Communication:Moral issues in business (Essay Sample)

Communication: Moral Issues in Business Name: Institution: Date: Introduction The issue of morality in doing business has elicited continuous and heated debates over the last 10 years. According to Murphy (2015), the demands of modern capitalism of business have caused a great percentage of scholars and business operators to question the applicability of morals in business ventures. Although most believe that it is almost impossible for modern companies to comply, the truth is that it is always in th hands of th management to make the proper choice. Moreover, a dilemma exists in the modern business world as to whether companies should negate the application of morals and just give emphasis to profit maximization as long as firm operations are well within current legal stipulations (Hotten, 2015). However, as Adams (2015) argues this perspective of morality is highly parochial. In an attempt to enlighten on the subject, Paul (2015) opined that for proper comprehension of morality and its role in modern business should focus on companies not just as entities but rather as individuals who are expected to operate as driven by moral purpose (Paul, 2015). Despite the importance attached to carrying out business within moral parameters, many companies including Volkswagen have found it hard to cope with the current echelons of competition and still pay regards to morality. Volkswagen after becoming the leader in the industry in the beginning of 2015 attracted a lot of attention after the US-American Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) went ahead to suggest that the company had found a way of going round emission tests in a manner that provided EPA with the correct results (Argenti, 2015). Further investigations revealed that the company had discovered and installed specific software branded as the ‘defeat device’ (Hotten, 2015). According to findings, this device provided the vehicles the ability to alter performance when undergoing testing in a way that improved the results to satisfy the EPA requirements (Holme, 2008). Scholars have since used Volkswagen as a case for studying the issue of morality in business. As Adams (2015) opines, such cases are most effective when there is need to identify particular deficiencies in conduct within a particular industry. These can then be related to the global arena in order to understand current regulation related trends. This paper seeks to discuss the various morality issues in business as drawn from the Volkswagen instance. Body Deception According to Holme (2008), the scandal faced by the company can be effectively understood by considering an analysis in terms of business ethics. This can be further understood by taking in to consideration the deception as observed in terms of firm leadership as well as company governance and culture (Adams, 2015). Moreover, a closer look at the bigger picture reveals that the company engaged in unacceptable business morals by breaching Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and thus breaking the trust that its customers and the entire public had bestowed (Iguchi, 2015). According to Murphy (2015), this is a proper example of immorality in business because by using the installed software the company knowingly deceived and manipulated both the regulators and the public. Additionally, by doing so the company intentionally escalated the levels of pollution through emission. Research studies point out that it is immoral for any company to conduct business without giving regards to its responsibility as concerns environmental pollution. This is the very thing that the company did. Additionally, Murphy (2015) believes that any company operating within the tenets of morality must take in to consideration the impacts of its operations on the health of surrounding communities. Apparently, Volkswagen intentionally ignored the impacts of the increased levels of emissions and acted outside of moral requirements threatening the very existence of humanity through its deception (Rossouw & Vuuren, 2010). As such, the fact that the company intentionally indulged in deceptive business practices means that management did not consider moral tenets. CSR disclosure Studies point out that it is necessary and ethical for companies to provide accurate and unadulterated CSR disclosures. Considering that the company had just been awarded the prize for the world leading automobile business 10 days prior to the discovery of its immoral practice, this raises questions as to whether the CEO of the firm had anything to do with corrupting Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) (Schiermeier, 2015). Scholars have argued that morality in business entails refraining from any acts of bribery to interfere with CSR disclosures and as Iguchi (2015) opines there is a great possibility that Volkswagen negated this ethical principle to cheat the world concerning its CSR performance. Additionally, intentionally creating gaps in CSR disclosure is unethical and this is the very thing that the management may have been doing for a long time (Schiermeier, 2015). Corporate culture According to Iguchi (2015), companies that knowingly cultivate a culture of deceiving customers, the public and regulatory organizations negate their responsibility as embedded in the need to operate with honesty. The case of Volkswagen in the year 2015 has led to numerous suggestions as to whether the culture within the company was based on acceptable business norms. Additionally, studies indicate that one of the reasons why companies negate compliance to set moral standards for operation is that most have cultivated a culture of dishonesty (Argenti, 2015). This appears to be the case with Volkswagen because as Holme (2008) opines, a company’s culture usually manifests through it compliance or lac of it to standardized norms. However, this not only applies to the company in question but also to the regulating bodies such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) that went ahead to crown Volkswagen (Paul, 2015). Considering the fact that the installed devises have gone unnoticed for years, it is not even clear whether the regulating bodies have known it al along or whether they too have been caught up in corporate cultures that serve to propagate unethical business practices (Adams, 2015). Industry spillover According to Adams (2015), it is ethical for organizations to consider operating within requirements of morality in order to avoid instances that will negatively influence other key players within the same industry. The incidence as later described in this paper proves that Volkswagen never took in to consideration the need to operate within moral principles that would not only protect the company but also shield other operators in the industry (Hotten, 2015). Although scholars assert that within the context of the current echelons of global competition and rivalry it is increasingly becoming difficult for corporations to consider the impact of their decisions on other industry players, Holme (2008) holds the opinion that despite such conditions it is the responsibility of each organization to ensure compliance to moral requirements. As such, Volkswagen should not have engaged in deceptive activities because this has drawn a lot of heat on other leading companies. In addition, the fact that the company did not operate within the set moral principles will affect the diesel automobile industry negatively (Murphy, 2015). This is because the demands for vehicles running on diesel will most likely slump as people had began to trust such vehicles based on the reputation of Volkswagen vehicles (Hotten, 2015). Reputation and legitimacy The issue of morality as concerning business endeavors has to do with the manner in which a company responds to incidences harming reputation such as Volkswagen faces currently (Hotten, 2015). It is also important to note that it is unethical for companies to deploy such strategies by seeking to communicate necessary changes in a deceptive manner. For instance, Volkswagen responded by communicating to the public that the company would authorize internal investigations (Adams, 2015). This is unethical because the company has known al along that the devices were in use and the response is just another attempt to deceive the public and make the world believe that the problem was accidental while it apparently is not. Studies also reveal that immoral practices in business entail attempts to alter the perception of stakeholders in the event of negative incidences (Argenti, 2015). As is, this is exactly what Volkswagen seemed to do by communicating to stakeholders that the issue only reflected a technical problem that would be solved with ease (Argenti, 2015). Engineering ethics According to Holme (2008), the scandal faced by Volkswagen not only serves to reveal the lack of morality in the represented industry but also reveals a dreadful truth that the engineering industry has also been caught in the lack of ethics phenomenon because the company could not have violated ethics tenets without the alliance provided by engineers. In agreeing to design and install the devices, the engineers ignored their fiduciary obligation, which is a direct violation of ethics within the field (Paul, 2015). This further indicates that the department f the engineering company that was supposed to ensure that operations did not endanger the environment adjudicated their responsibility leading to a direct indication of ethical canons governing the engineering business. Additionally, Iguchi (2015) argues that the alliance between the two industries to deceive the world is reflection of a greater truth. This truth as described by Adams (2015) is the fact that in modern business it has become normal for corporations to violate moral requirements in pursuit of supremacy and profits. More importantly such actions indicate that corporations around the world have propagated cultures of dishon...