Sales Ethics Is an Oxymoron - Essay Example

Business Ethics as an oxymoron Introduction Business ethics is a hotly contested issue looking from a number of business related publications. Corporations have developed codes of ethics in which they proclaim to abide by yet the same corporations stand accused of unethical behaviour. This has resulted to the terming of business ethics as oxymoron. This implies that business and ethics are blatant contradictions. Going by this definition, a business itself is not an ethical entity. Put in the case of a salesperson, the legitimacy of business ethics is further questioned based on the fact that many salespersons are accused of having the interest of businesses first in terms of profits rather than those of the consumer. This paper discusses the ability of a salesperson to be ethical from a theoretical and empirical perspective by exploring a number of theories and cases from current literature. Discussion Ethics have a place in business, but do business has place for ethics? Ethics dictate that entities vow and commit to do the right thing no matter the rules laid out. A Business on the other hand is an entity aimed at pursuing private interests such as aggressively competing against others and having unlimited ambition for money, position and power (Shaw 2010). This might qualify as a good definition for greed. Being ethically responsible and morally upright means not hurting others, deliberately or accidentally and placing other peoples’ interests ahead of one’s interests. Being ethical requires one to treat others with dignity and respect. Observing such ethical demands in business is not realistic. It can cost one’s business a lot in terms of sales, promotions, profits and even interfere with business growth strategies (Mandal 2006). So can the two still work in unison? Marvin Bower, the former managing partner of McKinsey & Company, said that “There is no such thing as Business Ethics. There is only one kind-You have to adhere to the highest standard” (Harding, 2006, p.169). Business ethics stems from applied or professional ethics; a branch of ethics that probes into the ethical issues arising in business environments. Ethics addresses concepts such as right and wrong, good and evil, justice and crime among others. The requirement for an individual to be ethical surpasses the obligation to obey the rules or laws laid out by legal authorities (Fritz and Vaidya 2008; Mandal 2010). The fact that money is an insatiable commodity presents an even taller order for business people to adhere to business ethics. Sales persons in particular face an uphill task in adhering to business ethics as in most cases they are paid on commission. Therefore, in their pursuit of their sales target and higher pay, they are likely to overlook ethical considerations in their line of work. This paper assesses whether ethics in sales is an oxymoron. There are various philosophical approaches to ethics and morality in business. In teleological ethics, individuals derive moral obligation or duty from what is desirable and right out of an achievement (Mandal 2010). It is also known as consequentialism ethics. Modern ethics from the 18th century have categorized teleological ethics as utilitarian ethics since in both cases, it is the achievements that matter and prove the morality/ethicality of an action. Deontology ethics contrasts utilitarian ethics. Utilitarian ethics stem from “utility” or the usefulness of engaging in an activity or venture. How right or wrong an action was when an individual or a corporate body was pursuing it is determined by its consequences (Harding, 2006). Utilitarianism is an ethics theory that proposes that the proper course of action to be taken in any decision making process is the one that maximizes the overall good for the highest number of individuals (Mandal 2010). Utilitarianism is thus a form of consequentialism in that the outcomes of an action determine its moral worth. For firms and their salespersons, the consequences of their actions on the mass market determine how ethical their actions are. Deontology, as another philosophical approach applied to business ethics is based on the idea that actions do not have intrinsic moral values. Some actions are fundamentally considered good while others are considered bad. Immanuel Kant, the key representative of the theory, the consequence of an action cannot change its intrinsic value. For instance, no matter how much good comes out from lying, the action will never be right. Kant argued that human have a natural good will and obligation to perform their duties and hence they should rhyme. For that reason, “a persons motive for action must be a recognition of the duty to act; it should be done for the sake of obligation and not because coincidentally happens to be what is wanted to be done anyway” (Blocher, 2008, p.9). This means that manipulative advertising and misinformation in order to make sales for the part of salespersons “interfering with the potential buyers reflective choice violates the principle of respect for