They might be stupid, they might be illegal, and they might be the wrong thing to do. Drucker strongly objected to this "new business ethics" which asserted that acts that are not immoral or illegal if done by private citizens became immoral or illegal if done in the context of a business organization without examining the circumstances. But this was clearly not an ethical issue on the part of the individual forced to pay. And certainly paying extortion was never desirable. For example, some countries that expect "baksheesh" as the traditional way of doing business in their country ignore any laws that may have been enacted as "window dressing" for countries not having this as part of their own culture.ĭrucker noted that a private citizen who was extorted to pay a bribe to a criminal might be considered foolish or a helpless victim of intimidation. Yet it is a fact that bribery, as we define it, is routine and expected in some of these countries. But was paying bribes in itself only a violation of the law or of business ethics? Most countries have laws against bribery. This was cited as a gross violation of "business ethics."ĭrucker was very clear on this.
As a result, practices of questionable morality in one locality might not only be considered acceptable, they could be considered quite ethical.ĭrucker noted that bribery was hardly desirable from the viewpoint of the victim from who a bribe was exhorted, and it had been made illegal in the United States by a law prohibiting the payment of bribes to obtain foreign contracts. Differences due to different social or cultural mores might also be accepted. Yet a mother stealing to feed a starving child might be excused. "Thou shalt not steal" is one of the Ten Commandments. First, clemency might be granted to a violator who commits violations of the code under certain circumstances. However there were various types of extenuating circumstances within this tradition.
He found one point of complete agreement: that there is only one ethics, one code of individual behavior in which the same rules apply to everyone alike. He began with ethical authorities from the western tradition and expanded his search to both geographically and historically. However, from both his writing and classroom lectures, it was clear that he struggled mightily to arrive at basic ethical principles which were essential since he believed that ethical behavior was an absolute requirement of all organizational leaders, and his study of leadership led him to the conclusion that while followers would forgive a leader much, they would not forgive the leader a lack of integrity.ĭrucker’s Analysis of Business Ethics for the Leaderĭrucker looked at ethics from various viewpoints. On a personal level, he was one of the most ethical individuals I have ever met. Drucker was extremely ethical in his outlook and all he did.
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