Whether persuading key officials to give authorisation to set up in business, grant government contracts, or just let your goods through customs, the alternatives for the word bribe are many and

Module 12

Ethics

Text 2

Bribery and corruption

Whether persuading key officials to give authorisation to set up in business, grant government contracts, or just let your goods through customs, the alternatives for the word bribe are many and varied: kickback, sweetener (AmE), backhander (BrE), baksheesh and the greasingof palms (international). The law courts, if it gets that far, will refer more prosaically to illicit payments and defendants in such cases may just talk about commissions. If payments go to a slush fund to finance a political party, this form of corruption may be referred to as sleaze, especially by journalists.

Following the accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom, which gave a false view of their profits, despite the work of their auditors, the outside accountants who are meant to prevent this, there has been pressure on legislators and regulators to improve accounting standards.

When the strain of competing gets too much, competitors may go for the easier option of price fixing, so that each can maintain a reasonable profit margin. Competitors who do this form a cartel. This is an area where outsiders may only find out what is going on if one of the managers involved contacts the authorities. Someone doing this is a whistleblower.

The corporation as good citizen

All businesses increasingly want to be perceived as good citizens. Being ethical adds prestige to the image of company. Different types of business face different ethical issues:

· Financial institutions try to prevent insider trading by erecting notional barriers called Chinese walls between different departments: to prevent someone in share trading from discovering from the mergers department that a particular company is involved in merger talks and that its share price may soon rise. Financial institutions also have to guard against money-laundering, where money passes through the banking system in a way that disguises its criminal origins.

· Companies selling personal finance promise to ensure that clients are sold appropriate products for their needs, and thus avoid misselling.

· Manufacturers increasingly claim that their products are green or environmentally-friendly in all stages of their production, use and disposal.

· Clothing companies claim to trade fairly and that their products were not made in sweatshops paying subsistence wages and using child labour.

· Cosmetics companies say that their products are not tested on animals

Company’s behavior will be perceived as ethical especially when it will talk about equal opportunities or, in the US, their affirmative action programme, to ensure that people are recruited and promoted on the basis of merit and not discriminated against on the grounds of race or gender. Women who get promoted so far and no further complain of the glass ceiling - the obstacles hindering the advancement of minorities and women. When rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder is almost impossible, regardless of their qualifications or achievements.

Codes of ethics and mission statements

A company’s internal code of ethics contains its ethical credo and may cover any of the issues mentioned above. Some of these issues may also be referred to in its mission statement. And there may even be an ethics ombudsman to check that they are put into practice and to deal with complaints when they are not. All the issues mentioned here are parts of the wider picture of corporate social responsibility.

Find equivalents:

Взятка; заявлять; деньги, предназначенные для взяток, подкупа; разоблачитель; откат; подкуп; взяточничество; этический кодекс; комиссионные; "отмывание денег"; коррупция; аморальный; картель; детский труд; добропорядочный гражданин; равные возможности; инсайдерские торговые операции с ценными бумагами (незаконные операции с ценными бумагами на основе внутренней информации о деятельности компании-эмитента); экологически чистый; продавать, зная, что это не подходит покупателю; честно торговать; система взглядов в обществе, согласно которым женщины не должны допускаться к высшим должностям; зарплата, обеспечивающая лишь прожиточный минимум; программа для корректирования политики компании; на общей основе; дискриминировать по расовому или половому признаку; постановка задачи; лицо, разбирающее жалобы частных лиц на различные организации.

Answer the questions:

1. What types of bribes are mentioned?

2. Who is a whistleblower?

3. What ethical issues different businesses can face?

4. What is ethical behavior?

5. How ethical problems can be solved?

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04