The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines ethics as “rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad; the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group”. Merriam-Webster dictionary also defines substandard as “below what is considered acceptable or normal, of a quality lower than prescribed by law”. Because of unethical conducts in the USA and Europe, the world witnessed a financial crisis. The global financial crises in 2008 affected hundred and thousands of people all over the world because of unethical business conducts. Integrity is the backbone of most successful companies. Lauren’s company has a good reputation and strive to maintain it, but as a recent graduate and a new employee, she is likely to face ethical conflicts in her new position, especially difficult business ethical decisions that suppose to be on the desk of top executives. She will be faced with challenges that will hinder her success and even relationships in the company. Lauren’s role as a quality supervisor and signing off on a substandard product is unethical and deviates from the basic approaches to ethics, which includes; the Utilitarian, rights, fairness, common good and virtue approaches. The Utilitarian approach to ethic analyze whether the said behavior foster the “greatest good …show more content…
He postulated that everyone should be treated equally. This approach also focuses on the fair and equally distribution of good or harm. The impact of our action is assessed by the fairness to those involved. Lauren not signing off on the substandard device means she is treating everyone fairly by following company protocol and policies. Passing a substandard device because her bosses gave the orders is not treating the immediate consumers of those devices fairly, so the fair course of action for Lauren will be not to sign off on the substandard product except the mistakes are
Do you agree with Schmeltekopf that business schools are not preparing students well for the for the ethical challenges they will face in the workplace? Why or why not?
Fairness Doctrine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2011, January 15). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 4, 2011, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine
The first theory we will look at is the Utilitarian theory. In this theory, it is the desire for “everyone involved, to maximize satisfaction and minimize dissatisfaction” (Pojman & Vaughn, p. 206). In this situation
Explain the connection between the economic model of corporate social responsibility and “free market” or “neoclassical” economic theory.
Ethical behavior is behavior that a person considers to be appropriate. A person’s moral principals are shaped from birth, and developed overtime throughout the person’s life. There are many factors that can influence what a person believes whats is right, or what is wrong. Some factors are a person’s family, religious beliefs, culture, and experiences. In business it is of great importance for an employee to understand how to act ethically to prevent a company from being sued, and receiving criticism from the public while bringing in profits for the company. (Mallor, Barnes, Bowers, & Langvardt, 2010) Business ethics is when ethical behavior is applied in an business environment, or by a business. There are many situations that can arise in which a person is experiencing an ethical dilemma. They have to choose between standing by their own personal ethical standards or to comply with their companies ethical standards. In some instances some have to choose whether to serve their own personal interests, or the interest of the company. In this essay I will be examining the financial events surrounding Bernie Madoff, and the events surrounding Enron.
... Finally, the fairness issue would state that it’s only fair that everyone have the equal amount of safety in skies. This would imply that it would be the most fair if a higher percentage of passengers were free from fatal crashes rather than a lower percentage.
Business ethics could be categorized as one of the least studied topics, although it has been widely acknowledged to be great significant (Bushe & Gilbertson, 2007). Being in the competitive market, most enterprises have either formal or informal ethical code to assist them in determining whether certain business activity is acceptable or not, especially when managers face dilemmas (Velasquez & Velazquez, 2002). This is because behaviors are justified by theories, orienting from the most basic question “what is the right thing to be done” (Grace, 1998; Takala, 2012). In order to address the mentioned question, it first needs to explore the definition of ethics and specifically, business ethics.
The Facts: Kermit Vandivier works for B.F. Goodrich. His job assignment was to write the qualifying report on the four disk brakes for LTV Aerospace Corporation. LTV purchased aircraft brakes from B.F. Goodrich for the Air Force. Goodrich desperately wanted the contract because it guaranteed a commitment from the Air Force on future brake purchases for the A7D from them, even if they lost money on the initial contract.
As I think about ethics, I think about the events over that last 10 -20 years. It is my belief that companies has gotten away from their Authentic to have a greater bottom line. In light of all the scandals, from Enron to WorldCom to the Bernie Madoff Scandal, firms are beginning to focus more on social responsibility, ethics and corporate culture. Now more than ever organizations are more prone to implement or incorporate ethics as part of their new hire training part of the hiring process. In my opinion being responsible and accountable for you actions are very imperative in today’s business world.
The Fairness or Justice Approach: the decision progress should treats everyone the same unless there is a justifiable reason not to, and does not show favoritism or discrimination;
When one wants to know what is the study of proper business policies and practices regarding potentially controversial issues than I would give them business ethics (ACG, 2009-15). Although, policy and practices are just part of what is business ethic, addressing controversial issues remains a key principle of business ethics. Daft (2015) believes that building relationships require more intelligence and the more intelligence available the simpler we can identify business ethics. For example, Manoj Bhargava, CEO, founder and inventor of the five hour energy drink, got it right. Manoj believes, building relationships require more intelligence and the simpler the innovation the more defined is business ethics (Koch, 1996-2015). Every company, organization, firm, rather for-profit or
Ethics are the driving force behind good business. Every ethical choice made by a professional can and will have a much different outcome than any unethical choice. Bad ethics can ruin many aspects of a business and as (Gaye-Anderson, 2007) states how quite easily the lives and professional reputation of the employees can even be severally damaged (para. 3). Everything from morale to motivation can be severely affected by poor ethical choices. Customers will take their business elsewhere. Employees will abandon ship. Other, competing businesses reap the benefits of the bad moral choices. Ultimately, the entire business can be brought down by one poor ethical choice.
Ethics is the responsibility of each individual person, but starts with the CEO and the Board of Directors, setting the right tone at the top and moves down through the organization, including setting the tone in the middle. A company’s culture and ethic standards start at the top, not from the bottom. Employees will almost always behave in the manner that they think management expects them, and it is foolish for management to pretend otherwise (Scudder). One of the CEO’s most important jobs is to create, foster, and communicate the culture of the organization. Wrongdoings or improper behavior rarely occurs in a void, leaders typically know when someone is compromising the company
To summarise, this essay has shown that the concept of impartiality is a relationship between a moral agent and a particular group. It requires that one be not influenced by which member of the group is benefited or harmed by his or her actions. Moreover, it has also shown that impartiality is a necessary condition for the ethical theories of utilitarianism and deontology. Such theories, however, cannot account for human intuition that suggests that it is acceptable to be partial in some circumstances. Finally, this essay has shown that the conflict between partiality and impartiality has not been resolved. As such, the request to be impartial with regard to morality does demand too much.
Ethics is simply doing the right thing. In the business situation ethics are the moral concept of a firm getting through it organizational duties ethically.