Question

In Mexico City, a small package arrived from the US by air express and was sent to local customs for clearance. Nothing happened. After repeated unsuccessful attempts to complete the delivery, it was suggested to the intended recipient of the package that a bribe to a customs agent would likely resolve the problem. She refused and requested that the package be returned to its original sender. Again, nothing happened. Then it was suggested that a bribe might be necessary to have customs release the package so it could be returned to its original sender.2 Is this an example of unethical behavior? Why or why not?

In London, a bank trader who worked for both UBS and Citigroup was indicted for trying to rig a global benchmark interest rate that underpins everything from mortgage rates to giant corporate loans.3 While several banks had pleaded guilty to similar charges, none of the executives were sent to jail and this was the first criminal indictment of an individual. In his defense, the bank trader argued that his behavior was in line with industry standards, his bosses knew about and condoned what he was doing, and he never realized his behavior was improper. He was convicted and sentenced to fourteen years in prison. Is this an example of unethical behavior? Why or why not?

In the United States, the average pay of CEOs of large companies was 38 times the average for all US workers thirty years ago. Today it is 224 times. Put another way, the average pay for American workers has grown by three times over the past thirty years, while that of CEOs has grown by seventeen times.4 Is this an example of unethical behavior? Why or why not?

with three examples of potentially unethical behaviors from three different countries. In your view, which of these actually represent unethical (as opposed to illegal) behavior, and why?

Answer 1

In the example of Mexico city, the conduct will be more of an illegal as taking a bribe and offering bribe both fall under the category of illegal activities and many countries have the laws against these kinds of actions.

Teh London case is also the example of illegal activities as the baker did something which was not permitted as per the law. Any sort of rigging in terms of global benchmark interest rate is seen as a serious financial crime.

The last example of the United States is more related to the ethicality as it is up to the organization and its management whether to offer higher salaries to the top executives in comparison to the normal employee. Paying high salaries is not an illegal activity. It is the right of the organization to offer any kind of compensation to any individual on the basis of the job profile, experience an qualification.