Article about Ethics in China.

Business Ethics in China

by Miriam Schulman

The Chinese, Rothlin said, are very open to considering ethical issues: "They want to be global players, and they realize that in order to become a real global power, they have to eliminate corrupt practices." Many students at the Beijing University of International Business and Economics, where CIBE is based, are pursuing an MBA because they are frustrated by the corruption they witness, he noted.

But the Chinese do not want paternalism from the West. Instead, Rothlin said, they want acknowledgement that "they can offer something, that they can actually become a driver in the field of ethics." Because the Chinese are emerging as an economic powerhouse, any ethical rules they integrate into their businesses practices will have an impact on the whole world.

He gives the same advice to those who want to work with Chinese companies or bring their businesses to China. "The strategy should be to limit the output of Western experts to a minimum," he said. Setting up a code of ethics, for example, should be primarily the job of the Chinese. "It does not mean anything if you translate your existing code from English and distribute it," he cautioned. "The Chinese will say, 'Yes, thank you,' and then throw the code away." Of course, that indifferent kind of implementation would not work anywhere in the world, even, as one member of the partnership pointed out, "in San Diego."

Often, the Chinese see hypocrisy in criticism of their country by companies that tout their own ethical codes but then close their eyes to what their own Chinese subcontractors are doing, Rothlin said. To counteract this skepticism toward Western critiques, he counseled an approach that acknowledges unethical conduct in other cultures as well. Swiss by birth, Rothlin teaches about the failure of Swissair in 2001 "to avoid suggesting that only China has problems."

Rothlin emphasizes China's own philosophical traditions when he talks about business ethics with the Chinese. He gave this example of how he discusses the problem of corruption, which often includes favoring family and cronies. Some students of China have argued that the Chinese are encouraged in such favoritism by their traditions. They point to Confucius' focus on responsibility to family, citing his admonition that a person who sees his father steal a sheep should not turn his father over to the authorities.

For more information you can click this link.
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/ethicalperspectives/business-china.html

In my opinion, China have more ethics and it was their tradition to be polite among each other including in business. However, the corruption in this country is always happen and it's a habit among them. It is not a surprise that China is the highest corrupted country.

Post by Norshafiqah, A139386