...Business Ethics M2 Written Assignment 1. Shaw and Barry distinguish two different forms of utilitarianism. What are these two forms? Briefly describe each and use examples. Shaw and Barry distinguished two different forms of utilitarianism, Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism. To understand Utilitarianism in depth we must understand what Utilitarianism means first. “Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible good over bad for everyone affected by our actions.” (Shaw and Barry, pg.59). In other words, a human being tends to search for pleasure and avoid pain or suffer. Now while the Act Utilitarians measure the consequences arising from their actions, the Rule Utilitarians apply certain calculations, establishing the morality of these actions. Therefore they judge the rules by its consequences and their actions by their rules. In other words, Rule Utilitarianism is the theory that measures what is right or wrong morally based on how good or bad the consequences may be. 2. What do economists mean by the “declining marginal utility of money”? It’s just “another reason utilitarians tend to favor greater inequality of income.” (Shaw and Barry, pg.112). In simple words according to Shaw and Barry, Professor Richard Brandt, stated that our needs and wants come in order of preference. With our salary we get the things we want and most need and leave aside the items that we least need or want, giving us full pleasure...
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...1. Shaw and Barry distinguish two forms of utilitarianism. What are these two forms? Briefly describe each and use examples. There are two types of utilitarianism, act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism is a theory which states an act is morally right if it benefits the greatest number of people; this theory is based on the act itself and accounts for the happiness (benefit) of the majority (even if others are disadvantaged). Rule utilitarianism bases morality on a rule which already exists, the action is right based on a rule (Shaw & Barry, 2013). An example of act utilitarianism would be a wealthy person in need of an organ. If they donate a large sum of money to cancer research, they would be moved to the top of the donor list. This act benefits the majority of people suffering from cancer since the money donated can be spent on research. This action would be considered moral since it benefits the greatest number of people afflicted with cancer. This act however, would be immoral for the individuals waiting for an organ donation. The same example using rule utilitarianism would be patients placed on the organ donation list in date order; when an organ becomes available it is given to the next patient on the list. The rule dictates the morality of the action. 2. What do economists mean by the “declining marginal utility of money”? The value of money decreases as an individual gains more of it. Once an individual has the basic necessities...
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...1. Shaw and Barry distinguish two different forms of utilitarianism. What are these two forms? Briefly describe each and use examples. The two forms of utilitarianism that Shaw and Barry refer to are act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. The act utilitarianism states that we must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act in a particular situation will be for all those affected. If its consequences bring more net good than those of any alternative course of action, then this action is the right one and the one we should perform. Shaw and Barry talked about the theory of a woman on her death bed. She had $25,000 in cash under her bed and her dying wish was to give that to her nephew. Her nephew was a known drunk and would have squandered the money away. Another use for that money would be to give it to an orphanage where the money would have benefited the children for many years. If you use the act method, giving the money to the orphanage would have been the best thing to do because the most people would have benefited. But if you did this, would it be morally correct? This was not the dying woman’s wish. Rule utilitarianism maintains that the utilitarian standard should be applied not to individual actions but to moral codes as a whole. With the moral code, you would have to determine right from wrong. If you look at the sample given above about the dying woman’s wish to give her nephew the money, and you used the rule method, you would see that...
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...respected by, corporate actions. Based on the James Hardie asbestos case, the stakeholders included customers who used the product, employees and families of employees, local community, suppliers, demolition contractors, the neighbours of mines and manufacturing plants and the Government of Australia (Shaw, Barry & Sansbury 2009, pp 262-263). (54 words) 2. What do you think of the way in which the boards of James Hardie have managed the asbestos compensation issue? The board of James Hardie Industries has managed the asbestos compensation issue with principles of egoist. Egoism defined as an act is morally right if and only if it best promotes a person’s long term interest (Shaw, Barry & Sansbury 2009, pp59-60). Based on the case, the action of James Hardie has used the restructuring to limit its liability and the concept of Separate Legal Entity to protect him in 2001 to avoid the compensation issue (Shaw, Barry & Sansbury 2009, p 263). However, on Thursday 15 February 2007, the long-term interest has no longer promoted to the company due to the Australia Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) commenced civil penalty towards on the company. (Shaw, Barry & Sansbury 2009, p 263) Therefore, applying Egoism to the Board of James Hardie was still immoral by his action. Utilitarianism prescribes that people look not merely to their own pleasure, they should be concerned to maximise pleasure wherever that can be achieved and also requires agents to...
