As a Leader of a Firm, How Would You Respond If You Learn Your Competitors Are Cheating? Also How Would You Respond If You Think Regulators Are Asking You to Cheat?

As a leader of a firm, how would you respond if you learn your competitors are cheating? Also how would you respond if you think regulators are asking you to cheat?

Question 2

        Ethics concern an individual's moral judgments about right and wrong. Decisions taken within an organization may be made by individuals or groups, but whoever makes them will be influenced by the culture of the company. The decision to behave ethically is a moral one; as a leader in an organization you must decide what is the right course of action. This may involve rejecting the route that would lead to the biggest short-term profit. To build business clientele, it is vital to maintain a high sense of business ethics. As a leader of a firm in a particular industry, I would be very disappointed as well as angered by the lack of business ethics shown by my competitors. Cheating, misconduct, deception and other forms of unethical behavior are widespread today, not just in business but also in sports, government, schools, and many other arenas. While the media often focuses on extreme cases of cheating and sensational scams (such as Libor scandal or Madoff’s ponzi scheme), less attention is paid to what researchers call "ordinary unethical behavior." Examples are: not reporting income on one’s taxes, buying clothing with the intention of wearing it once and returning it, stealing from one’s employer, or cheating on an exam. These forms of unethical behavior are often the results of ordinary people giving into the temptation to cheat when confronted with the opportunity to do so. When combined, these behaviors are extremely costly for both businesses and society.

        As a leader, if I found out about companies in my industry are cheating, I would not hesitate to report the company to the respective regulators. Unethical acts should never be tolerated in any industry, especially ones that gives companies a greater competitive advantage over competitors. As a leader it is mandatory that you are a firm believer in good ethical practices. Good ethical practices are a vital or key ingredient to building a fantastic reputation for any business. Also, I would want justice to be served to minimize cheating and unethical practices in the industry. It should be mandatory that the leading companies involved as well as participating companies be penalized by means of fines and imprisonment depending on how big the case is.

        If for some reason I find out that regulators are trying to get me to cheat, I would have to firmly decline their offer. Also, as a leader in the industry the onus is on us to help prevent corruption, unlawful, and unethical acts from being carried out not part-take in them. There is a conventional wisdom that says; winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. With that in mind, plenty of businesses and societal leaders believe ethics and honesty are all well and good, as long as they don’t get in the way of winning. With this frame of thinking, unethical behaviors, e.g.; cheating customers, outsourcing to slave labor, scam government, evading taxes, lying to investor are all good business strategies, as long as, you don’t get caught. According to Dr. McCabe; in business it’s the bottom line that matters, it’s not how you get there; this has long been the credo of business success cheating flourishes because the perceived ‘low’ risk of being caught leads many leaders to conclude that there is a ‘positive’ cost-benefit.         

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