Businesses are encompassed by many ethical challenges that surround industry players. The defense and aerospace industry depends largely in upholding integrity in bidding, negotiating and performing contracts. Companies, such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin are regarded to behave ethically towards their customers, suppliers, competitors, employees, and stakeholders (according to this website- http://www.ifbec.info/assets/globalprinciples.pdf .) These global principles highlight the essential issues that may impact ethical business conduct.
Ethics are based on both individual beliefs and social concepts that are different from situation to situation and from culture to culture. Unethical or illegal activities by either managers or employees plague companies and many firms. In order to take additional steps to encourage ethical behavior in the workplace is that many companies set up codes of conduct. Industry players have to follow standard procedures for the company they are working in and these ethical guidelines play an important role in how the company operates.
Various examples suggest that ethical responses can be learned through experience. For example, the Boeing Company (part of the defense and aerospace industry) is a public company that has major ethics programs. All managers are required to go through periodic ethics training to remind them of the importance and values of ethical decision making and in addition, updating them on current laws and regulations that can be relevant to their firms. The department of defense employees (such as directors or managers) have substantial and administrative duties that largely ties in with the successful operation of the committee and as well as the mission. Ethical challenges that these industry players have experienced can be a conduct of conflict of interest. A conflict of interest occurs when an activity may benefit the individual to the detriment of his/her employer. For example, according to a department of defense’s ethical guideline (www.dod.gov/dodgc/defense_ethics/resource.../DFO_COIguide.doc) a conflict of interest can occur when “the employee owns stock in the prime or subcontractor that supplies the weapon; the spouse of the employee owns stock in, or works for, the contractor(s).” These are just some of the ethical challenge that industry players can experience that may impact on business ethical conduct.
From reading different guidelines for the strucutre of ethics in a company, I think that it's crucial the values that these guidlines create and how it's implemented. It can really build a company or really hurt it in the longrun.
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