Business Ethics: Making a Life, Not Just a Living - Research Paper Example

What does it mean “to work”? In a 24/7 world, where does the notion of business ethics fit in? To work in 24/7 world literally means that employees have to adapt their working schedule to 24/7. Many organizations work 24 hours a day and 7 days a week continuously without any gap. Employees are expected to change their routines as per the work schedule allocated, which can be any time during the 24 hours and any 5, or even 6, days a week; sometimes employees are expected to work extra hours/days. Although working hours usually range between 7 to 9 hours a day, and 5 days a week for employees, these may extend depending upon the work volume and urgency. Organizations that work 24/7 usually fall under manufacturing, service, healthcare, travel and defence sectors and can be large or smaller setups. Workforce is usually scheduled 24/7 in order to conduct work/operations without interruption; each employee is allotted specific working hours and specific weekly offs, which may be permanent or changed periodically. These types of business decisions usually attract resentment in the long run. It is difficult to find a morally defensible rationale before a business decision is made. Based on the impact of the decision, people will start evaluating its moral rationale. Relating such decision-making to Fritzsche’s (2004) analysis, it can be said that 24/7 working schedule is usually a decision based on egoism that is directed towards the businesses’ or business owners’ interests. These interests may include operating costs reduction, greater productivity, improved customer service, and making higher profits in lesser time. A 24/7 work schedule is more of short run interest as it does not consider the indirect consequences. Whereas, long-run self interest is regarded as enlightened self interest when the decisions related to these consider both direct and indirect consequences. However, decisions related to 24/7 work schedule are usually taken for long-term without much consideration for its indirect consequences. Indirect consequences to 24/7 work schedules include deterioration of employees’ health; weakening of employees’ relations with family, society, and community; frustration and lowered commitment towards work. Ahner (2007) asserts that business ethics involve aspects more than goodwill and commonsense, which creates further contradictory situations; in other words, creates confusion in understanding what ethics stand for. From utilitarian perspective, it can be said that the employers conducting 24/7 work schedules try to provide as many benefits as possible for their employees in order to serve customers 24/7 or generate higher productivity at lower costs, and thereby try to increase the benefits for all stakeholders including the business owners themselves. Moreover, this decision follows the act utilitarianism and defies rule utilitarianism because steps to provide greater benefits to all stakeholders are taken to justify their decision to work 24/7 and also the long-term impact of 24/7 working would be negative. For instance, organizations encourage work-life balance by providing ample leaves, holidays and other benefits to their employees along with additional incentives for working in the nights; however, this provision contradicts with their 24/7 concept, which affects individuals’ health and also personal life to a large extent. Piazza (2008) argues that the moral responsibility of employers to keep their employees informed about working conditions, schedules, expectations etc render their adherence to business ethics; however, the 24/7 working schedule itself does not fit with morality or ethics from an individual’s perspective. Moreover, employees working in such schedules tend to get frustrated and leave their jobs, which will cause huge loss for the business. While business ethics are meant to encourage employees and earn their commitment, 24/7 work schedules that are business and profit oriented result in loss to the business and the employees. Applying Fritzsche’s (2004) viewpoint about social contract, 24/7 working schedule can be masked as a form of social contract, which the business owners make keeping in mind shared goals, beliefs, and attitudes of groups; however, in reality, employees are rarely consulted before embarking upon the decision to conduct their business in a 24/7 manner. Moreover, organizational goals are thrust upon employees in the form of smaller goals that are shared by teams and departments. Employee goals and aims are rarely aligned to organizational goals. Organizational decision-making is dependent upon many factors such as its nature and culture as well as nature of its core-committee members that are involved in decision making etc. The decision makers’ values play the most important role in any business decision. These values, including terminal and instrumental values, drive their decisions. If the business owner values growth and profits, then 24/7 working schedules become act utilitarian decisions that are encouraged with short-term benefits but could be harmful for the organization and employees in the long run. Fritzsche (2004) explains that many dimensions exist to business decision making such as, economic, political, social, and ethical. From social dimension perspective, 24/7 work schedules do not seem to do much good for the society although this pattern of working is greatly beneficial for the organization and that too for short period. As these work schedules are less favorable to the employees and the society, the policies related to these types of work schedules also tend to be less favorable. For instance, after some time employees’ commitment and motivation reduce, which leads to turnover and lower productivity. For business recovery, employers will have to spend more time and money in recruiting new staff and make profits; thus rendering the policies less favorable eventually. To conclude, this argument against the 234/7 working schedule is not completely supportive from an ethical point of view. Ethics in business are meant to strengthen the business and relationships. Ethics involved in decisions related to 24/7 work schedules are debatable. These work schedules bring greater benefits to the business owners and cause harm to the employees in the long run. Moreover, the business also suffers when employees’ commitment and motivation reduce. The decision to work 24/7 is an act utilitarian, and the actions/decisions related to this work schedule such as incentives and benefits for employees are beneficial only for some time; hence this work schedule can be considered as a temporary solution for business. References Ahner, G. (2007). Business Ethics: Making a Life, Not Just a Living. NY: Orbis Books Fritzsche, D. (2004) Business Ethics: A Global and Management Perspective. New York: McGrawHill. Piazza, C.F. (2008). Virtues of a Cyborg Workplace: The Ethical Challenges of Managing a Dispersed Workforce. MI: ProQuest LLC. Read More