Introduction

Sales personnel are constantly involved with social, ethical, and legal issues. Yet if you think about it, everyone is, including you. Would you say you were sick to get extra time off work? Would you use the company car to run a personal errand? Have you ever gone home with one of your employers’ pens in your jacket pocket?

Ethical responsibility includes behaviours that are not necessarily codified into law and may not serve the corporation’s direct economic interest. To be ethical, organizational decision-makers should act with equity, fairness, and impartiality, respect the rights of individuals and provide different treatment of individuals only when relevant to the organization’s goals and tasks. Unethical behaviour occurs when decisions enable an individual or company to gain at the expense of someone or society.