Corruption as a Universal and Inoffensive Phenomena - Literature review Example

Corruption Is Universal. It Is Inoffensive and Necessary To Lubricate the Moves of Business” — Discuss Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Corruption as an Universal and Inoffensive Phenomena 4 Is Corruption Necessary to Lubricate the Moves of Business? 6 Critical Discussion 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction Since the traditional years, corruption was perceived to be limited within the political realm and as an exception in the business environment. However, nowadays, it has become one of the most frequently observed trends in any organisation. Certainly, views in favour or against corruption within business organisations differ from one setting to another as it differs from one culture to another. For instance, majority organizations are observed to encourage the corruption system for the smoothening of their tasks between the various departments in a more centralised and controlled manner. Evidences have also proved that few of the corrupt activities within the organization tend to be a lubricant for the smooth running of the business, such as denial of responsibilities and appeal to higher loyalties. These criteria or situations often prove that the activity is inoffensive as it fulfils the interest of the business owners to the maximum extent (Anand & et. al., 2005). However, a generalised perspective to corruption implies it as offensive and unethical as it imposes too many risks to the interests and betterment of the stakeholders (Hills & et. al., 2009). Based on this particular debate topic, this essay will discuss the statement that “corruption is universal. It is inoffensive and necessary to lubricate the moves of business”. The aim of this essay will thus be to conclude whether corruption is inoffensive within an organization and assists the decision-makers to lubricate better managerial strategies from a critical point of view. Corruption as an Universal and Inoffensive Phenomena According to Linder & Linder (2008), corruption is not the consequence of lack of honesty in the workplace by the employees. It can rather be termed as an instrument for surviving in the fiercely competitive market depending on the number of variables such as market scenario and strict market competition. Often the business owners or the managers involve in the corrupt activities for achieving the organizational goals with the use of faster methods, which apparently signifies that corruption can work as a lubricant when guided by honest intentions in alliance with organisational objectives. Similar to the notion of Linder & Linder (2008), Eicher (2008) stated that modern business organizations often consider corruption as an inoffensive activity in order to accomplish their goals and meet their personal objectives. In simple words, it can be stated that personnel in business organizations, involving in the corrupt activities, give much emphasis on the fulfilment of personal goals rather than the betterment of the stakeholders. Eicher (2008) further stated that business houses often determinately get involved into unlawful activities either to gain their personal objectives or to enhance the economic conditions of the business within a very short period and without much effort. With regards to the stakeholder’s point of view, Eicher (2008) quoted that too much desire for the meeting of personal objectives can often lead the organization towards their involvement in corrupt activities. However, polarised views may exist within a particular society when concerning corruption as an offensive or an inoffensive phenomenon. As noted by Mo (2000), corruption can be viewed as a lubricant as it allows entrepreneurs and businesses to restrain from getting affected due to the ineffective regulations, enacted within the economy. Owing to the fact that these regulations are often laid down from a generalised and uniform perspective, its effects in the practical scenario differs substantially because of the rudimental divergences persisting within the grass-root operations and cultural contexts followed by difference organisations. Besides, there are three more reasons based on which, corruption can be argued to act as a lubricant and thus can be regarded as inoffensive to societal and business growths. As often considered in the Chinese society, especially by the local community members, corruption may ignite cautiousness of the societal members regarding new practices and thus, facilitate a more convenient innovation to have better utilization of resources. Corruption may further actively participate in the loosening of bureaucracy within the society and help channelizing efforts to societal development to a considerable extent. Furthermore, corruption also helps opening up of businesses and facilitate trade-offs and therefore, must be regarded as inoffensive (Johnston, 1996). However, it is in the same Chinese society that corruption is considered as offensive as it increases risks to criminal offences and fraudulency within the organisational settings, which increases potential risks to the infringement and violation of stakeholders’ rights (Mo, 2001). This suffices the intention as to why the government of various nations have been much focused to enact anti-corruption laws and make the organisational reporting standards more transparent. From the point of view taken by many ruling authorities, anti-corruption measures are important in order to maintain better