Sales Ethics Is an Oxymoron
It has said that Sales Ethics is an oxymoron. Do you agree? Discuss this statement.
Oxymoron is defined as a figure of speech which enforces terms which may seem contradictory. Are sales ethics controversy? Business Ethics describes the moral content of behaviour practiced within a certain organisation (Hair, J. F, Anderson, R. A, Mehta, R, and Babin, B. J.) It is the study of how people with business relationships react when they face a particular situation with moral consequences. Trust is a major factor concerning business ethics. Conversely, Sales management ethics is the specific component of business ethics that deals with ethically managing the sales function as sales manager’s priorities is to supervise the relationship bonded between the customer and a salesperson by ensuring that the relationship between the customer and salesperson is an honest one. Making the right decision can be very difficult for instance a majority of people would agree that honesty is an important ethical principle. Take in consideration an honest salesperson that have to meet ends of a looming end of month quota and is required to close one big deal to avoid falling short of the number. Will that salesperson fall short or will he or she undertake measures which may be unethical to reach those numbers. Sales Ethics provide aid in helping to shape a beneficial outcome for the concerning parties and stakeholders.
Are salespeople more unethical than anyone else? It is proven that Sales managers and salespeople are not more likely to engage in unethical practices than are people with other marketing and management jobs. In reference to (Gene R. Laczniak and Patrick E. Murphy) significant questions are needed to be answered before taking action: is it legal? Will it infringe any regulations or laws enforced by the organisation? Does it contradict moral obligations that are specific to a certain organisation body? It is not always simple to act ethical and to oblige with the
Oxymoron is defined as a figure of speech which enforces terms which may seem contradictory. Are sales ethics controversy? Business Ethics describes the moral content of behaviour practiced within a certain organisation (Hair, J. F, Anderson, R. A, Mehta, R, and Babin, B. J.) It is the study of how people with business relationships react when they face a particular situation with moral consequences. Trust is a major factor concerning business ethics. Conversely, Sales management ethics is the specific component of business ethics that deals with ethically managing the sales function as sales manager’s priorities is to supervise the relationship bonded between the customer and a salesperson by ensuring that the relationship between the customer and salesperson is an honest one. Making the right decision can be very difficult for instance a majority of people would agree that honesty is an important ethical principle. Take in consideration an honest salesperson that have to meet ends of a looming end of month quota and is required to close one big deal to avoid falling short of the number. Will that salesperson fall short or will he or she undertake measures which may be unethical to reach those numbers. Sales Ethics provide aid in helping to shape a beneficial outcome for the concerning parties and stakeholders.
Are salespeople more unethical than anyone else? It is proven that Sales managers and salespeople are not more likely to engage in unethical practices than are people with other marketing and management jobs. In reference to (Gene R. Laczniak and Patrick E. Murphy) significant questions are needed to be answered before taking action: is it legal? Will it infringe any regulations or laws enforced by the organisation? Does it contradict moral obligations that are specific to a certain organisation body? It is not always simple to act ethical and to oblige with the
References: 1. Hair, J. F, Anderson, R. A, Mehta, R, and Babin, B. J. (2009). Sales Management Building Customer relationships and Partnerships. Houghton Mifflin. 2. Schmidt, David. 2008: Isn 't Business Ethics An Oxymoron? [Cited 21st March 2012] Available on http://www.inc.com/leadership-blog/2008/10/isnt_business_ethics_an_oxymor.html 3. Dobrin, Arthur. 2011: Is Business Ethics an Oxymoron? [Cited 19th March 2012] Available on 5. Johannes, B. “Business and Marketing Ethics as professional ethics Concepts, approaches and typologies.” The journal of business ethics (Nov/Dec 2002): 41, ½; pg 159 6 7. Laczniak, G. And Murphy, P. “Ethical Marketing Decisions: The higher road.” The journal of Marketing (Jan 1994) Pg 168