Ethics George Williams Assesment

George Williams’s case in Thailand made me think what would be the corrective ethical approach for his business. Me personally I would have paid the bribe to keep business going. After learning about the six different ethical decision making approaches I will still pay the bribe but be convicted on what I am doing is wrong because of my native country. The reason why for my thoughts is that in the United States it is completely wrong and unethical to do such a thing but in a third world country it is normal and if you want to survive then you will have to bribe people to be prosperous. I have heard that in those countries if they don’t bribe people, pay an extra share to the client, or give more than what is stated in the contract then their business will not succeed or something will happen to their family. Unfortunately it is culturally normal to do business that way in third world countries but it has to be done because it is normal!

I was not aware of the six ethical decision making approaches before the exercise but rather I relied on my experiences in the past to make a decision. Without a question this new knowledge will be helpful in the future because it will make me think of the repercussions that can follow if caught. The “Light-of-day” approach brought conviction to me overall! Would I still make a decision if it were printed on the front page of the newspaper? That really opened my eyes to be ethical in all that I do.

No my choice didn’t change the ethical decision making approach after the group discussion. The reason why is that the majority believed that “cultural relativism” was the best approach for this type of situation. We knew that if Mr. Williams’s business was going to survive in a third world country then the norm would be bribery. What caught my attention from my group is that the people who voted yes on the bribe came from different nationalities opposed to the only one from the States that said “don’t