Question

Due to issues in international business such as the case of Enron, ethics is now very important in the global environment. Share an unethical case from a caribbean country. Then suggest how firms can incorporate good ethical policies in their daily operations to prevent unethical issues.

Answer 1

In Caribbean land, Jamaica, a new service named Payola came into existence with a unique feature. One can pay a radio station to play a specific music or an artist, and its name is called Payola. From a listener’s point of view, it is a perfect arrangement i.e. I pay to listen the music I like. But, the practice has many negative implications and has given rise to many unethical practices in music industry. Exposure of an artist is critical in music industry and one who receives larger exposure is likely to be in the industry.

Payola has potential for many unethical practices and it is unethical now. Payola stands for ‘pay to play’, and the practice is not unethical in ordinary conditions. But, the participants in the music industry can wrench the facility to promote their favorite artist and marginalize many. Some of the demerits of the Payola system in Jamaica are given below.

• The public are denied the opportunity to listen to some excellent music as there are no sponsors for some excellent music.
• Artists whose albums are projected in Payola are likely to get more sales than who have released albums and depending on other media.
• The integrity of the music business in Jamaica is at stake
• The cost of music may rise as the budgets to get space in Payola increases.
• People or the real listeners are deprived of the opportunity to listen to variety of music. Payola allows playing same music several times, which can push the listeners to other alternatives.

The Payola management is aware of the pitfalls of the system, yet they promote the concept deliberately to garner more money from the music market and push the real music to a corner.

Organizations can undertake specific strategies to avoid unethical practices. Some of the practices are listed below.

• Formulate policies that will require managers to give reasons for their decisions
• Encourage the managers to deal positively with unethical practices and corruption when they are xposed to it
• Protect the ‘whistleblowers’ (those who expose the occurrence of corruption and unethical practice) with policies and positive incentives
• Conduct ethic audit on projects and initiatives to ensure ethical discipline and transparency
• Provide training and workshops to all managers and employees regarding ethical practices in the organization
• Develop systems and processes to rectify unethical practices and restore authentic practices