UPSB v3
Serious Discussion / Bribery and Gift Giving
-
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 00:24:51
The free online legal dictionary describes bribery as: The offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of something of value for the purpose of influencing the action of an official in the discharge of his or her public or legal duties.
However, the person receiving the bribe does not necessarily have to be a public official. For instance, bribes are actually considered normal business practice in certain developing nations. The argument is that you are merely paying for a service or offering cash to expedite a process. However, most first-world countries outlaw bribery on the grounds that it undermines fairness. What are your views on bribery? Is bribery another element of capitalism and thus "fair play", or should it be considered illegal?
Gift giving, on the other hand, is legal even among world powers. The difference is that the the gift, as its name implies, is given freely, without anything expected in return. For example, a company may give a 5-year employee a gift for his or her dedication. Is gift giving an honest gesture or is it only another way to influence the actions of others, much like bribery but to a lesser extent? Does gift giving also challenge fairness, or is it inappropriate to categorize it with bribery?
I'd like to hear your thoughts. -
Date: Wed, Aug 27 2008 11:26:04
I guess one reason why bribery is rampant among developing nations is due to lax, not strictly-enforced laws, where government officials themselves even accept bribes, maybe due to poor renumeration. Whereas in first-world nations, there is a strict, black and white leglislation against bribery, so there tend to be less cases of bribery. Bribery does undermine the spirit of fairplay, where those without connections and deep pockets would lose out, however no one ever plays fair in buisness; fair trade is hardly practiced, head hunters poach talent, the list goes on.
Culture plays an important role too. For example, in China, the famed "guanxi" (connections) are needed to get major inroads into the local market, and these connections are cultivated through carefully placed bribes to people of importance. Government officials get bribed too, inorder to cut red tape, and it has been acknowledged that corruption is a major problem in China. However, local businessmen dont see it that way, as it has been part of their culture to lavish money and gifts in exchange for favors, which can date back to imperial times.
Gift giving is just legal bribery. In fact, it is almost like bribery, just that there is less pressure on the recipient to reprocriate the gift, and it is "legal". Why would the company reward the employee of 5 years? It is probably to let the worker feel appreciated, retain him, and it also gives motivation for other employees to stay on with the company, and might even boost the reputation of the company. In short, in business there is no such thing as a "no strings attached" gift, there will always be something in it for the company, although it might be unspoken. Golden handshakes? Perhaps it was an obligation on the company's part to honor the contract? As mentioned, I feel that gift giving is just a "workaround" bribery, skirting on the boundaries of law and justice. -
Date: Sat, Aug 30 2008 20:58:11
For me the difference between gifts and bribes are that bribes have a specific, tangible motive, like "I'll give you 100,000 if you award my company the contract for the bribe" a gift on the other hand is not for a specific goal, it might be to gain rapport with a person or for a length of time, or it could be that you want to feel good about yourself for helping someone.
I don't have any problem with gifts with an intent behind them, bribes on the other hand should be frowned upon, the upset the fairness of a open economy. Not that a bribe in itself is inherently bad, it is merely a means to gain what one wants, it can be used with good intentions beyond personal interest, so I would have a hard time saying outlaw it completely. Then again I like it when there are a minimal amounts of laws in place, -
Date: Tue, Sep 2 2008 10:27:53
Everyone has a price
-
Date: Wed, Sep 3 2008 21:15:13QUOTE (Sidewinder @ Sep 2 2008, 11:27 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Everyone has a price
This statement is really not true. I see you put a huge amount of thought into your reply to this topic too...
I think that bribary and gift giving are related but should not be compared. Bribary is not really 'giving' as you are expecting something in return. Bribary is more closely related to the sale of goods than to gift giving for me. The giving of a gift should really be for the other person to be made happy, in this way, gift giving is a form of entertainment or something similar. Therefore, I think it's unfair to compare them in the same way it's unfair to compare a television program to a card game. Sure they are related, but they are different things, too different to compare in any fair manner. -
Date: Wed, Oct 1 2008 05:32:00
In companies, they often have these "courses" where they attempt to teach you ethical behavior and this includes the topic of receiving gifts. Basically, I was taught to not receive gifts under the guise of an employee of the company. Even if the gift was given by a national figure or someone of higher authority, accepting the gift means that it must not sway whatever decision I may have when dealing with these people. Essentially, all of this is very straight-forward and I would even dare to say that it's pretty much common-sense, though that more than likely isn't the case.
The word "bribery" has a negative connotation so I won't cover that. "Gift giving", on the other hand, is a much more mysterious action. You see, even though gift giving is thought to be an act of good will, expecting nothing in return, the giver often IS in fact expecting some sort of return. It may be a service, agreement, or material good but I honestly believe that in the world of business, there is no such thing as a free gift. -
Date: Wed, Oct 1 2008 05:42:09
IMO
if someone gives you a gift, and you become biased by it, then it's your fault, not the gift giver. That's because a gift by definition means the giver expects nothing in return. If that person does, it's not really a gift. So therefore if you think you owe that person something for that gift, it's your issue.
if someone bribes you, then it's their fault for the attempt, and yours if you accept. -
Date: Thu, Oct 2 2008 00:53:18
Well, receiving a gift from an organization is definitely not as clear-cut as, say, receiving a birthday gift. When someone gives you a gift on your birthday, you don't feel inclined to reciprocate because you already have a good relationship with the person and know they don't expect anything in return. However, the purpose of a corporation (not non-profit ones) is to make money. If you are working for a company and they give you a gift, you may feel they are trying to influence your actions in some way, especially if the organization has no ethical backbone. So, the responsibility not only falls on the beneficiary to realize that nothing is expected in return, but also on the organization to cultivate an atmosphere of integrity.
-
Date: Thu, Oct 2 2008 02:58:24
if the definition of gift giving is different relative to the situation, then they simply need a new definition in the context of a company. this is simple semantics argumentation.