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Ethics In The Workplace

Ethics in the Workplace

Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND A REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

These are revolutionary times; all over the globe men are revolting, against old systems of exploitation and oppression. The shirtless and barefoot people of the world are rising up as never before. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great life…we must move past indecision to action… If down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.
‘MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
April 4, 1967’ (Phillips, 1998, p.1)

People are often led to causes and often become committed to great ideas through persons who personify those ideas. They have to find the embodiment of the idea in flesh and blood in order to commit themselves to it.

‘MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
February 13, 1961’ (Phillips, 1998, p.1)

Sectors of the trade industry and business leaders have stressed the importance of looking at the moral conviction of leaders and managers that make up the field of business (Badaracco & Webb, 1995; Alatas, 1999; Nuusbum, 2002). Nuusbum (2002) wrote, “There are business scandals that are so vast and so penetrating that they profoundly shock our most deeply held beliefs about the honesty and integrity of our corporate culture. Enron Corporation is one of them. The lesson from the Enron debacle should be to restore basic integrity to the bottom line, ethics to business professionals…” (p. 31-32). In most cases, the moral behavior of a corporation depends to a large extent on the moral conviction of its owners and managers (Valero, 1993).
The exigent need to look at the moral behavior of business leadership has likewise been affirmed by the current Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (Yuson, 2001) in a...