Ethical Dilemmas Associated with Corporate Bribery
Ethical Dilemmas Associated With Corporate Bribery
ABSTRACT
In today’s business world, bribery has become an everyday problem. Some people consider it to be a fair business tactic, others consider it to be an unethical act. This paper focuses on a particular bribery case and uses three different ethical theories, Utilitarianism, Kant, and virtue ethics to determine whether or not bribery is an ethical or unethical act.
The Case
A former partner of a prominent New Jersey law firm has been indicted on bribery charges in exchange for legislation and other favors intended to benefit the attorney’s land-developer clients. Eric Wisler is charged with making regular payments to Democratic, New Jersey Senator Wayne Bryant totaling $192,000 from 2004 to 2006. Currently, Wisler faces a total of 37 counts of mail and wire fraud, as well as one count of offering a bribe.
The stakeholders in this case involve a large scope of individuals and businesses. Eric Wisler, Wisler’s land developer clients, and Senator Bryant were the biggest stakeholders in this case. However, there certainly were many more affected by these illegal acts. All other land-developers and stockholders were unknowing stakeholders. They were losing business as a direct result of not participating in bribery. Other stakeholders in this case were lawyers and clients in Wisler’s law firm. Some people may also argue that all lawyers in general were stakeholders. Due to the unlawful actions of one lawyer, all other lawyers lose a hint of credibility as a result of this case. The same can be said with politicians. As a result of one Senator’s criminal acts, people’s distrust of politicians builds.
Utilitarian Consideration Utilitarianism is considered a teleological theory, meaning that the rightness of actions is determined solely be the amount of good consequences they produce. According to utilitarianism, morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions. The utilitarian argument is
ABSTRACT
In today’s business world, bribery has become an everyday problem. Some people consider it to be a fair business tactic, others consider it to be an unethical act. This paper focuses on a particular bribery case and uses three different ethical theories, Utilitarianism, Kant, and virtue ethics to determine whether or not bribery is an ethical or unethical act.
The Case
A former partner of a prominent New Jersey law firm has been indicted on bribery charges in exchange for legislation and other favors intended to benefit the attorney’s land-developer clients. Eric Wisler is charged with making regular payments to Democratic, New Jersey Senator Wayne Bryant totaling $192,000 from 2004 to 2006. Currently, Wisler faces a total of 37 counts of mail and wire fraud, as well as one count of offering a bribe.
The stakeholders in this case involve a large scope of individuals and businesses. Eric Wisler, Wisler’s land developer clients, and Senator Bryant were the biggest stakeholders in this case. However, there certainly were many more affected by these illegal acts. All other land-developers and stockholders were unknowing stakeholders. They were losing business as a direct result of not participating in bribery. Other stakeholders in this case were lawyers and clients in Wisler’s law firm. Some people may also argue that all lawyers in general were stakeholders. Due to the unlawful actions of one lawyer, all other lawyers lose a hint of credibility as a result of this case. The same can be said with politicians. As a result of one Senator’s criminal acts, people’s distrust of politicians builds.
Utilitarian Consideration Utilitarianism is considered a teleological theory, meaning that the rightness of actions is determined solely be the amount of good consequences they produce. According to utilitarianism, morality is about producing good consequences, not having good intentions. The utilitarian argument is