Social Media Ethics Case Study

Business ethics revolves around the importance of relationships between an individual and a business. The field of business ethics is very complicated because of the vast amounts of industries. The relationship between employee and employer is important in the success of a business. Unethical business behaviors can damage a business’ reputation and lose trust in an industry. Corporate and social responsibilities are the blueprint of a profitable business. Businesses that do not practice ethical behavior can affect people outside the business as well. Stakeholders can lose millions of dollars in stock because of unethical behavior inside a company. The social responsibility in this case is between the employees of our company and society. Joseph

There are social and ethical issues surrounding social media. Our company is dealing with an issue resulting from interaction on the internet. All individuals are responsible for what they post on the internet. Everybody will disagree when it comes to beliefs and practices. The freedom of expression under the First Amendment includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference. Mr. Epstein, a professor at the University of Chicago and New York University describes how the debate on free speech has drastically changed. Mr. Epstein was quoted saying “Everybody offends everybody a large fraction of the time. So, if I am insulting to you because you’re a progressive and you’re insulting to me because I’m a conservative, and if we allow both people to sue, then neither can talk” (Varadarajan). Epstein is explaining the nature of our country at this moment. No matter what, somebody else is going to disagree with your beliefs and try to become vulgar towards you. As the Chief Executive Officer of a highly visible privately- owned television company it is my job to address my employees on the professional way to use social media. Employees must know that the political matters that they address publicly will be disagreed upon by our customers. Some of our customers will use our employees’ beliefs as a reason to stop using our television company. We must implement a policy that uses a moral framework based on Joseph

The question on character focuses on values and the character of the company. Putting our employees first is the main priority. The employees are the ones who are seen on television. I am placing a policy that does not affect the company in a bad way without taking away individual’s rights. Implementing a social media policy is fair and shows a successful business. Our company’s values correlate with the professional social media accounts that employees will own. Stakeholders are the reason that a company is successful. We do not want any post on social media to negatively affect our company in the eyes of shareholders. The last question has to do with what will work in the world as it is. Badaracco explains this is as, “what will work if you bring initiative and imagination and creativity, willingness to shake the tree, and the willingness to take the prudent risks to the party” (Badaracco). The fourth question deals with what managers or leaders must do to ensure survival. The topic of taking away someone’s social media rights cannot be taken lightly. Ethically, we are turning a problem into a positive outlook on our company. Badaracco explained that “you can become paralyzed if you only think about rights” (Badaracco). He is saying that if you only think about rights in the leader’s perspective, you will not succeed. Badaracco hinted