The gift is something that is given voluntarily and without compensation. It is often given in appreciation, as a thank you, or in response to a favor. Many gifts are given freely and without strings attached, but in most cases, gifts are given with the expectation of receiving something in return. This makes it difficult for some people to accept gifts regardless of the sincerity of the giver, therefore accepting gifts frequently or carelessly can lead to abuse and an ethical dilemma.
To discover when it is ethically correct to accept a business gift, it is important that we take a critical look at the word “ethical.” It is no longer news that there is a widespread crisis of security and trust in the global corporate culture. In fact, what is in the news today is that, as a result of this crisis, trust, which is the basis of all relationships, has been broken between many organizations and their constituents. This loss of trust has led to loss of reputation and ultimately loss of business. Furthermore, ethical failures can have substantial financial consequences for corporations with very expensive litigation and government fines.
Developing an effective ethics program to help foster an ethical culture throughout the organization will be productive when clear and effective means of communication are used to convey to stakeholders, such as employees, the community, and the government, the values of the organization. organization and commitment to ethics. behaviour. This is necessary because developing an ethical culture within an organization can not only prevent wrongdoing, but can also increase morale, loyalty and productivity.
Ethics, which has to do with one’s feelings, helps tell one what is right and what is wrong. Being ethical is doing what the law says or requires, although ethics has nothing essentially to do with the law. Ethics works best on those attributes of behavior that are not covered by law and are detrimental to the well-being of an organization. It is difficult to pinpoint what “ethics” means, even with the various views that people have on it, but it consists of the norms of behavior that society accepts.
Therefore, to answer the question of when it is ethically correct to accept a business gift, we must view ethics in two ways: as a well-founded standard of right and wrong that prescribes what humans should do, usually in terms of of rights, obligations, benefits for society, equity or specific virtues, and the study and development of their own ethical standards.
As well-founded standards of right and wrong, we speak of those standards that impose reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, robbery, murder, assault, slander, and defraud. There are also those who, in addition to recommending the virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty, emphasize rights, such as the right to life, the right to be free from harm, and the right to privacy.
On the part of the study and development of the ethical norms themselves, we are concerned with the examination of conscience to discover those well-founded and reasonable norms, since the laws, feelings and social norms can deviate from the ethical. Thus, the continuing effort to study one’s moral beliefs and moral conduct, and strive to ensure that oneself and the institutions one helps to form, measure up to soundly based and reasonable standards.
In other words, since no human being can totally shy away from gifts, especially in the performance of their duties, there are periods when business gifts are ethically permissible. These may include, among other things, benefits for excellent performance, which must not be commensurate with the size of the job, otherwise it becomes a bribe. Social functions can also take on the guise of a giveaway if there is no promotional value attached to the event. Such events may include the celebration of holidays such as Christmas, Eid-kabir or New Year, etc., but accepting gifts with conditions attached (Greek gifts) is an indication that the recipient is behaving unethically.
