Business Bluffing and Ethics at Work BUS 1040 Term Project By: Kassidy King

Transcription

1 King1 Business Bluffing and Ethics at Work BUS 1040 Term Project By: Kassidy King Submitted to M. Lambert 3 Dec. 2012

2 King2 INTRODUCTION Is business bluffing (lying) ethical? Some would argue that yes, it is ethical and you have to do what you have to do to be successful as a business. To some, business is just a big game of poker. Many people believe that lying in business is the only way out. On the other hand, some say that business bluffing is not ethical and the business world would be better off without it. This can be a very big discussion or argument about when is it ok for a business to bluff or lie or if it is ever ok for a business to bluff in order to satisfy a customer. I have found a couple of definitions for business bluffing: When you deceive someone about something and give them a false impression. (Studymode 2012) To pretend to be confident about an uncertain issue or to have undisclosed resources, in order to influence or deter someone. (Thefreedictionary 2012) During my research I have found and answered many of these questions: Is business bluffing ethical? When is it ok to bluff? The five most common lies in business? What is bait and switch? My research consists of both reading and interviewing; I interviewed: David Lassig, Owner of Professional Systems Technology. I read the following articles and books that explain what and how people feel about business bluffing and ethics at work, and also if they are for or against this topic. Some discuss how lying in a business can affect the way a business is looked at The book Understanding Business Ethics Roger Bradburn, FINDINGS Is business bluffing ethical?

3 King3 I have always had the thought of is it ok to lie or tell a bluff as a business or big corporation and is it ethical? Albert Z Carr goes on to explain about the world of bluffing and if it is it ethical: Business, like poker, is often a game of strategic bluffs. The worlds of private and business life are separate and demand separate codes of ethics. The pressure to deceive is felt everywhere in business and deceptions are ethically justifiable. If public opinion and legal authorities raise a clamor, industry will create and enforce its own code to avoid government regulation. Blatantly unethical practices only serve to spoil the consumer environment in the long run. Aggression and competition are built into our society and business provides a useful outlet for them. The individual is pressured in many of these instances and must subordinate his feelings to carry out the objective. Departing from the strict truth and the golden rule is part of the strategy of business. (Carr 1968) The author of the following isn t for business bluffing and is very against the idea. The author explains what lying does as a business and who it affects (not effects ): Lies in business can cost people jobs, destroy companies and cost good people a lot of money. Lies in business happen by telling people that a product can do something that it really can't do, or not telling people that a product could harm you, or destroying a near by river with hazardous wastes, selling broken products or creating false information from your customers and investors etc. There are lots of ways to lie and lots of different ways it affects people. (Teaching kids business 2000) Another example that I found was in a very interesting book called Understanding Business Ethics. Roger Bradburn wrote this book in Bradburn explains in text about how the role as a business man/women and ethics go together. He explains that how ethics have a part to play in the day to day business of being a manager. By saying that in truth business and life in general do not have precisely the same set of rules. However, the idea that it is acceptable to tell untruths in business because business is like that is very dangerous. The businessbluffing concept in also dangerous. As we have seen, in extreme cases, it can kill people. Bluffing can also undermine the spirit of cooperation that is essential to business success. Success in business life is ultimately about cooperation and a lack of cooperation often leads to poor quality products. (Bradburn, 2001) When is it ok to bluff? Have you ever wondered when is it ok to bluff or if it is ever ethical to bluff? I wanted to know if there were any businesses out there that have a strategy and

