Week 5 ethics

Teacher What new ethical and social responsibility issues might present themselves when moving from a domestic-only organization to one that reaches a global arena? Why are they different?
The major ethical and social responsibility that organizations need to consider when they go global is to remain local in perspective even when the organization is already in a global stage. This has ethical and social implication as the organization may tend to apply its local organizational culture to its foreign operation without regard to the cultural sensibilities of their foreign counterpart. For example, being straightforward may be a valued trait in the US but is frowned in Asia where face saving is more important. The organization must be sensitive to these differences because it could spell the difference between the success and failure of their foreign operation.
2. How can organizations specifically prepare themselves to operate in a global environment? What can be done when organizations from differing cultures are conducting business together and their ethical viewpoints are not aligned? Can you think of any recent examples where this was headline news? What occurred in those situations?
Organizations must prepare about the relativity of culture across countries. What may be considered unethical and improper in one country may be acceptable in another country. For example, gift giving and receiving gifts in the US in the context of business may be frowned upon as improper and downright unethical and viewed as a bribe. In China however, it generally part of their culture to give gifts when doing business and is never perceived as improper which is a common complaint of western expatriates that used to banner in the news. To avoid this relativity of ethical standpoint, a certain standard of ethics in organization must be established and followed by the organization in all their transactions. In the case stated, this could be in the form of receiving gifts from suppliers to avoid favouring one supplier over the others.