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Cross Cultural Ethical Issues

Managers face complex ethical dilemmas when doing business across borders. What is acceptable in one country may be considered unethical in another due to cultural differences. To navigate these issues, managers should choose a balanced approach between strictly following their home country's norms and fully embracing another culture's practices. The balanced approach involves honoring core human values of dignity, rights, and citizenship. It also means respecting local traditions while not violating one's own country's laws. Context is important too - practices acceptable in one place may not be in another due to different economic or social circumstances. Networking and innovative solutions can help resolve cross-cultural ethical challenges.

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Ping Tengco Lopez
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117 views

Cross Cultural Ethical Issues

Managers face complex ethical dilemmas when doing business across borders. What is acceptable in one country may be considered unethical in another due to cultural differences. To navigate these issues, managers should choose a balanced approach between strictly following their home country's norms and fully embracing another culture's practices. The balanced approach involves honoring core human values of dignity, rights, and citizenship. It also means respecting local traditions while not violating one's own country's laws. Context is important too - practices acceptable in one place may not be in another due to different economic or social circumstances. Networking and innovative solutions can help resolve cross-cultural ethical challenges.

Uploaded by

Ping Tengco Lopez
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Tips to Better Manage Cross-Cultural

Ethical Issues
Harvard Business Publishing Staff

Ethical dilemmas—situations where there’s more than one ‘right’


answer—are among the toughest decisions a manager faces.
Ethics get even more complex when companies do business
across borders. What’s perfectly acceptable in one country can,
for cultural reasons, be considered unethical in another.

For example:

 In some countries, it’s respectful for businesspeople to exchange


gifts. In the other countries, lavish gift giving is viewed as bribery.
 Very low wages may be considered unethical in wealthy
developed countries. But developing nations may accept those
wages if they encourage investment and improve living standards.
 Managers in some countries may have a higher tolerance for
bribery than those in other parts of the world. But they
consider taking credit for a subordinate’s achievement a nearly
unforgivable sin.

Such differences—in history, cultural traditions, and level of


development—can make it difficult for managers to know how to
behave.
 

Choose a balanced approach


Managers doing business internationally often take one of two
routes when faced with ethical dilemmas:

 Either they stick rigidly to what’s done at home (i.e., “ethical


imperialism”)
 Or they embrace the foreign country’s norms (i.e., “cultural
relativism”)

Neither of these strategies is ideal because:

 If you always do elsewhere exactly what you do at home, you


might be at a competitive disadvantage. Showing respect for local
customs is an important part of forging business relationships.
 However, if you adopt wholesale a different country’s ways of
doing business, you may inadvertently condone unscrupulous
practices—such as bribery or child labor.

Instead, it’s crucial to find a balanced approach. To do so, adopt


the following guiding principles:

1. Honor core human values


Although business norms differ around the world, research  has
shown there is strong global consensus about what’s fair and
right.

Three core human values form an ethical foundation you can rely
on no matter where you do business—or what profession you’re
in:

Core human value How to honor

 Provide safe,
humane working
conditions
Respect for human dignity
 Value employees,
customers, and
suppliers as individuals

 Uphold individual
rights to health,
education, and equal

Respect for basic rights opportunities in the


workplace

 Pay a fair, livable


wage

Good citizenship  Protect the


environment

 When possible, “give


back”—share a portion
of your gains with
others

Underlying these three values, there’s one time-honored


guideline: treat others the way you would like to be treated . This
one rule appears in some form in every major religion and global
tradition.

2. Respect tradition
When you respect local traditions, you’ll forge relationships
faster and create trust . In turn, that goodwill can help you tackle
sensitive ethical dilemmas.

In Japan, it’s a sign of respect for a businessperson to give a


business partner a gift. When Western businesspeople first
started doing business in Japan, many thought that accepting
these lavish gifts was akin to taking a bribe.

But as Western companies became familiar with Japanese


customs, many understood it was potentially offensive to decline
a gift or to come empty-handed to an important meeting.
Accordingly, many companies decided to set different limits on
gifts in Japan than they do elsewhere.

Even though it is important to respect local traditions, do nothing


that conflicts with the laws that apply to your company at home.
Companies—and the managers who work in them—should not
violate their own country’s laws to fit in with the norms of those
they’re doing business with internationally.

3. Consider the context


Practices that may be wrong in one country may be logical and
even necessary in another. As you weigh an ethical decision,
consider the issue’s background and the reasons the behavior is
accepted where you’re doing business.

For example, consider the following practices:

 Use of pollutants. In places where people are starving, using


pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and other pollutants may be
acceptable because they help produce larger crop yields needed
to feed the population.
 Nepotism. In some countries with high unemployment and
widespread poverty, companies guarantee jobs for employees’
children. This practice is not seen as unethical; it is considered a
cherished employee benefit that brings hardworking families
stability.

Here are some additional tips for adopting a global ethical


perspective:

 Network with colleagues from your home country who work for


trusted companies abroad. How have they resolved ethical
conflicts? Seek advice and examples.
 Support efforts to decrease local institutional corruption. Suggest
that your company join coalitions of businesses, government
officials, and others who are working to combat corruption.
 Be innovative in ethics, just as you are in your products and
services. For instance, if your company risks losing business
because it’s turning down requests for bribes, think of other ways
to gain political support and public trust—such as sponsoring a
project to plant trees or funding local schools.

Harvard ManageMentor Tools:


a) worksheet_for_considering_the_consequences
b) worksheet_for_resolving_a_cross_cultural_ethical_dilem
ma

Adapted from “Global Collaboration” in Harvard ManageMentor

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