The USA Compared to China and Russia - Article Example

Assignment Assignment Business ethics refers to a moral of conduct that is followed in a professional environment “According to The National Business Ethics Survey by the Ethics Resource Center, released in January 2012, there is both good and bad news about the ethical landscape in American business organizations.” (Josephson, M) The good news presently in America, according to the research conducted, is that the level of misconduct has become extremely low as compared to the past in the workplace, however, ethics have been seen to be slipping and are eroding the conceptions that employees have towards their employers as well as the other way around. Ethics are mostly eroded when employees fail to find an attachment towards the firm with themselves and thus aim to place their personal interests above the interests of the organization. Ethics thus refers to the choices that people make which may be classified as right or wrong and are created as a reflection of guidelines to follow, although are not enforced on people. Most businesses are concerned with maintaining a level of ethics within due to the reason that their image in society will get tarnished otherwise. This will further cost them a great deal of customers as well as future employees and thus lead to a large scale loss. The ethics concerned are avoiding breaking any criminal laws, avoiding all kinds of actions that could potentially result in a lawsuit and making sure to avoid all kinds of actions that would tarnish the repute or the goodwill of the company in the eyes of other people. In countries like America, China and Russia, it is becoming increasingly important to make ethical decisions to run the business on; this is because the companies situated in these three countries are some of the superpowers in the world today and aim to achieve greater heights day by day. However, the question is, whether or not they are willing to forego their ethics to satisfy their hunger for financial resources. Fast food chains are rampant in America; almost every other week there is a new entrepreneur coming up with a new restaurant or a café with new recipes. There are people that set up food kiosks on the streets and even open up catering businesses for parties and large gatherings. However, there are times when the food might be stale, or might lead to food poisoning etc as have been many cases. In the light of the same, it becomes difficult to ascertain whether the objective of the business is quality or quantity. There are many individuals that begin their own businesses while working for someone else and might steal their ideas in doing so; even though most firms are legally protected, however the question of business ethics again kicks in. (Josephson, M) There have been a number of raging reports about the environment being harmed; technology is great in America in terms of the corporate structure – if people are not busy making newer forms of technology in various fields, they are busy utilizing it and in the process, this leads to harming the environment and thus the notion of being ethical and doing what is right, especially towards an aspect of life that cannot speak for itself comes in. Moreover, testing cosmetics and other products on animals is yet another marring issue on corporate America and the lengths to which it will go to in order to earn a few bucks. China on the other is very different from America because in America, at least the employees are treated well. Since China has the largest population in the world, it becomes very difficult to utilize the same prima facie, however behind the curtains, a large amount of human and manual labor is being used in a terrible manner in order to get work done. China has some of the largest numbers of sweatshops and small scale industries where people are forced to work at extremely low wages for more than 18 hours a day and are given very little or negligent food and water and even sanitation facilities. (Flannery, R) Big giants like Nike have been known to be in the news for lawsuits slapped against them for treating their workers in the most heinous of conditions; these companies also involve young children to work without giving them any remuneration or taking care of their education. In an article about the culture clashes that business ethics causes in China, it was stated, “What this implies, of course, is that ethics in China can cost money. The smart way to approach this problem is to budget internally for these shortfalls, and count them on the ledger as a long-term investment in corporate reputation. Of course, if doing business ethically is going to push a company into permanent losses, at some point it might make sense to cut those losses and run.” (Wolf, D.) China and America are two countries that are very closely related when it comes to a professional environment and world over almost every individual knows that. Products are invented in America and then innovated in China or vice versa. Since the labor is extremely cheap and the raw materials are easily available, almost everything is mass produced in China and then sold under an American brand name, for example even Apple products. However, ethics are handled very irresponsibly in China and America has shown a certain amount of concern over the same, for example looking at the United Nations Global Compact that takes care of at least 10 issues on corruption and the environment where almost 200 Chinese companies have signed up to manage their business ethics. As compared to America, the country has been faltering however, there are companies that have been taking steps to ensure employee working conditions among other things. Professor Hengda Yang from the Center of International Business Ethics in China has said a few words on the matter in an important interview. “What we are doing now is to try to make Chinese businessmen and the younger generation recognizes there is something similar among all of mankind, to have good wishes for other people, and to try to get people to think about the relationship between themselves and others.   In business ethics, we want to let people know that business is not a life or death battle, but something like a win-win result that lets all people benefit from commerce.” (Flannery, R) By taking a look at the operation of business ethics in different countries, one can learn a great deal; Russia is another country that continues to struggle today even though two decades ago it was at the heart of the Soviet empire. The GDP of the country is 1/3 that of America today but as compared to the ethics, things seem to be improving. There are a number of local companies in the country which have taken to legal methods of registering and licensing and thus are imitating the manner of ethics followed in the West. “In the last three years, state companies, including Sberbank and Rosneft, have established codes for their workers as part of President Dmitry Medvedev’s initiative to increase transparency. Gazprom has begun putting together its ethics guidelines, which could take more than a year to deploy. Private companies have followed suit.” (Macdonald, C) There are also the small things to look at; for example the cultures in the two countries make a world of a difference when it comes to understanding ethics – an offer made in America might seem to be a present whereas in Russia is considered to be a manner to strengthen a bond with someone and create a relationship with them for the future. Russians are considered to be more patient in their working and are able to adapt to the legal environment better as compared to America. By looking at the number of lawsuits filed in both countries against the corporate structure, it may further be understood how the consumers as well as the employees of the companies in both countries are being treated. (Beekun, R) America holds very strong bonds with many parts of the world, especially with China and Russia. At the end of the day, it boils down to the strategies and methods adopted by the organization in order to achieve and fulfill its goals and aspirations while keeping in account those that work for it and those that may or may not benefit from it. It is important to not underestimate the cultural differences that might crop up in the three countries however that do not mean that a country can make another do its work without following certain guidelines. This is because of the sole reason that since these ethics do not fall under the purview of a particular law, they must be universally followed world over in order to maintain a standard of quality along with the products delivered; the money will follow suit anyway. References Beekun, R. (2003). Comparing business ethics in Russia and the US. Int. J. of Human Resource Management, 14(8), 1333-1349. Retrieved from http://www.business.unr.edu/faculty/beekun/Beekun,%20Stedham,%20Yamamura%20&%20Bargouthi.pdf. Flannery, R. (2010, August 17). On The Front Line In China: Challenging Business Ethics - Forbes. Information for the Worlds Business Leaders - Forbes.com. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/russellflannery/2010/08/17/on-the-front-line-in-china-challenging-business-ethics/ Josephson, M. (2011, February 13). The State of Business Ethics in America: Good News and Bad News. Josephson Institute of Ethics: Training, Consulting, Keynote Speeches, Materials for Ethical Workplaces. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http://josephsoninstitute.org/business/blog/2012/02/the-state-of-business-ethics-in-america-good-news-and-bad-news/ Lloyd, M. (2008, October 8). Business Ethics in America. Yahoo! Voices - voices.yahoo.com. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http://voices.yahoo.com/business-ethics-america-6902380.html Macdonald, C. (2011, February 24). Russian Business Ethics « The Business Ethics Blog. The Business Ethics Blog. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http://businessethicsblog.com/2011/02/24/russian-business-ethics/ Wolf, D. (2011, January 2). Business Ethics and Culture Clashes in China – Silicon Hutong.Silicon Hutong. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http://siliconhutong.com/2011/07/02/business-ethics-and-culture-clashes-in-china/ Read More