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...1. Shaw and Barry distinguish two different forms of utilitarianism. What are these two forms? Briefly describe each and use examples. The two forms of utilitarianism are act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism states we must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act in a particular situation will be for all those affected. If its consequences bring more net good than those of any alternative course of action, then this action is the right one and the one we should perform. (Shaw and Barry, p. 60) The other form is rule utilitarianism. Rule utilitarianism states the utilitarian standard should be applied not to the individual actions but to moral codes as a whole. The principles that make up the moral code would be the basis for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions. (Shaw and Barry, p. 77) An example of act utilitarianism is a drug company releasing a drug that was approved with known side effects. The drug is able to help more people than the amount that are bothered by the minor side effects. An example of rule utilitarianism is the type of seating on an aircraft. There are different classes on the aircraft: first, business, and economy. The first or business class seats are more expensive but they come with more conveniences. However, the higher prices of seats help to cover the airline’s financial burden of the economy seats. (Workplace Example of Utilitarianism Ethics, 2014) 2. What do economists mean by the “declining...
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...Assignment for Module 2 1. Shaw and Barry distinguish two different forms of utilitarianism. What are these two forms. Briefly describe each and use examples. Act Utilitarianism and Rule Utilitarianism are the two different forms of utilitarianism that Shaw and Barry distinguish. Utilitarianism refers to the greatest happiness principle for the most amounts of people. Act utilitarianism “states that we must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act in a particular situation will be for all those affected. If its consequences bring more net good than those of any alternative course of action, then this action is the right one and the one we should perform” (Shaw and Barry, pg.60). I look at this as to mean when choosing between two alternative acts in a situation then the right act is the one that brings the best result or the most happiness, basically the consequences of a single act. Rule utilitarianism “maintains that the utilitarian standard should be applied not to individual actions but to moral codes as a whole. The principles that make up that code would then be the basis for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions” (Shaw and Barry, pg.77). I look at this to me at measuring the consequences of the act repeated over and over again as if it was a rule whenever there are similar situations. 2. What do economists mean by the "declining marginal utility of money"? Declining marginal utility of money stated by Shaw and Barry as “simply means that successive...
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...Brazil, Africa, Iraq...). It usually involves a manufacturer selling the exported goods in the foreign market at below the price of the same goods in the home market (provided they have not been banned in the domestic market) (Delener, 1998). The case referred in here (Dumping Made in the USA: Dumped in Brazil, Africa, Iraq...) is being analysed from an ethical stand point and as such questions the ethical reasoning behind dumping. It should be noted that although companies dump, the onus lies on those individuals who run these companies to be motivated to behave morally and follow a morally sound principle, the principle which Kant describes as not just doing the right thing but doing it as a sense of duty, a desire to act ethically (Shaw, Barry, Issa, & Catley, 2013). As the case states dumping comes in various forms most dangerous being when it affects the health of humans especially children. The Case analysis In our case, various small companies who manufactured children’s nightwear treated with the now-banned chemical (Tris 2, 3-dibrimoprophyl) faced increasing inventories and severe monetary losses. In order to cut the losses, some companies sold the nightwear to exporters who promoted the goods overseas where Tris-treated garments were not banned. The manufacturers suffered fewer losses than if they had not sold to the exporters, the exporters gained lot on the deal, but at what cost? The children abroad were exposed to the...
