How can there be ethics in business?

Welcome back! This is Don Mayer, Professor of Business Ethics and Legal Studies at the University of Denver. This is lecture 3 of the Henry Stewart Talks: What about business ethics? In this lecture, we ask and answer: Can there be ethics in business and why should business people care about ethics?

Tuning into current cultural memes at least in the US, it can often sound like the end justifies the means, that the winners write the history books and to the victors go the spoils. If winning is the most important thing, then you should do whatever it takes to win. Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's, once said "If any of my competitors were drowning I'd stick a hose in their mouth and turn on the water". It is Ridiculous to call this an industry, this is not, this is rat-eat-rat, dog-eat-dog. I'll kill him and I'm going to kill him before they kill me. You're talking about the American way of survival of the fittest, yet Ray Kroc also said If you work just for money, you'll never make it. But if you love what you're doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours. This introduces the idea that each business has numerous stakeholders, people, and institutions that are affected by the decisions of the business. Ray Kroc like management guru Peter Drucker was emphasizing the importance of having customers and the necessity of taking care of customer's actual and potential. In any business you want to keep the customers you have. The best way to do that, is to take the best possible care of them. The entrepreneurs and even large companies who forget that, they usually run into trouble. It's never just about you minding the store means minding the customer. But what about employees or investors or suppliers or creditors, all of them have a stake in your business whether small or large. You had better find ways of minding their needs in a way that will keep them close to you. No business thrives with a constant employee turnover or unhappy creditors that want to throw you into bankruptcy. A sound approach to business requires you to give mindful moral consideration to all of your stakeholders. Many management experts will say that your most important internal stakeholders are your customers and your employees, treating both with great respect will be the best path to business success. A few years ago, I had a student with a new GM truck that had some serious issues, after some negotiating GM did the right thing and replaced his truck. He wrote about this saying I don't believe they build inferior products any car or truck can have issues. I was very happy to see they decided to stand behind their products and I respect the manager of the dealership for his part and making sure the process was smooth. He told GM, he would be a loyal customer for life. It can be so easy to disrespect your customers, I once worked for some people in the hotel business that regarded people as wallets disguised as human beings. What was in their wallets or purses was always more important to them than the customer experience. While it is not true that the customer is always right those scammers are everywhere, it is important to focus on considering how your own actions can enhance your customer's experience. My former employers, not coincidentally, often failed to show respect and fairness to their employees and their suppliers. They seem to enjoy making their suppliers and contractors wait for months and months before finally paying what was justly owed.