Lockheed Corporation: Judgment of Unethical Conduct - Essay Example

The judgment of unethical conduct varies from one company to another. Unethical conduct is evaluated on the right, wrongs, and expected behavior of a company in the light of the country it operates in. For instance, buyer-seller interactions may call for bribery activities. This is to say that buyers can require to be paid to make purchases. If this is done, then high-quality and best-value products are likely to be driven out of the market. On the same note, if consumers evaluated a product for quality and preference and then they get bribed to purchase, then they may get less than their money is worth. Producers will initiate bribes under profit motives; meaning that the producers will profit in the process. In that case, the coffers in the country in question benefit, rather than the individual participants. Therefore, bribes are characterized by unfairness and deception and they are in most cases covered up. In this regard, bribes become unethical.

In the case of Lockheed, payments were made public and the company further suffered a tarnished reputation because it was charged with record falsification and tax violations (Boyne 48).In the context under which Lockheed payments were made, it was supposedly argued that the business was conducted within accepted specifics in Japan.  The consequent events did not depict any aspect of accepted practice. Criminal charges were filed against responsible individuals, and one of them took his life. Government operations came to a halt and scandals characterized the Japanese economy.

An accepted business practice would have hardly led to the observed scenario in Japan. The acceptance factor in Lockheed's dealings is lacking and inadequate. It seems to be more of a secret way of doing business that is highly practiced as long as they remain a secret to the stakeholders. The Lockheed practice in the view of the entire public appears unacceptable and the ethics therein are not justifiable. Judgment of unethical conduct cannot be based on the opinions and perspectives of just a few individuals. 

Judgment of unethical conduct, therefore, changes in the context that payoffs are an accepted way of doing business. It becomes fundamental that publicity be integral to judging ethical and unethical conduct. Rules that pertain to ethical and unethical matters can, therefore, be effectively enforced in light of the views and opinions of the public. For the U.S. for example, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was passed (Boyne 59).