persons. This means that if organisations, through their marketing efforts carry out activities not because they are good and ethical but because they benefit them, then the action(s) is prudent but not moral or ethical. This alone shows that promotions, sales ad discounts meant to increase sales are not ethical unless corporations enact them for the sole benefit of the potential buyers. Teleopathy refers to the unbalanced pursuit of objectives. According to Shaw teleopathy in ethics is simply an emphasis for individuals and corporations to “walk the talk.” (Shaw 2000) Businesses ought to live up to the perception of the general public. As business people pursue their objectives they ought to adhere to business ethics. This is essence compels salesperson to stick to stated ethical values of their organisations. Through an unbalanced pursuit of ethical values, the firms are able to deliver on their promises rather than seeking to please everyone. This works best for businesses that have a clear cut understanding of their markets. By understanding the market, the marketer is able to segment the market depending on perceived needs and expectations and the ethical values of that particular market. In some cases, salespersons tend to fail in this aspect because they seek to please in every manner and impress the potential buyer. Their enthusiasm to make a sale may see them acting unethically intentionally or unintentionally. The philosophical term Libertarianism comes from the word liberty- which is the right to govern oneself based on free will. Libertarianism advocates for minimal influence and maximization of individual liberty will (Smith, 2009). Libertarianism encompasses the right to govern oneself as well and is of the moral perspective that agents wholly own themselves and are entitled to moral powers regarding acquisition of property (Shaw 2010). In this regard, salespersons are considered to act ethically so long as they do not take away the liberty of their potential consumers. To some extent the liberty of consumers is interfered following the actions of marketers and salespersons. They work so hard to push the agenda of their firms of increasing sales, gaining a larger market share and growing their profits that can affect the potential consumer. Many individuals have gone broke courtesy of over consumption especially on luxury items. Their liberty is taken away over consumption courtesy of marketers and salespersons. Another term relating to business ethics is consumerism. The term refers to the promotion of the consumer’s interests (Stohl, Mendez and Popova 2008). Potential customers of any given business products or services have unique needs which they believe can be satisfied by consuming the offered goods and services by the salespersons. Firms are thus driven by consumer needs to develop goods and service. However, such firms may overlook ethical consideration in their business processes in order to meet their clients’ needs. For instance, car marketers such as Ford and Toyota have experimented with non fossil fuels in their vehicles. However, the cost for such environmentally friendly vehicles e very high as compared to vehicles consuming fossil fuel whose low price encourages demand. In the quest to meet demand, firms are forced to keep producing the more environmentally harmful fossil fuel engines to meet consumer need. While firms may be willing to act ethically, consumerism and he need to stick to business objectives cannot allow them to. Conclusion There are various approaches to the ethics question in business. When looked from a business perspective, it is difficult to act fully ethically and even more difficult for the salespersons. Firms can be proactive in their pursuit of acceptable ethical behaviour, but the same cannot be achieved by salespersons if business objectives are to be retained. Furthermore, the mere description of a business in any industry makes way for unethical behaviour. Consumerism for instance is the greatest challenge for any firm seeking to act ethically. The pursuit of profits supersedes that of the need to act in a socially acceptable ethical behaviour. As such, I business ethics is an oxymoron. However, this does not prevent firms from proclaiming their adherence to specified ethical behaviours as a marketing strategy. References Blocher, H. Advertising Ethics- An oxymoron? London: GRIN Verlag, 2008. Fritz A. and Vaidya, A. Business in Ethical Focus: An Anthology London: Broadview Press, 2008 Harding, F. Creating Rainmakers: the Manager Guide to Training Professionals to Attract New Clients. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. Mandal, S.K. Ethics in Business and Corporate Governance. Mumbai: Tata Mcgraw-Hill, 2010. Shaw, William. Business Ethics: A Textbook with Cases. London: Cengage Learning, 2010. Smith, Jeffrey. Normative Theory and Business Ethics. London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. Stohl, Chris, Stohl Mendes and Lucy Popova. “A New Generation of Corporate Code of Ethics,” Journal of Business Ethics 90, no. 4 (2007): 607-622 Read More