Is ‘business ethics’ an oxymoron? Do business ethics need to improve? If so, how?

Improvement is necessary for anything.  If I say I’m perfect, am I really?  No, of course not.  I’m lying to you.  Maybe not intentionally, but I am.  So do business ethics need to improve?  Of course they do.

We live in a world that pursues what is right and just, but how hard do we try to actually achieve this.  I look around and see companies handing out ridiculous amounts of money to CEO’s who supposedely deservc it.  Do they?  I don’t know.  Probably not.  Especially when you look at the state of the economy and figure, hmmm, tons of people are getting laid off, and yet the “important” people are rewarded.  It doesn’t make sense to put oneself above the needs of others.  Maybe this is just an ethical issue and not so much a business one, but I think we need look out for our partners, distributors, enemies, allies, and friends.  The more and more people get away with cheating the system, the faster the system will crumble.

But how do you get everyone to follow the rules?  It’s highly unlikely, I would argue.  With the difference in opinions, ideas, and beliefs in the world, finding one path to align all seems tricky.  But, we are a world full of individuals, and no matter how collectivist or individualist you are, you will first and foremost be an individual.  Each person needs to decide for themselves which path to take, and unfortunatley, this should not be forced.  As people, it seems that that only time we change is when something crappy happens first.

Lets just hope that future generations learn from and faster than those of the past.

And by the way, whose to say whose ethics are right and wrong?

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Tags: business, ethics, improve, oxymoron