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Newsletter
No.15
October 2004
Business Ethics
Hear this, you that
trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the
poor of the land,
Saying, “When will the
new moon be over
so that we may sell
grain;
and the Sabbath, so that
we may offer wheat for sale?
We will make the ephah
small and the shekel great,
and practice deceit with
false balances,
Buying the poor for
silver and the needy for a pair of sandals,
and selling the
sweepings of the wheat.”
Amos 8, 4-6.
Should business deals be governed by a set
of ethical guidelines? Should business profit margins come
under ethical considerations or is profit making a free-hand
activity outside the parameters of what is ethically
acceptable or not?
Rules and guidelines have an important
function in the world of economics but ethics isn’t simply
a question of rules or legal boundaries. Ethical reflection
helps us to face a myriad of complexities and dilemmas that
life in general presents especially in the world of
employment, marketing, pricing and competition, the
environment, the power of the multi-corporations.
Ethics is a reflection on transcending
values that are good and justified universally. Ethical
principles involve all parties so that the common good is
respected for the benefit of all concerned.
The question of employment for instance
may look so straightforward but in reality it isn’t. The
problems of discrimination in employing personnel, questions
of promotions, sacking and unjust salaries are not simple.
Equally true is the question of safety in the workplace,
women employees of child-bearing age etc. The
responsibilities of the employee are also an important
factor in the equation.
Pricing has always been central in
assessing the ethics of seller-buyer relations. We live and
operate in a free and competitive market economy. Yet, can
we say that we have succeeded in establishing a reasonable
and fair pricing structure? Business firms make available
their balance sheets but they never explain how they make
their profits. Some firms publish an almost regular deficit
accounts but they never seem to go out of business!
Price-fixing, price-discrimination and price maintenance are
collusive practices on the basic justice of the free-market
to the detriment of the consumer.
Ethical behaviour in business depends as
much upon the ethical attitudes in business transactions as
upon individual virtue. The ethics of social responsibility
faces a big challenge unless higher principles are respected
in the discipline of business practice.
“Treat every human person as the end and
never as the means… make sure that you apply this
principle at all times.” This sound universal principle is
what it takes to behave ethically in a correct manner and
with Christian understanding. In the world of business the
good of the human person always comes first. There is no
space for compromises without at the same time infringing on
the dignity and rights of the person.
The above principle could be reworded to
mean, “The human person is always important. Treat others
as you would like them to treat you.” If one resists this
principle, perhaps one should look deeper on one’s
personal motivations. Granted that many life circumstances
are ambiguous and knotty but good informed reason with sound
ethical principles will help us to shoulder always our moral
responsibilities … to be just, honest and conscientious…
and the world is a better place to live in.
Fr. Vincent Magri S.J.
Ignatian Maxims
63. We should not dispute stubbornly with anyone. Rather, we should patiently give our reasons with the purpose of declaring the truth lest our neighbour remain in error, and not that we should have the upper hand.
(Letter to the Community of Alcala, XII, 674-76, Appendix VI, Letter 11).
64. We should never postpone a good work, no matter how small it may be, with the thought of later doing something better. It is a very common temptation of the evil spirit to be always placing before us the perfection of things to come and bring us to make little of the present.
(Same reference as above)
65. One should be careful to preserve great purity of heart in the love of God, loving nothing but Him, and desiring to converse with Him alone, and with the neighbour for love of Him.
(Same reference as above)
66. We should be more afraid of the fear of poverty than of poverty itself.
(Lyraeus, Apophtheg. 1. II, 2,p.199)
67. If we gaze with sincere eyes at the heavens (divine things), we will be more aware of the darkness of earthly things; for although these emit a certain brightness, the beauty of the heavens puts out all their "light".
(Menchoca, n.1, p.561)
Fr. Arthur Vella S.J.
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