Every business
is in existence to have profit. If you
would ask business owners why they are operating, you would most likely hear
that they are doing business to earn a living and high profit. An answer that speaks of serving the
community is rarely heard. Since they all want to earn profit as much as they
can, they are habitually tempted to do tons of unethical stuff.
Business
Ethics, unlike Mathematics, is not exact science. Gathering and studying of
facts and analysis of exacting conditions must be well thought-out to resolve
an ethical problem. In the point of view of any individual, it is tough to
distinguish whether a business is committing an errant act by now. It is purely
because of greed that tarnished the good intentions of any organization in which
we can point a finger as to the cause of turbulences in rivalries.
In the
article “Name an Oxymoron: Business Ethics by Gene Gourdy”, it was mentioned
that approximately 40 percent of companies they surveyed believe they have lost
business because a competitor paid a bribe.
Some companies are more than willing to take down a competitor by doing
a very dire act. To maximize profit, bribery is considered and done. Moreover, many individuals have learned that to
do such has become a normal strategy in the organization.
Many
businesses fall for the trap. They perform
an unethical thing for they perceive the benefit it can give to the whole
organization. The discussion on greed was the thing that struck me the most during
our business ethics class. As discussed
thoroughly, it has had and will continue to pretence terrible effects on the
different industries in business and lives of individuals who were victimized
by other people’s greed as well.
If only
people can stop greedy but it is in the nature of man to be such. We all want
better lives so, most likely, we would do anything we could to reach the top.
The question is, as pointed
out by Prof. San Juan, will you be pleased
when you know that you are doing harm to others? We do not fancy being a
burden to the people around us. Can we still have power over greed? It is
deemed hard but, of course, there is a way.
