Paae8006 Business Ethics : Essentials Assessment Answers

Answer:

Introduction:

Business ethics is the study of business policies and regulations. In other words it is the rules that define the right and wrong. Relating to the workplace it involves the decisions taken is right or wrong. Business ethics are must for manager, employees and team leader (De George 2011). These ethics define the behavior of the person towards the company, team members and for customers. Each and every company tries to maintain ethical standards in the organization (Sacconi 2012). Business ethics talks about the moral concept that includes bad, good, evil, right, wrong, etc. these ethics helps in the analyzing and studding the business situation.

In the case study Michael Vasquez joined job as a product manager for a technology. Michael’s boss gave one document to Michael, which includes the confidential details of the competitive company. Michael boss told her that he had downloaded everything from the private section of internet. According to Michael doing this was an unethical and illegal and not correct to use the details of competitive company. Now Michael is in dilemma what to do or what not. Either to use details that provides advantage to the company or not. On the other hand he was thinking that he want to work in the company or not.

Ethical issue

The major ethical issue in this scenario is integrity. Integrity refers to as being honest and having strong moral principles. With the inner strength after doing the mistake you can admit it. It totally depends on the person either they want to stick to the moral principles or not (Trevino & Nelson 2016). In the case Michael identifies that the use of information is unethical. His believes in doing right think, definitely with the use of information the company will get the advantage but such kind of tactics will happen again and again, however using such kind of information is not the right think. Here, Michael shows that he wants to be loyal to himself, to the colleagues and to the company as well. Agreeing to use the information is the act which shows that Michael is not loyal to himself. Over here, loyalty as an ethical issue is highlighted (Hair 2015).

When Michael was in dilemma then he fetched the rules and regulation but did not find any details regarding the same. This shows that Michael obey the law which is required in business ethics. So over here we can include obeying the law as an issue (Arli, & Lasmono 2010). Because not only Michael should obey the law but his boss should also obey the law that is must for the business. The above paragraph highlights 3 major issues - Integrity, loyalty and obeying the law.

Ethical theories

According to the case study Michael should say to the boss that it is unethical to use the details of the competitive company and if press will get to know about it this will harm the reputation of the company. Michael should tell the boss about the consequences of the situation. The ethical theory here is Utilitarianism, the theory says that action is required which cost the minimum harm to the parties (DesJardins & McCall 2014). If Michael and his boss will not use the documents that includes confidential information then there will benefit to the company. However, if media gets to know about it, it will create bad impact on the reputation of the company. Michael identify that this can be harmful for the company as well. By doing this Michael is taking a side of the right thing. Deontology is focuses on the duty and the obligation. In this theory, morality of the action is based on the rules and regulations (Gotsis & Kortezi 2010). Michael told to boss not to use the documents or details, by doing this Michael fulfilled his duty towards the company. Michael should disclose the fact that it is not legally correct to use the documents. His boss should take care that he himself and his company members are following ethical values.

Ethical or unethical

Michael boss is unethical in this case, in other words he was going for the wrong thing. His boss fetched all the details related to the competitive company and then he downloaded all the details from their private intranet. Those details were confidential for the company as it includes details related to the company’s marketing strategy which include details about the strategy related to the product, price, place and promotion of the company. With the use of documents Michael boss will make his strategy of working so that the competitor will not lead.

Whistle blowing

In the case scenario Michael should blow the whistle as he has identified the issue. Employees who raise the voice against the unethical or illegal thinks, that person are whistle blower. Raising the concern that is wrong for the workplace conditions is whistle blowing. In other words calling attention for wrong doing or violation of law in the organization is whistle blowing (Miceli, Near & Dworkin, 2013). Each and every organization has a policy related to the whistle blowing.

Motivation to whistle blowers

Mainly whistle blowers get motivation from the justice and integrity that they have in their character or behavior. They understand the difference between the right and the wrong thing and they know how to take stand against it. The most motivating thing is they want justice for the unethical thinks that is the reason which made them to take the stand against the unethical things. Another reason of highlighting the issue is self- preservation, when the people know that they are going to get the financial gain against the wrong doing. Employees or staff members do whistle blowing because they don’t want to be the part of the wrong doing so they highlight those issues to the higher authority in the organization; this how they get motivated to raise a voice (SCCE 2014).

