Ethics and Social Responsibility

 According to Daft & Marcic "ethics is the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviors of a person or group with respect to what is right or wrong." (2019, p. 146). However, I believe that determining what is ethical can be tricky, as it can vary from person to person because of our life experiences, culture, and moral beliefs. All of this will influence the way we see what is ethical and what is not.

The first company I worked for is the largest steelmaker in Brazil and Latin America, with more than 21,000 direct employees and 17,000 indirect employees, each with their own beliefs and experiences, if the company did not have a complete code of ethics, how could it possibly sustain the fact that nothing unethical would happen. This is not a guarantee, but it is a start to guide workers.

When studying the subject, it is clear the importance of a company establishing its ethics and social responsibility so that employees know if they are dealing with situations according to what is expected of them and can report when realizing that something is not being done as it should. In addition, when a company has its values clear to the community, its chance of attracting more good professionals and retaining customers increases. People like to relate to the place where they work, this helps them not to get frustrated and not to create false expectations.

Thinking about it, I was reminded of an ethical dilemma I faced at another job, at a Japanese restaurant. There used to be a normal menu and after some time a promotion was created for lunch, and a dish was placed almost identical to what already existed on the normal menu, but costing €5 more. The first time I noticed this was while selling the dishes to a customer. It was not right, the difference between the dishes was a piece of sushi, and customers paid 5€ more for that. I could have said nothing to the customer and sold the most expensive one, but it was not fair, it would have been against my ethics. So I helped him with the situation and talked to the owner of the restaurant about it. The situation was resolved so that it would not happen again. But I had to explain my point of view to her because, in her understanding, it was not an ethical issue. After I have lived in three different countries and had the opportunity to work and study with people from different places, I have been able to see how the diversity of our backgrounds can turn something right for one person into something wrong for other. In the end, each case is a case and sometimes is hard to say what is right and what is wrong. 

Reference: 

Daft, R. L., & Marcic, D. (2019). MindTap for Daft's Understanding Management, 1 term Instant Access. CENGAGE