...on business entities vs. those on individuals in society. Instructions In this assignment you will reflect on the topics of Week One and apply them to an analysis of ethical paradigms. You will be asked to respond to two prompts below. The first asks you to explain three of the ethical philosophies you encountered in Chapter 1 of Introduction to Business Ethics, and then determine how companies that abide by these policies would act. In the second prompt, you will be asked to explain various punishments that can be given to corporations and the behaviors that are ethically dangerous to corporations. Please answer all questions in detail. Because this journal is worth 5% of your final grade, there is a high expectation for your participation. Grades for the journals are based on content, critical engagement, quality of reflection, and detail. Please submit the completed journal via the Assignment Basket found in the Week One Journal tab on the left navigation toolbar by Day 7. Organizations Select a Not-For Profit and a For Profit organization you would like to study. These will be the organizations that you will be focusing on throughout the course so be sure to choose organizations that you find interesting and that you think will be engaging as you learn about the ethical climates of these organizations. Place the Name of the Not-For-Profit Organization here: Good Will Place the name of the For-Profit Organization here: Target Reflection Prompts Please...
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...Business Ethics Theory According to Bishop (2000) every standardized theory of business ethics needs to address seven issues. A moral doctrine that defines (1) suggested values, (2) the premise for accepting the values, and (3) a decision formula for businesspeople who affirm the theory can use. It must also determine (4) what individuals the theory applies to and (5) whose interests need to be thought-about. It should provide a framework (6) for the conditions that apply and (7) the types of legal and regulatory network it established. Kline (2012) explains that Hume’s theory on ethics is concerned with justice and virtue. Justice is a set of rules that aids society. Virtue is the character of a person who prompts people to follow the rules. Hume’s theory emphasizes that without rules of justice virtue of justice would be nonexistent. The rule of justice is the security of possession, its dispersion by consent, and the performance of promises. These rules make business possible. Hume recognizes that even logical self-regard does not ensure that all individuals follow the rules. Kline (2012) posits that a Humean approach to codes of ethics recognizes that codes are for protocols of ethics. Hume examines and employs the self-interested perspective of stewards calculating each other’s expectation. Stewards try to do the best for themselves in view of what they expect others to do. The expectation of reciprocal action can be enough...
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... Ethics surrounding business practices has always been a highly debated and controversial topic. More recently, larger corporations have come into the spotlight and under scrutiny about their methodical ethics. While ethics is a concern in the general operations of a business, it should also be a major concern about ethics in the research of, for, or conducted by a business. Researchers have an important responsibility to practice ethical behavior, especially where their research results can have major impact. Clinical research will always have an ongoing and widespread impact because of the value of results for doctors and patients alike, as well as, the ongoing search for cures to ailments. In “Misleading Reporting of Research Results: A Widespread Problem”, Alan R. Gaby M.D. discusses the occurrences of skewing research results. While no specific companies or trials are mentioned in the article in regards to unethical business research, it does provide an overview of unethical research reporting in clinical research cases. The unethical research behavior involved is that which is called the “spin”. In the case of clinical research, as highlighted by this article, “spin” reporting...
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...Cheuk Sze Wong Assignment 2 10/20/2012 Ethical business relates to the behavior that a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world. Providing a clearly Ethics Policy statement protect consumers, employees and to build trust. It makes the entire business more successful, especially internally. Imagine a company without an ethical policy, there are nothing to control employees’ behaviors. When consumers are suffered a bad service, if things continues go on like this, the company will have a bad reputation. Assuming I have a company, here has three majorly policies should be included, honest and ethical conduct, protect customer privacy, and hold high security standards. Firstly, being a company employee should be honest and fair in dealings with co-workers, the company, suppliers, customers, or even competitors. Secondly, based on ethical behavior, employee should not sell customer information to marketing firms even though it is legal. Thirdly, employees have to heavily protect consumers’ credit card numbers, names and addresses from hackers. However, even if the company already formalized the policy and communicated it to the employees, it does not mean that employees can fully understand the policy. At that time, the company should provide training to the employees which could be many ways to test or evaluation the employees can truly understand the key points of the ethical policy. Employees also need to understand that there are consequences...
