Unedited
9/22/11

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Small Business Ethics

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Aggression

When people are aggressive they cross cultural boundaries in ways that cause pain and discomfort in another person. Aggression can be triggered by alcohol and drugs and it can be triggered by an exaggerated sense of ego and personal need. An emotionally needy person can lust for social power, wealth and status in a way that directly affects the way in which they treat other people. For some, the drive for greater profits begins to trump the needs and sensitivities of people. So, many times in business when aggressive behavior becomes routine it is an indication that there is not a healthy balance between the profit motive and a need to be social and serve the interests of people. While a merchant may "come on to the customer" in a social way and establish a rapport, on the "backside" of the deal the social element they project is in fact all take and no give.

It can be very profitable for a business to be aggressive. But, more often than not, the profit-taking comes at the expense of ethical practices. Aggression itself represents a de-evolution of long established moral values evident in a modern civilization. Here, intimidation and coercion take the place of reason and cooperative bargaining.

Aggressive people tactically put the people around them on the defensive and inspire unease and sometimes fear in their thinking. Principles of civilized behavior repeatedly engrained in the thinking of people from birth encourage citizens to avoid combat and more quietly work things out without high emotions coming into play. This desire of a civilized person to seek peaceful dialog works against them. Aggression makes the exploitation of client's much easier because they make it difficult for client's to complain. Complaints are met with tactics such as blustering, indignation, outrage, concealed or blatent threats. Aggression wears down any obstacles of people in the way of them. So, many times the aggressions exhibited are no more than histrionic dramas for these people to get their way. The effectiveness of this tactic lay in the fact that the aggressor appears emotional but in fact is calm and cunning in provoking and irritating clients who are emotional. And when people get emotional they make errors and misstate circumstamces and facts that makes them look foolish. This allows a cunning business person to take control of the situation. If one looks at the evolution of social morals and rules of etiquette they might see that as humans evolve aggressive behaviors are more and more prohibited and discouraged.


Crossing Boundaries

Overpowering the Client

Blustering

De-evolution

Mathematical Game Theory, Defecting

Fatiguing the Client into Compliance