Ethics and Corporate Scandals: How Much Do You Really Know?

What is ethics? When do we cross the line between right and wrong and who determines when that line is crossed? Ethics can be defined as moral philosophy. It is basically "the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad, right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles" (Ethics, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, 2000). When we apply the concept of ethics to business the scope broadens. Business ethics is "the study and evaluation of decision making by businesses according to moral concepts and judgments" (Business ethics, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2007). In this paper I will be discussing business ethics, including three common misunderstandings, one major taboo of corporate social responsibility discourse, and give examples of two major corporation scandals, Enron and WorldCom.

When you think of the words business and ethics you usually don't relate the two. This is due to three misunderstandings. The first is that morality and profits just do not mix. If you make money then you are considered successful but you have to become corrupt to make money. The second misconception is that all ethical problems can be solved in a simplistic manner and that the problems are always either right or wrong. There is no in between. When we assume this concept is true, we tend to ignore the gray area in between and as a result, ignore the fact that soul-searching might me necessary to come to a decision about an ethical problem. The third misunderstanding is that ethics is following a set of regulations or rules. When we think about it, the legal issue might not be related to the moral issue or just the opposite. (Lamberton & Minor-Evans, 2007).