For this assignment, the author has reviewed two articles that discussed unethical practices. One highlighted scandals that happened in 2017, while the other identified five large U.S. corporations that it considered most unethical. From the article by Shen, the author has learned that most scandals appear to result from leadership misconduct and a lack of respect for the customer. Leaders would misuse the company’s resources and resolve issues through inappropriate practices, such as the usage of unqualified inspectors or bribery. When these practices were not discovered, their usage would expand until either detection or confession by the company.
With that said, unethical behaviors do not always lead to scandals, and this scenario tends to be relegated to issues that involve customers. Three of the five companies listed by Hunt mistreat their workers and violate their rights, while the other two use unsustainable practices alongside Coca-Cola and ASDA, which participate in both. With the exception of Amazon, the businesses use their global nature and operate unethically in countries where legal oversight is weak. As such, they do not suffer adverse consequences for their behaviors, which encourages them to continue their practices.
Overall, to avoid unethical behavior, it appears to be essential that workers review the decisions of their superiors critically from a moral perspective. Acceptance of one-time choices can lead to their long-term adoption, which makes the business reliant on acting unethically and damages it once the issue becomes known. Moreover, to detect unethical practices, companies have to implement robust review procedures, particularly when they operate in weakly regulated nations. To that end, the management must be committed to ethics and review each other for unethical behavior regularly rather than enable and protect them.
Works Cited
Hunt, Tim. “Five Unethical Companies.” Ethical Consumer, 2018.
Shen, Lucinda. “The 10 Biggest Business Scandals of 2017.” Fortune, 2017.