Tackling Global-Local Challenges in Ethics, Responsibility, and Sustainability
My Story
After many months of being jobless, I finally found a full-time job at the Claims department of an insurance company. To describe that I was happy that I got a job is an understatement. This was at a period when I was almost giving up on life. I had moved back in with my elder brother, and could barely afford the necessities of life like food, airtime, or even transportation costs. I was also deeply in debt and was unable to pay for my accruing college debt.
Therefore, this job came as a significant relief for me. The starting salary was small, but I was confident that I would be able to get back on my feet as soon as possible with time, and that my financial woes would end with time. The earnings from that job were still not enough to fully support me, and I was just into my second salary, so I had not yet recuperated financially.
My daily work schedule was quite regular, and my daily job routine entailed checking, reviewing, and handling insurance claims. At times, I would engage in some fieldwork, but my work was primarily limited to office work. However, one day I encountered a strange event at work. There was a particular client who had an extraordinary request. The client had a claim request and wanted his claims paid. He seemed very anxious, and I thought to myself that he must have been distressed by something negative which had happened to him. However, as I proceeded to listen to his case, something seemed very fishy. The man would not clearly state his problem precisely but was beating around the bush. Moreover, as I reviewed his case and saw that he had a generous insurance cover from his company, and it instantly dawned on me that something was fishy. Having worked in the insurance sector for years, I was aware of the many cases of insurance fraud, particularly among employees who had generous covers from their employers.
I told him off, and he left quietly as I started resuming my work. However, he came back, this time holding a briefcase in his hand. What he proceeded to show me shook me beyond words. He opened the briefcase, which was full of stacked money. Speaking in a soft tone, he asked me to process the claim for him, and I would get all that money as a reward. At that point, I was surprised and lost for words. I experienced a conflict of some sort. One ranged for my need for the money, which would have been very useful in my present financial situation. The other was the question of ethics, as doing this was not ethical nor responsible behavior.
Ethics and Responsible Behavior.
According to Adam Smith, who is regarded as the ‘father of capitalism’ asserted in his famous Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), Bonar (1926) that “… Man ought to regard himself, not as something separated and detached, but as a citizen of the world, a member of the vast commonwealth of nature. To the interest of this great community, he ought at all times to be willing that his little interest should be sacrificed.” In this analogy, it was clear that economic growth depended on morality, and ethics, which meant choosing collective interest over self-interest.
According to Duska (2000), ethics is simply the moral principles and behaviors which govern how a person acts or behaves. As the author reiterates, ethical businesses have ethics as a core value of their business and operations and embrace the values of integrity, respect for all, equity, and fairness. Business ethics, on the other hand, are simply the values and moral principles which form the basis of how a business operates and conducts itself and its operation. On the other hand, authors Illes, K. and Vogell, C. (2018), indicate that values are distinct from norms, and are positively related to the performance, and perception of a business.
Figure 1 Adapted from researchgate.net
My Personal Experience
Ethics is a deeply personal matter to me, as I have experienced what it means to operate in an environment without ethics. I once had an instructor who assigned marks in class based on his personal preference of a student. Any disagreement with him, even on class matters, meant that he would give a failing grade. As I disagreed with him numerous times, he gave me an F grade numerous times even though I worked hard, and was a smart student. In my opinion, this was an issue of ethical concern, as the instructor did not work according to school set standards, but rather his own opinions.
The Private Sector and SDGs
Scheyvens et al. (2016), in his article, posits that the creation and endorsement of sustainable development goals (SDGs) have signaled a ‘paradigm shift for people and the planet.’ While in this new plan, all stakeholders will be equally responsible for charting a sustainable path forward, the private sector with its unique contribution in the delivery of SDGs, more so in innovation, efficiency, responsiveness, and the provision of resources.
As the author points out, sustainable development is a significant concern in business ethics. Indeed, more than ever, there is an increasing focus on the environment and other societal concerns that are increasingly interconnected with ethics and business. Nowadays, an ethical business is one that has environmental concerns as one of its core mandates in industry, more so for the private sector. This is exemplified by the case of the Coca-Cola Company, which was under fire for a certain period over concern of the use of plastics. The author further reiterates that for the private sector, corporate social responsibility is primarily associated with environmental concern, and more and more firms are embracing sustainability in their business and CSR models.
Figure 2, Adapted from researchgate.net.
References
Illes, K., and Vogell, C., 2018. Corporate Values from a Personal Perspective. Social Responsibility Journal. 14 (2), pp. 351-367. Doi: 10.1108/SRJ-07-2017-0114
Bonar, J. (1926). “The Theory of Moral Sentiments,” By Adam Smith, 1759. Philosophy, 1(3), 333-353. Doi: 10.1017/s0031819100023536
Scheyvens, R., Banks, G., and Hughes, E., 2016. The private sector and the SDGs: The need to move beyond ‘business as usual.’ Sustainable Development, 24(6), pp.371-382.
Duska, R (2000) ‘Business Ethics: Oxymoron or Good Business?’ Business Ethics Quarterly, Vol. 10, No. 1, Globalization and the Ethics of Business (January 2000), pp. 111-129.