Business Ethics: Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of Globalization - Essay Example

Ethics are the determining values and principles of business, employees, and employers.  Business ethics are those principles that promote fairness and equality with employers, employees, customers, and stakeholders.  This paper attempts to understand business ethics in brief, with relevant examples of recent times.  Examples of ethical issues concerning three different issues have been explained along with their alleged lawsuits that have flagged these issues in the United States.

Business ethics are the moral eternal, abstract, and the unchangeable principles and values that determine decision making and right or wrong of contextual issues related to business or profession in accordance with ethical problems such as issues relating to human rights,  privacy, discrimination, sexual and other types of harassment, performance evaluation, hiring, firing, safety, security, etc.  Immanuel Kant’s principles to explain the theory of ethics of duties strongly advise three aspects of ethics: consistency, which everyone else also should follow and can achieve; human dignity, which every individual deserves under every situation; and universality, for all actions and human beings should be acceptable by all (Crane, A & Matten, D; 2007).

Ethical problems of sexual and physical abuse have been troubling our communities for many centuries. Even today evidence of child abuse and sexual violence against women are prevalent among all groups and levels of people.  A recent lawsuit was filed against a popular African-American preacher for molesting a 15-year old girl and sending lewd text messages to another girl.  Many such charges were levied against him in the past too (Allen, B; 2009, 21 May).  This depicts the disadvantaged status of the female gender even now.  This kind of horrifying violence, systematic discrimination, and human rights abuses leave damaging effects on society such as physical trauma, emotional trauma, low self-esteem, and psychological disturbances. Professionally, such behavior causes an undesirable violation of the code of conduct.

Unsafe working conditions pose a high risk for health problems and hazardous events.  One such violation was reported by an army employee at the Lockheed Martin plant who suffered injuries as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals.  His appeal for justice at the California Supreme Court did not help as four out of seven justices were stakeholders in this oil company (Editorial board; 16 Jan 2008).  These health problems could lead to changes in human genetic systems that may perpetuate further generations with these defects.  This is a serious threat to the environment and social wellbeing, and can have a devastating impact on health outcomes and quality of life. Unethical conduct for selfish gains is indicated by the justices involved.

Many plaintiffs of the District courts of California presented uncontested statistics that confirmed the discriminatory practices including gender stereotyping and culture of corporate uniformity across all Wal-Mart setups existed.  To this effect, the company’s chief executive announced a new job classification and pay structure ensuring fairness in pay and promotions. Creating unequal opportunities at the workplace is unethical as it penalizes specific groups by making them devoid of opportunities for growth, pay, and exhibiting their capabilities.