control on the accountability acts performed by business entities and secure the overall economic interests of the nation (Alpaslan & et. al, 2008). Therefore, it can be concluded that where on one hand an individualistic perspective to corruption states it as inoffensive, a collectivist approach to the same, determines corruption as offensive and an essential phenomenon to be prohibited. Is Corruption Necessary to Lubricate the Moves of Business? Apparently, debates have been conducted with a dual perspective where one viewpoint agrees that corruption is a vital tool for proper mobilisation of resources in the various departments of modern business organizations, while the other perspective emphasises corruption as an offensive phenomenon hindering proper bloom of the economy. According to the report prepared by Breuer & Khuzami (2012), it was observed that corruption is a negative phenomenon that hinders sustainability of modern business organizations. It is an anti- competitive strategy, which limits the honesty of the good business organizations. Critical analysis of such practices reveals that corruption increases the cost of doing business along with declining the cost of government tasks of developing the countries. Most of the times, corruption leads the business organization towards the introduction of certain barriers in the smooth operations and thus, acts in opposition to being a lubricant. For example, if the business organization gets any contract through the illegal possession such as bribes or other corruptive measures, it is very much likely that it might be legally unenforceable. In this case, it cannot be termed that corruption is necessary to lubricate the moves of business, as at often times, it might lead to various barriers or hindrances in its operations (Breuer & Khuzami, 2012). On the other hand, Fritz (2006) has contradicted the notion of Breuer & Khuzami (2012), stating that corruption has risen up in many of the countries as the tool for bringing sustainable growth and development to the organization. Illustratively, in the Vietnamese companies, managers and company decision-makers are often observed to act following corruptive measures in the various departments, which are further neglected by the authorities to a certain extent. To be mentioned, it is often claimed that by practicing corruption, businesses operating in Vietnam has been successful in bringing a subsequent growth and development to the business operations. The business organizations in Vietnam believe that it is better to maintain a balance between the corruption and sound governance rather than trying to completely abolish the system from the organization, which shall be an unrealistic attempt. Fritz (2006) also explains that as corruption has become a universal process, it is quite likely that the abolition of the system will also be much difficult. Thus, in such situation it is better to focus on the creation of a balanced system between the governance system objectives and corruption, rather than to prevent it completely (Fritz, 2006). Wegner & et. al. (2013) further stated that corruption is a persisting phenomenon, which results into instability in the business and hampers the fair competition in the labour market to a substantial extent. Wegner & et. al. (2013) stated that in order to strengthen the business operations of the organization, it is highly desirable that the companies will get involved into corruptive practices. Being a good corporate citizen refers to the meeting of the needs and interests of the customers, general public as well as the government so that the growth and development of the organization can be guaranteed along with the substantial development of the nation. Hence, looking into the above discussion of the corruptive practices as a lubricant for the business moves, it cannot be termed as inoffensive entirely, as it helps the businesses to practice efforts of a good corporate citizen (Wegner & et. al., 2013). Hence, it can be concluded that it is inoffensive till the organization adopts corruption for the betterment of the organization along with the development of the nation. Critical Discussion Based on the above discussion, it can be apparently observed that many scholars and reports of the organizations have stated that corruption creates hindrances or barriers in the smooth operations of the business organizations. While others deliver theories stating that corruption is a universal procedure that is being by adopted by almost all the companies of the world. However, from a critical point of view, considering the fact that corruption can easily become uncontrollable, it can be asserted that such practices has no doubt become one of the biggest challenges for the organizations in the present scenario, which often raises clashes within its sustainability and profitability interests. Hills & et. al. (2009) stated that corruption is mostly regarded as inoffensive from the individualistic perspective of the employees and organization or the society in isolation, as it helps them to meet their personal goals to a much greater extent and with greater ease as compared to following the stated and defined procedure. In other words, it can also be stated that while meeting the personal goals, many organizations limit their corporate responsibilities and ignore the betterment of the stakeholders and societies. Hence, from this point of view, corruption cannot be termed as inoffensive and a lubricant for the smoothening of the