Circumstances in which whistle blower blow whistle

Employees are liable to blow whistle in the organization. This is the duty or responsibility of the employees to blow a whistle whenever they found any work doing or unethical things in the organization. For this each and every organization maintain a policy of whistle blowing. Implementation of the policy is there in the organization because they expect Employees to blow whistle. If employees don’t blow whistle in any organization then they are liable for any kind of wrong doing. This also shows the loyalty of the employee and behavior of the employee (Dyck,  Morse & Zingales 2010). If employee will not report against the unethical; then the blame of the organization shift to the individual employee and this will generate risk of job and career of the employee.

Ethics is relevant to the business

According to the case study ethics is relevant to the business. As it is involved in the day to day activities of the business for managing an organization there is a need of ethical values which shows the behavior of the manager and leaders. For making the right decision for the employees and company there is a need of ethics. Over here, Michael boss did an unethical think which can harm the company and the organization. Manager needs to think ethically in this situation.

Michael reacted in the ethical manner, he identifies the situation is unethical and he thought for this. He was not in the favor to use the confidential details. He was in dilemma whether he is going on the right tract or not. He should raise the voice for the wrong doing, but it is the moral duty of Michael to be loyal and fair to himself and to the company. Employee’s loyalty is strength for the company; which helps in the development of the company.

If employees and manage do ethical right things then there will be no harm to the company’s reputation. If media gets to know about the wrong doing of the company then they create a big issue which is harmful for the company. Company losses the trust of their customers and it harms reputation of the company. In the case study manager should think that unethical behavior is harmful for the company.

In this case if manager follows the ethical behavior then he will be able to get more and more investors for the company which are must for the survival and growth of the company. This shows that ethics is relevant to the business, without ethics no fair business decision will take place (Fassin, Van Rossem & Buelens 2011).

Conclusion:

The analysis of the case study shows that ethical values are important for survival of the organization. It must for each and every employee to follow the ethics. Michael an employee of the company should highlighted the unethical practices. Employees should fulfill the moral duties and responsibility towards the organization. The paper includes theories of business ethics which organization should follow. Organization maintains policy of whistle blowing so that employees will be able to disclose the issues. Ethical values are essential in the organization for making right decision and for managing day to day activities. Organization should appraise ethical values of the employees and managers and also to make sure that each and every one is following ethical behavior (Brooks & Dunn 2011).

References:

Arli, D.I. and Lasmono, H.K., 2010. Consumers' perception of corporate social responsibility in a developing country. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 34(1), pp.46-51.

Brooks, L.J. & Dunn, P., 2011. Business & professional ethics. Cengage Learning.

De George, R.T., 2011. Business ethics. Pearson Education India.

DesJardins, J.R. & McCall, J.J., 2014. Contemporary issues in business ethics. Cengage Learning.

Dyck, A., Morse, A. & Zingales, L., 2010. Who blows the whistle on corporate fraud?. The Journal of Finance, 65(6), pp.2213-2253.

Fassin, Y., Van Rossem, A. & Buelens, M., 2011. Small-business owner-managers’ perceptions of business ethics and CSR-related concepts. Journal of Business ethics, 98(3), pp.425-453.

Gotsis, G.N. & Kortezi, Z., 2010. Ethical considerations in organizational politics: Expanding the perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(4), pp.497-517.

Hair, J.F., 2015. Essentials of business research methods. ME Sharpe.

Miceli, M.P., Near, J.P. & Dworkin, T.M., 2013. Whistle-blowing in organizations. Psychology Press.

Sacconi, L., 2012. The social contract of the firm: economics, ethics and organisation. Springer Science & Business Media.

SCCE, 2014, Why Risk It? The Motivations of a Whistleblower, viewed on 7^th June 2017, https://complianceandethics.org/risk-motivations-whistleblower/

Trevino, L.K. & Nelson, K.A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. John Wiley & Sons.