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...Chapter 3: Ethics &Social Resposibility. Ethics; The Board of Directors of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated has established this Code of Ethics for the purpose of deterring wrongdoing and promoting: 1) Honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent conflicts of interest between personal and professional relationships; 2) Full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in reports and documents that the Company files with, or submits to, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other public communications of the Company; 3) Compliance with applicable government laws, rules and regulations; 4) The prompt internal reporting to the Audit Committee of the Company's Board of Directors of violations of this Code of Ethics; and 5) Accountability for adherence to this Code of Ethics. The Company expects that each of its Officers and Directors will obey all such laws, regulations and orders when acting on behalf of the Company. The Company expects that each of its Officers and Directors shall in the performance of his or her duties: 1) Engage in honest and ethical conduct in accordance with prevailing standards of business conduct;and 2) Deal fairly with the Company's customers, suppliers, competitors and employees in accordance with prevailing standards of business conduct. Social Responsibility; A fundamental responsibility of the Board of Directors of The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated is to ensure that effective processes...
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...it, ethics and values play an important role in everyday life as well as professional life. Professional ethics and values are key factors to career success. Ethics are rules and guidelines that companies impose on the employees; it is the code of conduct for the company. Values are the principles that we believe are most important in our lives. Different professional settings will have different ethics and values. Business ethics were established more than 2,000 years ago but weren’t often enforced until the social responsibility movement of the 1960's. Business were profiting from this country's resources so it was brought up by the public that they should accept social responsibility and do business ethically (Leadership Values and Ethics: Secrets of Leadership Success - By Susan M. Heath field). Over the years business owners have learned how to recognize the value of enforcing ethics in the work environment because they know that a professional setting without ethics is in danger of decreased productivity and survival. There is always different types of people with different personalities, and different values working at a company, in order for people to get along with each other and be productive, there is a need to set up rules and make sure everyone follow those rules otherwise there will be a lot of miss understanding and disagreement between coworkers causing productivity level to decrease (Newman, 2010). Ethics and values can vary from one business setting...
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...Introduction The days when businesses both large and small only think about their own interest are diminishing. In today’s business environment, many companies understand how society can affect the reputation, and profitability of the business. It is important to have an effective strategy that embraces a top-down approach to being proactive to environmental, compliance, and social issues in their business operations. In terms of XYZ Bank, the enterprise has a solid social responsibility strategy, but senior leadership should consider certain improvements in the areas of the planet, people, and profitability. Prompt A1 The banking industry is highly regulated, so banks have to be creative on how its products and practices effect the environment. XYZ Bank continuously looks for ways to improve upon how they serve their customers, while limiting their impact on the environment. One specific initiative that the bank shows their commitment to reducing pollution is through lending towards hybrid and electric vehicles for consumers [ (Bank of America Corporation, 2013) ]. While this helps in the efforts to help our customers and the environment, there is more we can do to show our dedication to reducing the number of gas driven vehicles. The United States Department of Energy mentions that driving range and recharge time are among the drawbacks in for electric vehicles [ (U.S. Department of Energy, 2014) ]. It is the recommendation that XYZ Bank invest in the infrastructure...
