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Ethical Decisions in Business

The simplest and clearest argument for ethical behavior is business is a practical one. Dan Cordtz writes in "Always Do the Right Thing" that "Right action leads to right results. Wrong action leads to wrong results. Wrong action cannot lead to right results" (Cordtz "Always" 42). In other words, the business ethics can be talked about in theory forever, but what the subject comes down to is what happens in the real world when a right or wrong decision is made.

In the case study of the Goodrich testing of airplane brakes for LTV Aerospace, this conclusion becomes very obvious. In some cases, a business decision might be unethical, but it would not be a threat to life or the environment. For example, a dishwasher soap maker might know that a soap left a non-toxic film on dishes, but they choose to market it anyway. Lives would not be threatened.

In the case of Goodrich, however, lives were threatened. Certainly a minimum standard for ethical behavior is that a business decision will not lead to unnecessary danger to human life.

In some cases, an unethical decision might never be discovered. In the case of Goodrich, however, discovery was going to come sooner or later, and, in fact, it did come during flight tests. The decisions made by the managers and employees of Goodrich in the brake tests were not only unethical, they were also stupid because discovery was inevitable.

Ethical decisions are based on conscience and practical matters. It is Cordtz' argument that the two parts are in the end working together to bring good results from an ethical decision. In the Goodrich case, this conclusion is clearly true. Not only were the workers at Goodrich suffering from bad consciences, the results were costly to the company. Some of the participants seemed to benefit from promotions, but in the long-run the results may be different if they continue to make unethical decisions in the name of "loyalty" to the company, or because th...

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Ethical Decisions in Business. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 20:49, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700422.html