Business and Morality

Business and Morality

Ever since I was a young boy I always wanted to emulate my father, so becoming a businessman was just one of the many goals I set for myself. That's why when I applied to Dawson College, there was no doubt in my mind that the Commerce department was the right choice for me. This program is considered to be one of the best amongst all other CEGEP Commerce programs and gives you a chance to dip your foot in the pool of business. Most graduates of this program who intend on continuing down the same path will most likely either apply to Concordia in the John Molson School of Business or to McGill in their Business Management program. Both programs can lead to jobs in the field such as: accounting, marketing, and finance.

Schools, books, and professors can only teach you so much, so when it comes to the real world, you'll have to make some decisions that are solely based on your value system and your moral compass. Moral dilemmas including issues such as confidentiality, whistle-blowing, and duty to your client/employer/society may arise in this line of work and when they do, you can only hope that you make the right decision. An example of this would be if John worked at a marketing company and his boss tells him with the utmost confidentiality that in one month he will be promoted to head of accounts and that the current holder of that position, Doug, will be fired. What his boss doesn't know is that Doug and Steve are good family friends from back in the day. A moral dilemma arises: Steve knows that Doug is a 45-year-old family man; he has three kids to feed and a pregnant wife, along with very tough times now due to the recession. Steve on the other hand is young, single and a marketing stud on the rise. The dilemma is as follows, does Steve fulfill his duty to his employer by keeping quiet about the news he's just received, or does he tell his good friend Doug what's going to happen and give him a head start on managing his expenses, finding another job, and basically getting ready for even tougher times given that he may be unemployed for a while. Steve also knows that to be successful in the marketing world you need new, fresh ideas that target the youth, and a 45 year-old man who just got fired might not be the hottest commodity for a marketing company to pick up. This is a classic case where duty conflicts with sympathies.

Another common occurrence in this field would be when a person is faced with the choice of whistle-blowing which usually involves two options: doing the right thing and calling your company out on their wrongdoing, or sitting quietly and watching the wrongdoing take place. This sort of predicament could come up for an employee who works at a toy company that uses illegal amounts of led in their toys and who's target market is infants and toddlers. Let's just say Mike is that employee and he's