Unethical_Behavior

In business, ethics relates to all facets of behavior and is pertinent to the conduct of individuals as well as entire organizations. Although there are federal laws that prohibit some unethical business behavior such as invasion of privacy, theft, and money laundering, many companies seem to find loopholes in the laws which oversee corrupt activities. There are many businesses around the world that manage to avoid being socially and legally responsible to their community and the laws that regulate them. The companies as well as the individuals within these organizations tend to get by with unethical behavior in more and more cases. Many businesses and individuals within the business field tend to choose to be unscrupulous and they do so because it works for them and their bottom line. Ethical behavior matters whether you are in the office, on a construction site, in a factory or out in the fields. Paying attention to ethics makes good business sense and it should start at the upper division of management and trickle down throughout the whole organization. Through ethics a business can enhance their chances of success when they act and treat their colleagues and customers fairly and honestly. In 2002, the federal government passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in an effort to dissuade unethical behavior. Under this act all publicly registered corporations are required to have a corporate code of ethics. The act also “made it a serious crime to retaliate in any way against corporate whistleblowers” (Williams, 2010). Monsanto Corporation is an agricultural company whose headquarters are based in St. Louis, Missouri. There products include agriculture, vegetable seeds, biotechnology and crop protection chemicals including Roundup. Monsanto has 404 facilities globally, 146 of those are in the United States and they employ over 21,000 people. They lead the world in genetically modified food. Monsanto is also a publicly registered corporation and therefore has a corporate code of ethics. The Monsanto Pledge reads “it is our commitment to how we do business. It is a declaration that compels us to listen more, to consider our actions and their impact broadly, and to lead responsibly” (Monsanto Company, 2002-2011). If Monsanto considers their actions and their claim to lead responsibly then why have they been named the world’s most unethical company' In 2002, Monsanto was found guilty of years of polluting the waters with harmful chemicals and burying waste in landfills in a small Alabama town. In 1999, top scientists issued a warning that genetically manipulated crops could irreversibly change farm soil. In 2002 Monsanto’s PR firm admits to an e-mail campaign to discredit these scientists. Monsanto is well known for “frequently and unfairly suing small farmers for patent infringements” (The Huffington Post, 2012). If they lose the lawsuit, they still achieve their goal as the small scale farmer goes bankrupt due to the lawsuit. To date, Monsanto has filed 90 lawsuits against American farmers. And have an annual budget of $10 million set aside each year to run a department of 75 staff dedicated to prosecuting farmers alone. According to Monsanto’s Code of Ethics, the CEO and the senior leadership of Monsanto’s Finance department are responsible for overseeing that all members within their corporation “act in good faith, responsibly, with due care, competence and diligence, without misrepresenting material facts or allowing one's independent judgment to be subordinated” (Monsanto Corporation, 2002-2011). However, in 2002 when Monsanto’s PR firm admitted to discrediting scientists through an e-mail scheme, was the company acting competent and in good faith as stated in Monsanto’s Code of Ethics' In their Code of Ethics, Monsanto agrees to proactively promote and be an example of ethical behavior in the community. But in 2002 when Monsanto was found guilty of polluting the waters and burying waste in a small Alabama town, were they really setting an example of ethical behavior for that small community' It’s been said that sometimes a company is too big to fail. Well maybe sometimes a company is too big to worry about being ethical. Monsanto has spent and lost hundreds of millions of dollars to lawsuits and cover-ups, but they continue to grow and thrive even with all the bad publicity. The facts are clear, whether we like it or not, the world revolves around money. It has been shown time and time again that some will do almost anything for a dollar. The same is true in this case. Monsanto Corporation is a cash cow and as long as they continue to be a cash cow they will continue business as usual. This corporation is worth billions of dollars and obviously it is cheaper for them to conduct their business in an unethical manner. It works for them so why would they change it' Unfortunately, all businesses no matter how big or small they are, have to deal with ethical decisions and behaviors. Though there is sometimes a difference between unethical behavior and activities that are actually illegal, it is ultimately up to the business itself to determine how to deal with an unethical situation, whether it is legal or not. So how does a corporation become so ethically unglued' Maybe the answers lay in the way a corporations upper management treats or feels about an ethical decision. If the unethical behavior is not illegal it could simply be construed as an area between right and wrong. It could possibly be that the benefits of acting unethically outweigh the harm caused by their actions, or maybe it is simply for selfish reasons. The act of being unethical seems to start out innocently enough like a little white lie and then it snowballs into a giant avalanche. No matter what the reasons, at the end of the day we all have to live with the decisions we’ve made. This is easier for some than for others. For some of us with a conscience we will probably choose to take the socially responsible and ethical route. It is the part of society without a conscience that the world needs to worry about. References Code of ethics for chief executives and senior financial officers. (2003, February 19). Retrieved from http://www.monsanto.com/ourcommitments/Pages/code-of-ethics.aspx The 12 least ethical companies in the world: Covalence's ranking. (2010, January 28). The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/28/the-least-ethical-compani_n_440073.html Williams, C. (2010). Effective management. (fourth ed., p. 66). Mason, OH: South-Western.