Determinants of ethical / unethical behaviour

[Snehal K]

There are three main influences that determine whether behaviour and decisions are ethical or unethical.

 Individual personality traits: individual value system, upbringing, education, religious beliefs, experiences etc.
 Culture / country of an individual
 Organisation / industry: prevailing ethics of the organisation / industry individual works for

[Tammi]

Hi, I have a question concerning the ethical behaviour. If a business in Uk doesn't employ citizens of UK because it is much more expensive than the salaries the business would pay for example african people. Then what is unethical here? the fact that the citizens of UK remain unemployed or the fact that the business pays much less to african people than it should pay?:confused:

[Snehal K]

Hi Tammi

This is a good question. I think in this case the fact that the citizens of UK remain unemployed is unethical. As the business is operating in UK, it has ethical responsibility towards society at large in UK. The fact that the business pays much less to african people, may not be unethical if overall salary level in that country is lower than UK or the business ends up paying less due to difference in currency value.

But as this relates to outsourcing, there could be contradictions. Outsourcing is common business practice today and may not be necessarily unethical. It can be seen as way to increase business performance, profitability and competitiveness. Can anyone throw light on this?

[Tammi]

Thanks Snehal for your opinion, I quite agree with you.

I have discussed the topic with my friend, who has already passed F1. He thinks that the only unethical fact is that the business pays less to African people. But I don't agree with him, because the business pays less to African people due to the different social level. But with this money an african woman can buy the same portion of things as the british woman with her higher salary. So I see nothing unethical here.

I think that the only unethical behaviour may be the fact that UK citizens remain unemployed.