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...lives, mainly because of varying decisions and outcome are challenging enough to trial our ethics as an individual or a business. Business ethics as defined by Kirk O Hanson is “the study of standards of business behavior, which promote human welfare and the good” (Hanson 2012) In other words, ethics is about how we behave and about the standards that guide our judgements and decisions. Lauren company as we see in this context are professionals and are expected to make good decisions because the decisions they make will affect people’s lives and before a final decision can be made on a particular product, they have to weigh the technical side and the impact of such product like safety, usability, cost and affordability.(McFarland 2012). A critical look into this case study is necessary as it affects Lauren as a person, (who is in a dilemma on if she should allow the production of product that is substandard), her company (with the option of either to re do production risking losing the contract or to pass the device risking their goodwill). The customer company who are just growing their products and at a risk of losing their entire line of production if the device fails and lastly the public or end users who will be sold a product that’s far from what is being advertised. In advising Lauren, I will engage the use of ethics tests to support my opinion. First, I will like apply the ethics utility test by highlighting consequences on each stakeholder. The test asks if the product...
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...Every business has a first and primary goal to gain profit. To remain in business and grow the firm must take into account social responsibility and ethics. When an organization demonstrates that it is more interested in financial gain than in how it treats the environment, employees, and stakeholders it will lose financially. In order to balance the social responsibility and the desires of its shareholder for profit an organization needs to develop a strategic plan that thoroughly explains its ethical and social responsibilities to the stakeholders (Wheelan and Hunger, 2010). Senior executives, business owners, managers and leaders must understand social responsibility and ethics. By doing so they will understand the impacts these factors have on the success of the business. In today’s society firms must understand the concerns of all stakeholders on the organizations environmental impact as well as sustainability. Business ethics are the principals and standards that make up the acceptable behaviors of an organization. The acceptability of these behaviors are made up by the customers, government regulations, competitors, and society in general. Social responsibility and ethics are often used interchangeably but they do not mean the same thing (Crane & Matten, 2010). Ethics are based on the firm’s or person’s decisions that are defined as right or wrong by society’s standards. Social responsibility concerns the impact of the business’s activities on society. To fully understand...
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...Organization Ethics Ethics are the principles and values an individual uses to govern his activities and decisions. In an organization, a code of ethics is a set of principles that guide the organization in its programs, policies, and decisions for the business. Every organization runs to earn profits but how it makes money is more important. Businesses should not depend on unfair practices to make money. One must understand that money is not the only important thing; pride and honour are more important. An individual’s first priority can be to make money but he should not stoop too illegal and unethical conduct for the sake of money. managementstudyguide.com First, external social pressure has become a major driver in business ethics. This is especially true for small businesses in smaller communities. Companies need to consider social expectations in the areas of general community involvement and environmental responsibility. The information age has contributed significantly to this increased importance of social pressure as word spreads quickly when companies fail to adhere to social standards. The emergence of the Internet in the 1990s helped spark social pressure on businesses to emphasize community involvement and socially responsible business practices. In the early 21st century, business could not afford to ignore external social pressure. If you say or do things that go against socially accepted norms, the Internet and other means of rapid communication...
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...some of its problems to the weak U.S. economy and a slow down in telecommunications spending. Heavy cost-cutting has been done by the company. Since August 2000, 48,000 jobs-nearly a third of its workforce-have been eliminated. Over the next nine to fifteen months, four more semiconductor plants will be shut down. This will result in the loss of 2,500 jobs. Motorola's five-point strategic plan In 1998, Motorola decided to reshape the company's strategy. They decided to go back and seek to change everything at Motorola except their principles, characters, and ethics. This five-point strategic plan is as follows: 1. Revitalize the management team 2. Stabilize the balance sheet and improve financial flexibility 3. Reduce costs and manufacturing capacity 4. Produce new, innovative products and growing customer relationships 5. Evaluate and re-evaluate business plans in order to remain competitive in the ever-changing business climate How has Motorola been doing in following its strategic plan? They are making progress in all areas of their strategic plan. The company realizes they still have a lot of work to do. 1. They have placed new leaders in 70 of Motorola's 100 most important assignments within the last 18 months. They also hired a new president and chief operating officer. 2. They generated more than $1.9 billion in positive operating cash flow in 2001 and reduced the ratio of net debt to net debt...
