Ethics are either universal or situational. The universal argument is that a specific set of behaviors is either ethical or unethical and applies to all organizations in all culture. A situational view of ethics argues that ethics vary under different conditions including the specific values of different cultures.

To explore the issue of ethics in different organizations and the effect of organizational and national culture on the determination of ethical behavior in business, this exercise requires you to locate codes of ethics from different businesses in different cultures. To do this go to the University of Nijenrode's Web site http://www.nijenrode.nl. This site contains an extensive listing of Internet resources related to ethics, business ethics, the environment, philosophy, and the sustainability of organizations. In this site contains codes of ethical conduct for businesses around the world. Select a code of ethics from companies headquartered in Europe, South America, Asia, and the United States.

1. What areas of organizational behavior are covered by the codes?
2. Are different areas of ethics emphasized in different types of corporations?
3. Are the consequences of failing to conform to ethics specified? If so, is there variation among the companies and cultures?

After answering these questions consider the ethics from a comparative perspective by answering the following:

Is there data indicating that organizations located in different cultures treat ethical issues differently?

• Present your answers to the questions above in a short essay.

1. http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/resources/business/
   This site, Business Ethics Resources, contains a broad set of ethics-related links ranging from papers to resources on specific ethics-related topics, institutions, and organizations.
   
   

• In a brief paper describe the essential features of your ethical code and apply them to the issues of corporate bribery, gender in the workplace, and environmental pollution.