Business Loyalty vs. Ethics

Question: Discuss about the Business Loyalty vs. Ethics. Answer: Conflicts of interest, personally experienced in personal or professional roles I work as a sale person in a retail store, where I have to sell things of the store to the people and once the things are being sold to the people, it is the rule of the store to not to return any item. I am well aware of this thing, and but there are few customers there, who offer me with extra money in the name of tip. In exchange, they want to return the thing that they have purchased and in this particular situation, I face the conflict of interest. Perceiving a potential conflict and the ways ensuring that this conflict does not lead to any unethical behaviour One of the most important ways to ensure that there is not any conflict is to follow the rules and regulation that is being laid by the organization. It is important to be straightforward and honest about the rules regulations that are being laid by the organizations, to the customers. It would help in arising less complicated situation and the customer too, understand that the responsibilities that needs to be carried out by a particular person. At times if taking decision or making a choice become a difficult thing then it is important to take the help of the superior, they could help in the best way possible (YouTube. 2016). Others conflicts of interest can affect how you or those you know were treated. In my retail store, a colleague of mine has a relationship, with one of the senior official of the organization. The particular relationship in his personal life had an effect on his professional life as well, because he was rewarded, even though the work carried out by him is equal or even at time inferior to us. The other employees too have to face this discrimination, which created resentment among them. Policies that the organizations could implement to try to reduce conflicts of interest or costs The organization could implement policies such as breach of trust, for those people, who utilize or rather, exploit their position and provide some advantages to the people (Thomas 2016). In such a case, legal action should be taken against those employees and this will reduce unethical things in the organization for fulfilling their interest (Drexler 2012). Personal Experience I had a group of friends during my school days and most of them, and in fact, all of them were shopaholic except for me. I remembered a time when my financial conditions were not that pleasant, at least for me, and spending money for shopping would be a luxury for me at that time. Still, to be in that group I had to shop and I had to confirm to other peoples notion. Yes, I regret about that today because I feel like that if I would not have done that then I would have probably save money for my future, for something that is fruitful for my career, and at the same time, I would have supported my parents as well. Cheating is Contagious There are certain incidents that come up every day or rather almost every day, which proves that cheating is there on every level of society. Even in the marital relationship, there are certain incidents, which provide us with a shock, because we do not except these things from a particular person. Slowly, we find out that it is the result of what is happening outside around, in the friend circle is affecting these people. Therefore, it can be said that the thing at times sounds true and it sounds true mainly because those people, who try to confirm to their friends and to that group where they belong, practice these things. Balancing Loyalty and Ethical Integrity It is true that it is difficult to choose between ethics and loyalty, and most of the time when people have to choose between these two things, the best thing that they should do is, go by the definition of loyalty. The definition of loyalty refers to the fact that a person can be loyal either to another person or to a cause (Amanet.org. 2010). Thus, although, it is difficult and need great strength to fight the friends one should try to fight for the goods of their friends and be loyal to the cause and not to anyone else (YouTube. 2016). Groupthink "Groupthink is something that occurs if there is any kind of pressure within a group, and the pressure allows an individual to confirm to those facts, even if that is unethical (Janis 2015). Yes, I have been subject to groupthink, when I for the first time, am enrolled myself in the college. During that time friends were often into drinking and I am someone who does not like drinking that much, although, I confirm to the group and drank with them, for which I regret now. Ethical Fading Ethical fading is a mechanism, where the intuition, sub conscious as well as self-deception help in disregarding the moral component or the ethical component of a particular action (Ethical Leadership from Andrew Leigh. 2016). Most of the time the ethical decisions are taking emotionally, but in case of ethical fading there is cognitive rationalization (YouTube. 2016). I myself has faced such a situation in my life when one day, I saw the pictures of child labour and the workers condition of people working in the factory of Nike, and in other companies such as, Nike, who are outsourcing workers from the developing countries. I knew everything, yet at the time of shopping, I forgot those pictures and those messages easily without much problem. Intentional Unethical Decision Yes, I have taken unethical decision to please the higher authority, and it happened when I was working in the retail store and I need to retain my job at any cost. Therefore, when my boss asked me to, manipulate the sales figure, I did that because I wanted to save my job. Later on, I felt bad for that because that was something that was done to manipulate the accounts of the company, which is beneficial for the company, but not that much beneficial for the people working in that company. Victim of Ethical Fading The case, which involves the selling of Daraphim at a very high price to the customer is such a case that cause trouble to them, is case of ethical fading, where the patients, who have to take this particular drug is the victim of ethical fading. Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turin Pharmaceutical sold these drugs at a price of $750, when the previous price was $13.00 and thus, the patients who have to take these drugs are affected largely, although the thing was just business strategy for the company (Court 2016). The pharmaceutical company although, claimed that they will lower the prices of the drugs but then it will only be provided to the hospitals and only those who are hospitalize would enjoy the benefit of this particular drug (Duggar 2016). Thus, this particular section count for a very small proportion, and thus only a small section of the people are benefitted and most of the people has become the victim of this particular incident at the same time. References Amanet.org. (2010).Loyalty vs. Ethics: From the White House to the Workplace. Court, E. (2016).Heres why Daraprim still costs $750 a pill. MarketWatch. Drexler, D. (2012). The Huffington Post. Duggar, J. (2016).The role of integrity in individual and effective corporate leadership. 1st ed. Ethical Leadership from Andrew Leigh. (2016).Ethical fading: is it happening right under your nose?. Janis, I.L., 2015. Groupthink: the desperate drive for consensus at any cost.Classics of Organization Theory, p.161. Thomas, R. (2016).Conflict Management Systems: A Methodology for Addressing the Cost of Conflict in the Workplace. Mediate.com. YouTube. (2016).Conflict of Interest. YouTube. (2016).Conformity Bias. YouTube. (2016).Ethical Fading.