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...wage discrimination for women. The 1964 Civil rights act (amended by EEOA in 1972) which prohibits all forms of discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion or nation origin. And in 1967 (amended 1978) the Age discrimination act, and the Americans with disabilities act of 1990, which extends to people with disabilities the same rights to equal employment opportunities as the 1964 civil rights act guarantees to women and minorities. All of the acts and orders mentioned before are enforced through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (Shaw & Barry 2013 p555-556). The net effect of the above mentioned acts and orders have been to create equal employment and pay for all races, colors, religions, sexes, and national origin. These laws seem to have a very sound ethical background. The two ethical theories I am going to use to justify the different law are Utilitarianism and Rawlsinaism. Utilitarianism(Shaw & Barry 2013, p 56) tries to look at the results of our actions and looks for the results that will bring the biggest benefits to all involved. If we try to do this equation, we see that whites would be unhappy (losing jobs to minorities), but racial minorities, women, people with disabilities, veterans, and seniors would all...
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...1. Shaw and Barry distinguish two different forms of utilitarianism. What are these two forms. Briefly describe each and use examples. Act and Rule Utilitarianism are two forms referenced by Shaw and Barry. Act utilitarianism states that we must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act in a particular situation will be for all those affected. This is the most basic form of utilitarianism. If the outcome brings more good than any other action, then that action is the right one. Rule utilitarianism states that the utilitarian standard should be applied not to the individual action but to the moral codes as a whole. The only rule is to maximize happiness and every action should be judged according to how well it lives up to this rule. 2. What do economists mean by the "declining marginal utility of money"? The declining marginal utility of money means that successive additions to one’s income produce less happiness or welfare than did earlier additions. This means that as one continues to add goods and/or services, those things will begin to net less happiness. 3. Robert Nozick presents his entitlement theory as a function of three basic principles. What are these three basic principles? Nozick’s three basic principles are as follows: 1. A person who acquires a holding in accordance with the principle of justice in acquisition is entitled to the holding 2. A person who acquires a holding a accordance with the...
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...plants that it is a good neighbour, and in the long run, will help its profits. According to [Brown 2010], these three values are called respect for human dignity. Union Carbide shouldn’t negligent with respect to the safety of people in the plant's environment and not maintaining the security regulation. Besides, Union Carbide disaster at its plant in Bhopal, India, which killed thousands of people and injured several hundred thousand, focused world attention on the chemical industry. According to the ethic of caring approach argue that since we are interdependent upon others for our individual identity and well-being we have a moral obligation to consider the need, value and well-being of those with whom we have concrete relationship [Shaw, Barry & Sansbury 2009, p.80-81]. This led to the chemical industry's adopting an ethical code of caring. Union Carbide owe its responsibility by playing the roles as “care giver” to establish appropriate ethics training programs for their employees, establish monitoring mechanisms to...
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...heavily from the assigned readings and then explain and defend your arguments concerning affirmative action and "reverse discrimination." The fact that we are still talking about job discrimination, in the 21 century is really a sad thing. We have made amazing strides in all fields of science and medicine, we have the capability of having AI (artificial intelligence) and the ability to reach out and touch someone across continents in a matter of seconds via the internet. Yet, as a human race we have done very poorly in treating our fellow human with the dignity and respect we expect to be treated ourselves in return. If we were to do as Kant said, to treat “their ends as our end," we would all be treating each other impartially, (Shaw and Barry, 2013, pg. 90). But, since we are not, we are still having this dialogue. Affirmative action was brought upon by necessity. It was adopted in order to shift the balance toward neutrality in such things as hiring practice, admission standards and housing. There was a need to ensure more adequate representation for underrepresented groups, such as racial, ethnic, cultural and general minorities. Unfortunately “studies reveal the persistence of discrimination in American life, and statistical evidence shows wide economic disparities between whites and racial minorities”...
