Ethical or law obiding and business success

Ala M. Keys to success in today's business environment. Business Forum [serial online]. Winter97 1997;22(1):24. Available from: MasterFILE Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 20, 2013.

            As I stated in an earlier blog, I have chosen the topic of law versus ethics regarding function of businesses and how each affects the success of business. This article discusses the keys to success within a business. The article is not as current as it possibly could be but the points are still accurate within the article. There are multiple ways a business can succeed but this article explains eighteen key factors to some extent and I will use five of the factors I believe to be the most important with regards to operating a business ethically.

Kaler, John. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 27, No. 1/2, Business Challenging Business Ethics: New Instruments for Coping with Diversity in International Business: The 12th Annual EBEN Conference (Sep., 2000), pp. 161-173

            This article discusses the positive and negative reasons to behave ethically. Meaning there are positive factors that can influence business professionals to behave ethically and there are also negative reasons. It also discusses the internal and external factors that generate ethical or unethical behaviors. The paper explains how increased governmental actions are affecting business. The continued increase in demand for ethical excellence generates higher ethical actions which is also a topic within this article.

Michael, Michael L. Business Ethics Quarterly , Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct., 2006), pp. 475-504

            This is possibly my favorite article I found to assist with my research. This article discusses the effectiveness of laws regarding ethical behavior within businesses. It explains the need for rules and regulations but also the contrast of more unethical behavior present where stricter laws are in place. It addresses the issue that rules or laws are generated from past wrong doings. Laws are limited to the known and when a business acts unethical it commonly falls within the scope of laws.

Porter, Gayle. Journal of Business Ethics , Vol. 17, No. 15, Promoting Business Ethics: The Third Annual International Vincentian Conference (Nov., 1998), pp. 1669-1678

            This article discusses the decline in “the American dream” among adults. This article again is not as current as it maybe should be but it provides great insight as to how expectations and perceptions differ between individuals. It discusses how different perceptions cause people to feel unequal and in turn attempt to re-equalize the situation. As a result of inequality people tend to react either ethically or unethically. This article discusses how “ethical” is a relative term and up for individual interpretation. The article is all about individual perceptions and “feelings” instead of actual number correlation. Meaning how a person feels they are compared to their parents instead of the actual income they receive compared to that of their parents taking into consideration the difference in economic conditions. 

King of the Mountain

I coach a swim team that is a non-profit organization. The head coach of the swim team has no political ties (nor does he want to) within the community. I can see directly that his actions limit the size, resources, and functionality of the team. It could be said that he is in a leadership position and that he directly effects the decisions that over 50 families make on a day-to-day basis. I see people making decisions to spend more money and even relocate (physically move) because they do not like him. However, I also see people going way out of their way to receive coaching from him because they feel he is the best. Regardless of individual perspectives, there is a community that he leads and the collective efficacy is rather high within it. People listen to him and his suggestions are regarded as law quite frequently. I feel that if he connected more with individuals of politics, education, business within the community the team could see that he is a good coach and does have good intentions. With that being said, I also feel that no matter what the ties are that a leader has, the leader has to want what his followers want for the information that Sampson discusses in this chapter to be correct. What I mean is that for the social organization to stay highly persistent over time there must be high collective efficacy among everyone including the leader or the leader must be a good actor.

As far as my research for my presentation goes I am still trying to decide if ethics in business effecting success or community involvement effecting crime rates will be my topic. I have found a few articles for each but not as many as I would prefer for either. I have found the articles regarding ethics in business to be more entertaining which is leaning me toward that topic idea but it is not exactly what I was expecting to do from the start. I have always liked the idea of doing research related to preventing crime but with as many failed businesses are circulating now the articles I am finding may prove just as useful.

To move or not to move

You've read Sampson on mobility and division in Chicago. So, drawing on and integrating your two emphasis areas, how would you answer these two questions: Why do people chose to move to different neighborhoods? 

My two emphasis fields are business and criminal justice. From a business stand point people move from one place to another to find jobs that pay more than their current job. In a sense Sampson is agreeing with this. Sampson states that homeownership reduces the likelihood that an individual will move but he also states that people tend to relocate to an area very similar to their existing area (with the exception of blacks moving to more diverse communities). The text states that the majority of people who move do not change SES nor do they do so because of individual choices. So back to my business reasoning, people moving to find jobs is possible depending on their current circumstances and ethnicity (according to the text) but really not just to find a job. From a criminal justice perspective people relocate to increase their feeling of being safe (lower crime rates). Sampson supports this statement a little by saying that blacks exposed to violence and whites with depression are more likely to relocate. Depression can be caused from many different things but seeing crime all around could be one cause, therefore, crime rate increases cause relocation increases. Sampson also states that blacks relocate more due to their collective perception of disorder.

How likely is it that their individual choices will transform the communities they leave or enter?

According to Sampson, individual choices will have extremely minor (if any at all) effect on the communities they leave or enter unless that individual is tied to a big event changer. What I mean is if the person decides to bomb (my criminal justice emphasis) an important building causing a huge disruption in the norm then that neighborhood or community may change drastically. On the flip side, someone could have ties with a big (and successful) business that drastically changes the community (my business emphasis). These are few and far between but it is possible according to Sampson. 

Let's get started

My first presentation topic idea involves community involvement effecting crime rates. One article discusses the value of bystander involvement and the issues effecting why people don’t get involved when a crime is happening. Some of the discussion topics will relate with crime rates effecting a community’s involvement but others will discuss a community’s involvement effecting crime rates. The other article discusses educational value and benefits within correctional institutions. There are issues developing within the justice system regarding education and prison convictions. I will need to find other articles relating to the topic to assist in further support or research regarding the educational value as well as community involvement value in reducing crime rates, but these two articles appear to be a decent start.

The second presentation topic idea discusses the success of business’s in different types of communities. The first article discusses the impact ethics has on a successful business. Again, more supporting articles will be needed to discuss community effects of personal integrity and ethical behavior, but this article is a good start in correlating ethical behavior and success in business. The second article discusses the relationship between trust and developing big businesses. The article discusses laws regulating business methods and how entrepreneurs view certain laws. Laws are enforced and passed at different levels so community involvement is crucial in establishing standards for business practices.

Behan, C. (2007). Context, Creativity and Critical Reflection: Education in Correctional Institutions. Journal Of Correctional Education, 58(2), 157-169.

Dirk De Clercq, Mourad Dakhli, Personal strain and ethical standards of the self-employed, Journal of Business Venturing, Volume 24, Issue 5, September 2009, Pages 477-490, ISSN 0883-9026

Sergey Anokhin, William S. Schulze, Entrepreneurship, innovation, and corruption, Journal of Business Venturing, Volume 24, Issue 5, September 2009, Pages 465-476, ISSN 0883-9026

Zhong, L. (2009). Bystander Intervention and Fear of Crime: Evidence From Two Chinese Communities. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminolgy. Web. DOI: 10.1177/0306624X08331214