Sep 16 2010
COMM 101: 16th September
Business Ethics was a topic that was always re-surfacing in my business classes back in High School, and nalright I never took it seriously back in my high school days. But today I guess we talked about this topic on a ‘deeper level’ so to speak.
From this article: http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/local/article/636444–sexy-dress-code-spurs-complaint off today’s newspaper, I guess it sort of sparked a whole round of debating in our little 300-seated lecture room. Some say that it’s perfectly fine given the type of job, some say it’s wrong since it’s a policy that’s being forcefully and unlawfully (?) imposed on to the waitresses by the employers of that restaurant. One main, generalised opinion I got out of that class is that: “it’s totally up to the employees to speak up for themselves as to say what’s right and wrong under their own contracts – you sign up for a job understanding the company’s policies, right?”
I don’t think so. Most people end up signing a contract without even reading 10% of it’s contents these days! I think I’m beginning to see why mum’s always nag about ‘reading the final print’ before signing anything now.
But I think this only enforces my view on our current business environment: There’s just too much exploitation to consider the positives of our current markets. And that applies for the entire global market.
Business ethics only works if there’s a system to enforce it. Education is a great start, and I have to thank good schools like my high schools and Universities like UBC in educating me about these topics – but I think that education has to go beyond just textbooks and lectures for the majority of folks to get the idea. Growing up, I guess I was living in an environment where ethics are constantly questioned and money was a little more scarce, so maybe that’s why people like me who’ve grown up in a dingier background sort of place more emphasis on ethical cases like these.
However, I guess if we want a better business world, we have to make sure that more people working in businesses can understand things from all perspectives and value that ethics plays an important place in not just making sure profits and other rewards get distributed back to all stakeholders equally; but to make sure we look at things outside our seat and try looking at how businesses can actually benefit and help fix today’s problems. We have to make sure we keep our ethics in tact whenever we’re making a business decision, and this is regardless of whatever background we all come from – we all share the same planet after all. It’s our shared liability.
I guess time will tell whether our generation will actually live up to that responsibility.