ETHICS IN BUSINESS: A MANAGERIAL PERSPECTIVE

ABSTRACT

This project studies the managerial perspective to ethics in business. It studies that tactics and strategies of management in the promotion of ethical behaviour.

        The research has as its objectives

1. Identification of the internal structures that promote ethics.
2. Identification on how this structures help in the weighing of ethical values.
3. Evaluation of the managerial respond to ethical issues. To aid the research, primary and secondary data were collected from various sources.

The primary data were collected through questionnaires while secondary data were collected from published and unpublished works.

        The researcher used this data collected to make findings and recommendations, some of which are,

1. Nigerian managers are yet fully appreciate the value, need and essence of ethics in business.
2. Most companies have confused line of controlling ethical behaviour.
3. Most workers do not know what their companies require of them in the area of ethics in business.
4. Reward/punishment is not vigorously pursued by management in the controlling of ethical behaviour.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE        –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       i

CERTIFICATION  –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       ii

DEDICATION      –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT  –       –       –       –       –       –       –       iv

PREFACE   –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       v

ABSTRACT –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS  –       –       –       –       –       –       –       vii

LIST OF TABLES –       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       viii

CHAPTER ONE                

1. INTRODUCTION –       –       –       –       –       –       –       1
2. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM   –       –       –       –       –       3
3. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY  –       –       –       –       –       3
4. RESEARCH QUESTION –       –       –       –       –       –       3
5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY     –       –       –       –       3
6. DEFINITION OF TERMS       –       –       –       –       –       5

REFERENCES

CHAPTER TWO

• INTRODUCTION –       –       –       –       –       –       –       8
• DEFINITION       –       –       –       –       –       –       –       8
• MORAL AND ETHICAL RELATIVISM       –       –       –       14
• MORAL ABSOLUTISM   –       –       –       –       –       –       16
• LEVEL OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT –       –       –       –       17
• ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY WITHIN THE CORPORATION 20
• ETHICAL APPROACHES        –       –       –       –       –       –       22
• STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THREE ETHICAL APPROACHES        TO MANAGERIAL DECISION AND BEHAVIOUR     –       –       28
• STRUCTURES THAT ENCOURAGE EHICS IN BUSINESS –   30
• SUMMARY/RELEVANCE OF REVIEW OF THE STUDY –      31

REFERENCES

CHAPTER THREE

3.1    RESEARCH METHODOLOGY –       –       –       –       –       36

3.2    SOURCES OF DATA     –       –       –       –       –       –       36

3.3    DATA COLLECTION METHODS      –       –       –       –       36

3.4    QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN    –       –       –       –       –       37

3.5    SAMPLE DESIGN                –       –       –       –       –       –       37

3.6    LIMITATION OF THE STUDY –       –       –       –       –       38

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1    DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENATATION –       –       –       40

CHAPTER FIVE

• SUMMARY OF FINDINGS     –       –       –       –       –       53
• RECOMMENDATION    –       –       –       –       –       –       54
• AREAS FOR FURTHER STUDIES    –       –       –       –       55
• CONCLUSION     –       –       –       –       –       –       –       56

BIBLIOGRAPHY

        APPENDIX

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.01:                Administration and Retrieval of Questionnaires

Table 4.01:        Age of Companies Involved

Table 4.02:        The Level of Managers Involved

Table4.03:        Your Company has come of Conduct

Table 4.o4:        In your Company every body is expected to follow strictly the company’s code of conduct.

Table 4.05:        Employees are sanctioned for not adhering to company code of conduct.

Table 4.06:        You company’s decision are made by committee

Table 4.07:        There are channels for employees, consumers, stockholders and the public to make known their concerns demand and perceptions to management

Table 4.08:        Your company needs a department committee to the promotion and enforcement of high ethical standards

Table 4.09:        Individuals not committees should take final decisions so as to ensure accountability.

Table 4.10:        Due to the committee system nobody can be held accountable for irresponsibility or immorality.

Table 4.11:        In your company employees are expected to do anything to further company interest (e.g. profits)

Table 4. 12:       The first consideration in decision making is whether a decision violates any law

 Table 4. 13:      The reason for your company to be ethical is to avoid conflict with the law only

Table 4. 14:       In your company, people are expected to follow their own personal and moral beliefs

Table 4. 15:       Your obedience to your company code of conduct is based on fear of retribution

Table 4. 16:       You will blow the whistle on your company if it engages in any act you consider immoral

Table 4. 17:       An employee should resign if his duties are in conflict with his personal principles.

Table 4. 18:       How frequently do you give or accept favours from preferential treatment.

Table 4. 19:       Asking a sub ordinal or friends to violate company rules

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1   BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

        Business ethics is defined by the interaction of ethics and business. At its broadcast level, it studies the possible moral justification of economic systems. At a secondary level it studies the business corporations as entity with conscience. Thirdly it evaluates the morality of individual and their actions in economic and business transactions. A corporation can only be as the people who own, manage and work for it, but its organization and practice which can in turn be reinforced or impeded by the larger systems of which it is part.

        Business is a social activity and like all social activities cannot function unless certain moral pre-requisites are fulfilled.

        The dissociation of management from ownership took place at the same time that laws regulating business proliferated. As a result, it was natural for those who were managing firms to feel that what society and stockholders of their company required of them a compliance with the law. If they complied with the law, they began to feel that morality was personal, that is varied from person to person and from group to group, and that all that could be expected of managers of business as well as it self was mere adherence to the law. Equating what is required of business a convenient and norm to adopt. It made clean one’s duty and limited what one had to consider.

        This view fails to consider carefully the relationship between law and morality. One of the ways to agree that the conduct of the law governs its immoral and seriously harmful to the society. For instance discrimination was immoral before it was made illegal but not all laws are moral defensible. Laws requiring racial segregation and discrimination are a case in point.

        To abide by the law in practicing discrimination was, infancy, to act immorally. The retreat to law as a sole norm to guide business is in part a reflection of the fact that most managers do not know how to handle many moral issues in business. Having equated morality with personal opinion they understandably find it difficult to defend their moral judgments in objective terms.

        The retreat to law, together with a disclaimer concerning moral demand, is frequent not a reflection to bad will or of a desire to be immoral. Rather, it often reflects the lack of internal structures within a firm to weigh moral as well as consideration. The promotion of ethics in business is basically a management duty. Conceded that the board of directors sets the tone for ethical practices, management sees it as application and promotion.

        Taking a look at the Nigeria business environment, the presence or lack of ethics in business can be attributed to management. Drucker posts that the new tasks of management demand that the managers of tomorrow roots ever action and decision in the bedrock of principles that he leads not only through vision courage responsibility and integrity. Hence, for today’s manager the issue ethics is of utmost important, for individuals in business can no longer act as they choose.

        Government regulations, decisions and guidelines temper the moves of the market place. In addition, corporations are asked if not forced to consider the impact of their decision and actions on the environment the public and the common good. Air and water are no longer resources to be freely used. No manufacturer today can ignore the safety of workers and consumers of products.

        However, most business corporations are not structured to handle ethical demands. The management of most companies are not equipped, due to lack of structures to weigh values in non monetary terms.

        The absence of these structures that promote ethics, has led to the death of ethics in business. The task of this research work is to examine the managerial perspectives in the promotion of ethics, through a systematic study of management structures that promote ethics.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM