Elinor Joy J. Antonio                                                                     February 19, 2008

BS-IM O0A                                                                                                          IT ETHIC

Book Review # 6

Title: “Hard Like Water, Ethics in Business”

Author: Vincent Di Norcia

HF 5387 D43 1998

            Hard Like Water is book that contains business ethics that has two principal goals, one is to show the extent to which ethical values infiltrate into business and the second is to stress the social character of the business. Each chapter begins with different stories that manufacture good ethics and also show different problems that need to be solved.

PROLOGUE -

”Men should act the best of their ability. There is no. . . absolute certainty, but there is assurance sufficient for the purposes of human life. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty”

People must do their very best in order to succeed. There is no guarantee but there is always an output for every hopes and dreams that we do. To do these, we must be sensitive enough for the needs of others. We monitor, learn from our mistakes, practice, and experiment and refine ones’ performance.

CHAPTER 1 – “Owning Values”

“The reader should be under no illusions about the incompetence, stupidity, power politics, legal shenanigans, high stakes, nasty problems, scandals, immortality and dirty tricks to be found in the goings-on of corporate governance.                                                                    Donald H. Train”

People must be guided towards good morality. Being a pessimistic person can give hopes and brings good success. To achieve this, one must not perform illegal rituals just to achieve this kind of success. Comparing it to our political situation, it’s just the same. People on the government are performing dirty tricks just for the sake of self righteousness.

CHAPTER 3 – “Managing Values”

“At Hewlett-Packard people, materials, facilities, money, and time are the resources available to us for conducting our business. By applying our skills, we turn these resources into useful products and services. If we do a good job, customers pay us more for our products than the sum of our costs.”          

-          David Packard

            Hewlett - Packard decided to use their profits to sustain the company. They do not want to loan because they want to avoid long term-debts. They focused more on the services that they do. They guarantee their customers that the payments that they are giving are worth the price. Doing the right job is a great essential to have loyal customers. That is why; Packard wants to have this kind of standard to earn more customers.