BUSINESS ETHICS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION COMMERCE ESSAY  2800w

Culture and ethics are interrelated and intertwined in such a way that it makes it difficult to know which factor guiding / motivating the behaviour is arising from a given situation. Is it the cultural vision of his/her ethics or is it the ethical vision of his/her culture that guides someone to do or not do certain things. Trompenaar’s survey questioning people’s reaction to a given situation shows that cultures with more emphasis on human relationships and loyalty (particularists) scored lower than those that emphasized obeying rules (Universalists). 

The situation: you’re riding in a car driven by a close friend, who’s driving at least 35 mph in a 20 mph zone. He hits someone. No witnesses. His lawyer says if you testify under oath that your friend was driving at 20 miles per hour, it might save him from serious consequences.

What right has your friend to expect you to protect him?

Lying was more prominent in cultures stressing human relationships, whereas it was less prevalent in cultures stressing rules. Telling the truth is an ethical value that appears in this context. One could say, people in cultures emphasizing human relationships would most likely lie to protect the relationship; whereas, people in cultures putting a greater value on rules would lie less in order to abide by the rule. Adler differentiates between cultures that are universally oriented (all rules apply to everyone) and particularly oriented ‘the nature of the relationship determines how someone will act in a particular situation’. When it comes to the actual experience of the individual in question it is not certain if that person is motivated by cultural influences and/or ethical implications of his/her act and/or decision. Paul Ricoeur suggests three positions in ethical development: 1) the self 2) relations with others, 3) institutional. Through this process of moral integration, the self eventually becomes autonomous (auto self- nomous – norms which becomes understood as self-regulatory) in its experiences and interactions with others and institutions. The self internalises the cultural norms and values through socialization (being in the world with others).