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...Whistle blowing is an act to disclose an organizational wrongdoing to parties that can take action. Sherron Watkins was the vice president of Enron Corporation that became a whistle blower in 2001. She sent an anonymous memo to Enron Chairman Kenneth Lay regarding the misstatements on the financial report. Enron hired lawyers from Vinson & Elkins to do an investigation on the financial misstatement allegations (Ackman, 2002). According to the memo from the investigations, after Watkins identified herself Lay held a meeting with her to discuss about her concerns regarding her allegations. The memo failed to indicate what Lay told Watkins. The investigation from Vinson & Elkins concluded that the questionable transaction that Watkins was concern about appeared proper (Ackman, 2002). Dan Ackman from Forbes argued that her action was not considered as whistle-blowing because she did not send the memo to parties that can take disciplinary action but actually provided legal cover for Kenneth Lay. Also, the fact that Watkins warned Lay about the misstatement of financial report indicates that Lay was not aware about the problem and did not do it on purpose. Watkins tries to put the blame mostly on Enron’s auditor Arthur Andersen and Vinson & Elkins and continued to provide cover to Lay and the board. Attitudes towards Whistle Blowing In today’s society, whistle blowing is viewed as misconduct and usually will cost a person’s job. In Watkins case, she said that Enron’s former Chief...
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...M. (2013). Impact of Organizational Culture on Employee Performance. International Review of Management and Business Research, 2(1). Retrieved from www.irmbrjournal.com The article focuses on how the organization's values affect productivity, profit, and how profit and productivity affect the organization's value. Explaining how important communicating a set of ethics, understood by employees, to strengthen the organization itself. Steered toward Managers, Consultants, Directors, Trainers, HR Managers,...
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...Business ethics for corporate growth: A case study of Infosys in India “To achieve our objectives in an environment of fairness, honesty and courtesy toward our clients, employees, vendors and society at large” Mission Statement of Infosys. Starting in 1981 in Bangalore, India with seven colleagues who dared to dream and who were lucky to be among the first in the economic liberalization of India in 1990s, Infosys has crossed billion dollars in revenues in 2004.The company has maintained a consistent growth and built a global company providing turnkey software development. There are many businesses that succeed-the unique factor about Infosys is in just over two decades it has built a brand known for ethical standards both inside and outside in the marketplace. The hypothesis of this paper is that corporate ethics promotes and inspires competitive advantage in a burgeoning marketplace. Ethics in Corporate governance means the parameters which a company sets for itself for its functioning. Transparency and disclosures about accounts as well as other important issues have to be communicated to the stakeholders in a truthful and prompt manner. These build up confidence and trust in the marketplace. When issues like Enron and WorldCom hit the headlines, it is difficult to ignore business ethics. As consumers are getting increasingly aware of ethical issues, corporations have to respond to their concerns whether it is related to issues of environment, heath or any other...
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...The American Red Cross (ARC) 1 The American Red Cross (ARC) Charlene Craig Strayer University HRM 522 Dr. Jack Huddleston October 25, 2013 The American Red Cross (ARC) 2 This assignment will cover the ARC and the impact that the events of 9-11 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita had on ARC’s benefits of business ethics; the role that ARC’s stakeholders played in these scenarios; ways in which ARC’s corporate governance failed to provide formalized responsibility to their stakeholders; and steps that ARC could follow to improve their stakeholder perspective. Organizations have a responsibility to behave ethically and meet the economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic duties that stakeholders expect them to. Those responsibilities are included in, and are part of an organization’s commitment to being a corporate citizen. Not only does the organization have to prioritize stakeholders, please and cater to the interest of stakeholders, the corporation must also protect its own reputation, image and branding. Identifying and working through ethical issues that are meaningful to stakeholders should be at the top of an organization's to do list as these issues will impact shareholder value and organizational performance and branding. (Ferrell, 2012),(Ireland, 2011). ARC’s mission is to “provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies” (Ferrell, 2012, p. 327). The ARC was guilty of straying from its vision and mission...
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