlibris. Roger, L., 2010. Business Law: Text and Cases - Legal, Ethical, Global, and Corporate Environment. South-Western College Publishers 12th edition. ISBN-13: 978-0538470827. Rotunda, R. D., 2002. Professional Responsibility. 6th ed. St. Paul, Minn.: West. Steven, H., M, 2010. The Hippocratic Oath and medicine Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More