5.3 Cases of clear-cut corruption
Certain kinds of corruption leave no doubt as to how they should be adjudged. Where corruption is practiced as a means of gaining unlawful advantage, judgment can be pronounced unequivocally and without undue cerebration: the practice is unlawful and therefore cannot be considered legitimate under any circumstances. Business institutions are thus well-advised to make it known publicly that they do not tolerate the practice-not even when it might be commercially expedient and would quite probably go undetected. Employees who contravene this unambiguous declaration of corporate policy should not only be sacked but also reported.
Arriving at a verdict on large-scale corruption is also fairly easy to do. Wherever companies stoop to pushing lavish purchase decisions at odds with local realities whetting officialdom's appetite for outsized, technically over- complex or otherwise ill-suited goods and services either by offering “commissions” or knuckling under when they are demanded, their conduct is illegal- and in acting thus they become accomplices to the damage inflicted upon the commonwealth.
5.4 Grey zones of evaluation
Where “expediting contributions” or gifts have the effect of prompting an official to do something that he would be duty-bound to do in any case and to do it adequately and within a reasonable period – in other words, where the sole object of the bribe is to provoke the actual carrying out of an act that is perfectly legal as such – I see no great moral problem. There is one, to be sure, in that someone who can afford to pay for speeded-up attention to his business enjoys an illegitimate edge over those unable to do so. Even if rewarding an official for seeing to a legitimate piece of business without delay may in certain circumstances be the “lesser” evil, an evil it remains nevertheless. For this reason a company and its employees in positions of responsibility should never under any circumstances have recourse to corruption as the means to an end, whatever this may be.
Where someone is at the receiving end of an extortionate demand, passing judgment on the ethics of the situation can prove difficult. This is particularly the case when the outcome effectuated with the aid of corruption not only does not harm the public interest but even turns out to have positive ripples.
How does one decide when government employees insist on their “commission” and make it clear that a job just won't get done without it? If a person is being blackmailed and submits, could we not say that he has acted in self-defense (36) and is therefore not morally culpable? In the ethical perspective what is the “lesser evil” in this case:
In the course of fully legal sales negotiations having to do with a legitimate order of business – this in a milieu well-known to be corrupt – a demand for graft is insinuated, rejection of which would result in the loss of many company jobs. In weighing every aspect of the situation must we not also take into account the palpable privations that, say, a steelworker in the Ruhr area or a Lockheed aircraft employee might suffer from the loss of his job because his company refuses to pay the “locally customary” bribes in certain developing countries as the price of landing major orders?
On the basis of corporate ethics theory it is easy to respond to questions of this sort, for heroic moralism has only one thing to say to corruption of any and every kind: no. The practical value of the no is slight, however. “White sheep” companies that consistently conduct themselves morally cannot, it is obvious, survive in a herd of black sheep. Approaches to solutions must, to have a chance of lasting success, not only tackle the problem on the corporate playing field. They must be more complex in conception, include various levels, and take hold as a concerted plan of action. Be fair
Here again the application of the “Golden Rule” is an important point in question. It opens a variety of reflections for example with regard to one's attitude towards colleagues on the same hierarchical level (key word: mobbing) and with regards to those who have lower ranks in the company (key words: respect, freedom, dignity). Let us share two short case studies:
Suppose you have just heard that one of the most important members of your staff is prepared to leave your department in order to accept a position in another department within your company. The new job would be a challenge and provide excellent career opportunities. You have no doubt that your employee would fit in very well and would be able to meet the requirements of the new position. At the same time you would lose your best team member and your department's performance would suffer seriously, and so would your bonus. The person would be very difficult to replace.
That person's potential new boss has asked for your opinion and has made it clear that your input will be crucial for his/her decision to offer the job to your team member. Will you be fair and give your honest opinion and provide a strong recommendation? Or will you want to keep your staff member and hence mislead the inquiring person?
Or suppose, you have a staff member who has been a consistently poor performer – in spite of your best attempts to help. This person has informed you that he/she has applied for a job outside the company and asked you to give her/him references.
Will you give your honest judgement and run a risk to keep the person for the rest of your corporate life or will you recommend him/her against better knowledge and get a chance for making her/him leave the company? It is obvious, that the commandment “Be Fair” can be quite a tough one to follow.
The consequences of the commandment “Be Fair” for the pharmaceuticals industry here could, for instance, be debated on the principle of “acting on suspicion”, i.e. when a corporation learns that one of its products, whose safety has up to now been mostly beyond doubt, has been associated with incidents that do not tie in with experience to date. Waiting until the ultimate scientific proof is available would go against the principle of justice discussed here.