4 King4 think that it s ok to bluff. I found this article ( Is It Ok to Lie In a Business Context? ) about Pizza Hut and how they say lying is good for business. Consider Pizza Hut. When you ask how long it will take to prepare the pizza you ordered, the waitress will say "20 minutes." This is called the "standard waiting time." Staff are instructed by management to tell the customers that they will get their pizza in twenty minutes. The "standard waiting time" has nothing to do with how long it take to prepare the pizza, especially when the restaurant is crowded! Why? Assume the waitress says 30 minutes. About 10% of the customers would leave and go the MacDonald's or KFC. Assume the restaurant is crowded and the waitress says 45 minutes! About 30% of the customers would leave. And what if the restaurant is very crowded and the honest waitress says 60 minutes! The waitress would be fired because 50% of the customers would leave! Therefore, sometimes lying is good for business! (Answers 2011) The five most common lies in business During my research I was curious to see what the most common lies in business are. After finding these lies and bluffs, I was pretty shocked because I have heard all these and have been told some of them personally: 1. Lie: People are our most important asset. Truth: People are our most worrisome and unpredictable asset. Our most important assets are really our financial assets. 2. Lie: This was a rational decision. Truth: I wanted to do this. 3. Lie: We judge people by their performance. Truth: I judge your performance based on how much I like you. 4. Lie: This is business, it isn't personal. Truth: Everything's personal. 5. Lie: The customer comes first. Truth: I come first. (Housen 1997) Bait and Switch Another common bluff that a lot of companies try to use is called the bait and switch. A dishonest marketing tactic in which a marketer advertises a very attractive price/rate/term that is really a teaser rate meant to attract customers. Once the customer comes into the store/office to inquire about

5 King5 the advertised price/rate (the "bait"), the advertiser will attempt to sell the customer a more expensive product (the "switch"). (Investopedia 2009) Interview During my research I interviewed David Lassig, owner of Professional Systems Technology, also known as PST, a low voltage company that deals a lot with fire alarm systems, locking systems, access control, camera systems, and theft protection mostly on the commercial side of things. I decided to do my interview with David Lassig because they work a lot with sub contractors and other businesses to complete a job. During my interview I asked him some questions about business ethics and also about how he feels about business bluffing. Following are my questions and his responses: Do you think business ethics are important? David responded with Yes, absolutely. It is very hard for a company to be successful without some sort of ethics involved in the business What part of ethics does your company practice? As a company we try to be as close together as possibly. We aren t only friends at work but outside of work too. Its It s important to us to make sure our employees are trained with the training they need, we try to take consideration of our employees life outside of work and try to understand situations going on at home as long as it doesn t affect the company in a huge impact. Honestly, respect, and hard working. What are your thoughts on business bluffing? David responded No company or corporation wants to been know as that company who lies about everything and can t be trusted. Without trust it s almost impossible to succeed. It isn t very ethical to always be telling lies and bluffing about everything. BUT also in order to be successful you have to make money and sometimes that consists of playing the game. As a company we bid on certain jobs, depending on the overall cost of how much we think it s going to be to do that job. We have to be the lowest bidder but at the same time bluff about how much it really costs us as a company in order to make money. We also have to call the bluff of other companies and bid according to what we think they are bidding. Its It s all just a game. What about bluffing or lying to a customer? David responded with If it has to do with something were my employees screwed up or did something wrong my policy is you have to man up and take full responsibility of the situation. I believe that other companies would rather you be honest than getting caught up in a lie, because most of the time those lies come back at your hard. Graphs and charts about ethics at work:

6 King6 (Shafer, 2008) (NEASC, 2012)

7 King7 CONCLUSIONS Business bluffing is not ethical For my conclusions about business bluffing, I am going to use what Roger Bradburn wrote in his book Understanding Business Ethics. Again he said: The business-bluffing in concept is dangerous. As we have seen, in extreme cases, it can kill people. Bluffing can also undermine the spirit of cooperation that is essential to business success. Success in business life is ultimately about cooperation and a lack of cooperation often leads to poor quality products. (Bradburn 2001) Business bluffing as a poker game Business bluffing has been referred to as a poker game, but in reality poker players often lose big time due to bluffing and in business, bluffing can do a lot of damage to your company. I think that all businesses do have to play the game and compete to be the better business. It s all apart of being successful and making money but you also have to be cautious about what bluffs you tell and how often you actually tell those bluffs. Business ethics are very important to a business Business ethics are very important to a company or corporation because it affects how the public image looks at you, how the investors look at you, and how it affects your partnership.

8 King8 SOURCES Bait and Switch Investopedia. Web. Bradburn, Roger. Understanding Business Ethics Book Business Ethics-Lying Teaching Kids Business. Web. Carr, Albert Z Is Business Bluffing Ethical? Web. ENG Gryphon, Shafer Five Stages of Ethical Erosion Web. Housen The Five Most Common Lies In Business Fast Company. Web. Is It Ok to Lie In a Business Context? Answers. Web Lassig, David Interview