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...Today, as we look around the world, we see an increase in the number of corporations; as capitalism has spiraled to a peak. While corporation’s products and services are needs and wants of the economy, their moral actions, or lack there of, are not, however, directly or indirectly affect us each day. Are corporations people? Can corporations be considered moral? Questions such as these have been raised by Shaw and Barry in the text Moral Issues in Business. While the answers to these questions are debatable, the infamous Enron Corporation shows us that while the people make up the company, the company as a whole receives the reputation of being immoral or unethical. We consider Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffery Skilling, the former president and CEO of Enron, the driving forces behind Enron’s bogus success and responsible for the moral code that should have been set for the organization. These unethical actions Enron took part in even had support by auditor, Arthur Anderson, and attorneys, Vinson & Elkin. The top leaders of Enron had a passion for capitalism, which drove the company to illegal and unethical behaviors, eventually leading to the catastrophic fall of the company. However, in order for Enron to deceive as long as they did without being caught, a lot of their actions were actually legal, but immoral. Enron’s use of mark-to market (MTM) accounting and taking advantage of energy deregulation in California, led to their “profit at all costs” mentality, legal, moral,...
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...Does the Capitalist system, overall, improve justice in our society? Discuss ways in which it does and ways in which it does not, then explain and defend your general conclusion. What is a capitalist system? According to Sansbury (2009). Capitalism Capitalism according to Sansbury (Pg 128, 2009) didn’t emerge until the renaissance in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Capitalism can be defined ideally as an economic system in which the major portion of production and distribution is in private hands, operating under what is termed a profit or market system (Barry, V,. Sansbury, G,. and Shaw, W.H. (2009) Moral Issues in Business, 1st ed. Cengage Australia, Melbourne). Most businesses in Australia, New Zealand and the United States are privately owned. The State doesn’t control these private businesses nor does it tell the owners how much to produce or caps their earnings. These Countries are examples of Capitalism at work amongst the many businesses. Capitalism didn’t wholly arrive until the renaissance in Europe till the 15th and 16th centuries. Capitalism that emerged around that time was called ‘Mercantile capitalism’, as Industrialization increased so did the size and power of business. As competition intensified an industry’s survival came to depend on its financial strength to reduce prices and either eliminate competition or absorb them. To shore up their assets, industries engaged in ‘financial capitalism’, characterized by pools, trusts...
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...Throughout life, people face ethical decisions and dilemmas. On many occasions, these ethical dilemmas spread into the business world. The problem that arises from moral obstacles faced in the work place is the legal matters that may result. Before taking the time to diagnose, one must begin at the core; pulling the details of the scenario allows for an outside party to understand all parties involved. The following is an overview of a predicament faced by a small, architectural firm; plagued by the physical limitations of the ideal applicant and the cost of her employment. Marcia Begay, a talented young woman, applied for a position available at a local architectural firm. This woman of Navajo descent spent her early twenties studying at a top architecture university; she graduated with a Master of Arts from this school. Along with her Master’s degree, Miss Begay has training in structural engineering. (Pfeiffer 87-89) Marcia was the first candidate to be interviewed at the institution. Her interview set the bar high. It was clear that Miss Begay was the best candidate for the position available. Along with her degrees and understanding of structural engineering, Marcia had an impeccable resume and several letters of recommendation. Adding to the allure, Marcia had six year experience of with well-known architects. It was clear; known of the other applicants came close to the qualifications of Marcia Begay. (Pfeiffer 87-89) Marcia separated herself from the other candidates...
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...In recent years, it has become an increasingly popular practice for drug companies to perform their clinical testing of new drugs in foreign countries that might not have the consumer protections or product liability laws present in the United States. Please answer each of the following questions using a theory studied in Module 2 specifically and thoroughly and using examples and facts from the readings and resources. 1. Are drug companies that test experimental drugs in foreign countries acting ethically? Drug companies that test experimental drugs in foreign countries are not acting ethically. Testing of experimental drugs should be done in the host country where the drugs are being manufactured. A major ethical dilemma that is being looked at with this is that the foreign countries that these clinical trials are happening in are not fully educated on the risks or fully understand what they are getting themselves into. After reading the articles many things stood out that these countries may not know what they are signing up for. Anil Netto quoted in the article titled “Health-Asia: Ethics in Outsourcing Drug Trials Questioned,” that by doing these clinical trials in foreign countries, drug companies are “exploiting the healthy who are strapped for cash and the sick who seek cheap or free remedies.” In regards to the utilitarian theory, testing drugs in foreign countries would prove to be unethical. Utilitarianism more specifically act utilitarianism tells us that...
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