business operation within the organization. Again, as illustrated by Adekola & Sergi (2007), in many of the South African regions, organizations often use corruption as a tool for improvement of the work culture and smoothen the functioning of various departments within an organisation. It determines that corruption is used for making the working process and collaboration between the departments smoother and effective. Evidences gathered in Adekola & Sergi (2007) also depict that lines of communication between the managers are well established owing to the corruptive measures taken by the managers at different levels of organization. Thus, in this country, corruption is regarded as one of the inoffensive activities that help in strengthening the operations of the business and ensuring the flow of work from one department to another in a smoother manner (Adekola & Sergio, 2007). On the contrary, Peng (2010) determines that corruption is any way an offensive and unethical activity in the organization, whether it is used for making the business operations smooth or meeting the goals of the business owing to the fact that it has high chances to becoming uncontrollable and encouraging business motives neglecting its sustainability obligations. As stated by Peng (2010), one of the most influential examples to determine that corruption is offensive is the case of Transparency International of Germany. This non-governmental organization believed that a diverse correlation prevails between high corruption rates and economic development as it loosens the control on the factors of production operating within the economy and hence, leads to greater fluctuation in its developmental rates. Similar concern have been shown by Lasserre & Schutte (2006) and Morrison (2011), stating that corruption must not be used by the business organizations for making their work process smoother, rather it must be eradicated from the organization so that the employees can adopt the ethical practices along with providing much benefits to its stakeholders. Hence, from the above discussion, it can be assessed that corruption cannot be considered as inoffensive and necessary to lubricate the moves of the business as it is completely unethical and hampers the interest of the stakeholders given its high chances of becoming uncontrollable. Conclusion From the above analysis and discussion of whether corruption is inoffensive, it has been ascertained that it is not at all necessary to lubricate the move of the business as the business activity conducted through corruptive measures are nevertheless successful in the long run. Many of the scholars have mentioned that accomplishment of any activity with corruptive measures can become a barrier in the future business activities. Corruption must therefore be prevented within the organization so that the stakeholders can be benefited through the business along with bringing in economic development within the nation. In other words, it can be affirmed that corruption is offensive and does not act as a lubricant for smoothening the operations of the business. However, on the other hand, when applied in controlled environment it may act in satisfying the individual interests of the society, people and the organisations as a separate entity, while its eradication completely may be unrealistic and too demanding. Hence, for the prevention of the corruptive activities, an organization must know how to create a sustainable balance between corruption and sound governance of the organization. References Adekola, A. & Sergi, B. S., 2007. Global Business Management: A Cross-cultural Perspective. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Alpaslan, C. M. & et. al., 2008. Using a Rhetorical Framework to Predict Corruption. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 5-11. Anand, V. & et. al., 2005. Business as Usual: The Acceptance and Perpetuation of Corruption in Organizations. Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 19, No. 4, pp. 9-23. Breuer, L. A. & Khuzami, R. S., 2012. A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The FCPA: Anti-Bribery Provisions, pp. 1-120. Eicher, S., 2008. Corruption in International Business. The Challenge of Cultural and legal Diversity, pp. 1-14. Fritz, V., 2006. How to Move Forward On Governance and Corruption. Overseas Development Institute, pp. 1-2. Hills, G. & et. al., 2009. Anti-Corruption as Strategic CSR: A Call to Action for Corporations. Social Impact Advisors, pp. 1-48. Johnston, M., 1996. Corruption in China: Old Ways, New Realities and a Troubled Future. Department of Political Science, pp. 1-16. Lasserre, P. & Schutte, H., 2006. Strategies for Asia Pacific: Meeting New Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan. Linder, C. & Linder, R., 2008. Does Business Corruption have to be considered in all Cases as Moral Misconduct? Two Statements. Journal of Business Systems, Governance and Ethics, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 1-15. Mo, P. H., 2001. Corruption and Economic Growth. Journal of Comparative Economics, Vol. 29, pp. 66–79. Morrison, J., 2011. Global Business Environment: Meeting the Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan. Peng, M., 2010. Global Business. Cengage Learning. Stratfor, 2009. China: the Dilemma of Business Ethics and Corruption. Protective Intelligence, pp. 1-4. Wegner, S. & et. al., 2013. Motivating Business to Counter Corruption. A Practitioner Handbook on Anti-Corruption Incentives and Sanctions, pp. 1-156. Read More