Xmgt 216 Business Ethics Across Cultures

Abstract The following paragraphs will discuss business ethics from different cultural backgrounds. The focus of the backgrounds will be from the Mexican and Chinese aspect of proper business ethics. The articles, Double Standards: Mexico Business and Business Ethics in China are the two articles I will summarize to the reader. I will discuss the primary ethical perspectives of each country covered in the articles, as well as how the articles contributed to a better understanding of global ethical perspectives. Lastly, I will describe the business ethics of each foreign country.
The two articles, Double Standards: Mexico Business and Business Ethics in China, brought an insight into ethics practiced in foreign countries, specifically the countries of China and Mexico. The United States of America has its own regulations and traditions that may, and have, conflicted, in an organizational setting, with the cultures and thoughts of their foreign partners. These “differences” in cultural beliefs or standards are evident in both articles, but the evidence that Globalization is an increasing desire for organizations is apparent as well.
One article displays that in order to have success within a foreign country than we should allow natives of that country dictate the business ethical guidelines within that foreign office or division while the other article shows that a country is visibly being hypocritical of their own accepted guidelines and policies by saying one thing and doing the other. A different continent is not the only differences that Mexico and China are sharing. Both articles suggest accepting or understanding that certain business practices or ethics in these two countries as different but not necessary illegal.

It also suggest that the entire core of an organization must stand firm on certain practices and not have to adjust for profitable business in a country as well. Though differences are evident amongst other countries’’ beliefs and traditions, each country does what it feels will be morally, legally, and profitably positive for their own situation. Business Ethics in China Chinese business ethics and practices center, predominantly, on certain traditions and customs that are possibly considered unethical in the United States. There have been some students of China that argue and state the
Chinese account for their displays of obvious favoritism in business affairs to their traditions, more specifically to Confucius, who focuses on responsibility to family and that taking precedent over even laws (Schulman, 2012). There have been others that counter-argue that Chinese tradition itself saw favoring the family as the root of corruption and instead advocated laws that protect everyone equally, more specifically said by Mozi, who tried to replace the Confucian focus on the clan with a more universal caring (Schulman, 2012).
The book, 18 Rules of International Business Ethics, published by Beijing: Renmin University Press in 2004 uses Chinese experiences for case studies and examples and supporting translation of classic business ethic text to Chinese towards developmental steps towards globalization success in foreign environments. Rule 1 in 18 Rules of International Business Ethics states if you strive to understand the values of different cultures, you will find common points (Schulman, 2012). This simply states that working towards learning and understanding one another is always a positive solution.
The author of 18 Rules of International Business Ethics suggest against bringing in Western experts output and allowing the Chinese to develop their own codes so that their management and other employees may relate to it. Thus, Chinese traditions justify what may seemingly be considered unethical codes or decision-making by the United States of America. Business Ethics in Mexico Mexicans business ethics, as presented in the article Double Standards: Mexico Business, are considered hypocritical and ethically inappropriate from an American’s perspective.
The article, Double Standards: Mexico Business, states business logic is chiefly concerned with profit maximization, which can place ethics within the overall logic of self-interest (Adler, 2006). Discrimination is presumably illegal in Mexico, yet hiring process displays discrimination throughout the country. Employment want ads in Mexico regularly show favoritism of an organization’s desirable employee by hiring discrimination towards certain ages, physical looks, and gender. The individuals and organizations responsible for these discriminatory ads constantly deny their preferences as discriminatory intentions.
A younger employee is desired because it is thought customers would interact better with a younger employee (Adler, 2006). These types of thought processes, and obvious use of hypocritical, discriminating actions used in the hiring process are ethical issues that can conflict with Americans’ ethical outlook. It is a well-known, acceptable practice in Mexico to give pregnancy test to newly hired female employees justified because of the mandatory paid leave of absence (Adler, 2006). It seems Mexican business ethics tend to follow the idea of just staying legal as ethical enough.
It is hard for American organizations to adopt these sorts of ethical practices when operating in Mexico’s territory. General Motors put an end to the pregnancy testing policies desiring a constant ethical standing throughout the whole organization. Mexico’s ethical business and practices leaves a lot to question from the United States of America’s standpoint. Ethical Perspectives and Understanding Global Ethical Perspectives The primary ethical perspectives that China and Mexico have, though different from our own beliefs, have helped the United States of America’s organizations towards effective globalization ventures.
The article, Business Ethics in China, has shown favoritism towards family is considered following Confucius traditions and sayings. The article, Double Standards: Mexico Business, shows clear evidence towards discriminating practices and procedures, but with self-proclaiming of “justifiable” reasoning for preference when hiring employees. Understanding cultural differences is an absolute key in globalization. It has shown success for an organization to ensure cross-cultural training and to step back and allow native leadership and managers to set business ethics codes.
By accepting business ethics that are customary of that particular foreign country, an organization allows managers and employees to better relate to the codes. Should an organization adopt the practice in some countries because it is merely legal? Could adopting the practice of a foreign country cause an inconsistency of ethics within the organization as a whole? Thus, an organization maintaining consistent ethical standards creates the opportunity for success but understanding and adapting will help an organization in a foreign workplace. Comparing Business Ethics of Foreign Nations to the United States of America
Mexico and China share different business ethics codes and practices than the United States of America. For the situation of Mexico performing pregnancy test before hiring a woman, an organization native to the United States of America would view this as unethical, even if it’s considered legal in Mexico. China shows favoritism towards family in organizational situations. This would be considered highly unethical in the United States of America. The United States of America has a set of business ethic codes that regulate against discrimination and bribery. American organizations understand the law and must follow the rules.
It could be said that a country’s ethical views and practices are what make that country what they are. Differences aren’t always a bad thing but it can cause possible conflict in a business ethics situation. Countries should work together to learn about each other’s primary business ethics and try to adapt and compromise towards a similar set of ethical codes. Conclusion The articles, Double Standards: Mexico Business and Business Ethics in China, show that there is a lot to gain in understanding foreign ethics and adapting towards foreign ideas can increase the success of globalization.
There is an obvious difference in how business is conducted in China and Mexico when compared to the United States of America but that is not necessarily bad. Organizations shouldn’t accept a policy that could question the consistency of its ethical values and practices but should attempt to understand why a foreign country practices the ethics it does instead. Cross-culture training is beneficial to an organization’s employees and managers that may be working in a foreign environment.
An organization should do everything within its limits to understand foreign culture and traditions and properly train its employees to practice proper business ethics and regulations. The business practices of organizations in the countries of China and Mexico can help organizations in the United States of America create better business ethics for their personal benefit within their native country. References 1. Schulman, M. (2012). Buisness ethics in china. Retrieved from http://www. scu. edu/ethics/publications/ethicalperspectives/business-china. ht