SCOTT GERBER, CEO OF THE GERBER GROUP When Gerber found out血at one ofhis empIoyees was cIocking in his wife who wasn,t actually showing up until three hours later,血e COmPany lmmediately fired the...

Business ethics and decision making
Business ethics has rightly been defined by Crane & Matten (2016) as “the study of business situations, activities and decisions where issues of right and wrong are addressed”. However, the concept and understanding of right and wrong are not constant. They differ from person to person and organisation to organisation and circumstance to circumstance. This has clearly been demonstrated in the story of Gerber and his employee who wrongfully clocked in his wife even though she showed up to work considerably late. In spite of that, Gerber decides to rehire the employee after firing him as the employees father had been a loyal employee to the company for two decades. Here, Gerber goes out of his way and against the policy of his organisation just in order to maintain his business ethics.
Today the world has become a highly ethical place and businesses are expected to be ethical even without the presence of any rules or laws governing these ethics. Since ethical decision making is not governed by rules or laws, the ethics of companies differ from one organisation to another. Ethical behaviour is dominantly discretionary in that it relies on what a business should do rather than what a business is forced to do. Ethical decisions may seem costly sometimes but in the long term, they are usually beneficial as they increase the demand and goodwill of the company. So companies today practice business ethics at their own discretion.
The scope of ethics is very broad. It is, in essence, not limited to an organisation rather it extends to individuals, managers and employees throughout an organisation. However, this breadth often proves challenging as ethics needs to be maintained all, but the levels and standards may vary. This can often lead to disparity and differences when it comes to ethics even within an organisation. That is why ethics is something that cannot be managed. Ethics involves high levels of uncertainty in circumstances and actions.
This has been demonstrated in the story of Gerber where an employee clocked in his wife even though she showed up to work around three hours late. In this case, the employee has compromised on his personal ethics and inherently cheated the organisation. The organisation took relevant action and sacked him from his place as soon as it found out.
In order to keep business ethics at high levels throughout an organisation, businesses must maintain a strict level of ethical policy. This policy must...