About Business Ethics - Case Study Example

BUSINESS ETHICS Insert name Insert institution INTRODUCTION: An ethical dilemma is regarded as a circumstance that brings about a state of perplexity with regards to moral viewpoints on doing what is right (Kane, 2010). In the case of an ethical dilemma, obtaining any probable solution becomes ethically unbearable since the moral guidelines are clashing (Flamand, 1999). When ethical dilemmas occur, the unpredictability of the results of the choice taken makes it difficult for an individual to take an action that would bring out the best result . Therefore, for a circumstance to be regarded as an ethical dilemma, the following conditions must be there: firstly, there has to be an individual who has to make a tough decision from the best possible choice . Secondly, there is an array of solutions to select from the case (Allen, 2013). Thirdly, there has to be a negotiation in the ethical values from whatever solution chosen . ARTICLE 1: BBC CHIEF RESIGNS OVER FALSE CHILD ABUSE REPORT In order to ascertain whether this article has ethical dilemma, the difference between ethics, morals, laws, policies, and values has to be established (Allen, 2013). Ethics in a business workplace can be viewed as the way in which beliefs are applied by organizations in short term and long term decision (Saez, 2013). On the other hand, morals in a business environment are viewed as the standards that are placed on a particular system of beliefs. These two definitions show how ethics and morals are entwined; however, for high professional standards and liability to be encouraged, then both morals and ethics within the business working environment should be held in high esteem . In this respect, the article can be referred to an ethical dilemma since it involves the BBC director general George Entwistle choosing to resign thus ending his 23 year old career as a producer and leader at the BBC (AFP, 2012). He said that the resignation was based on the fact that, since he was the director general- who was also the editor in chief, he had to take the fall for being responsible for the content that was broadcasted on the Friday 2 November (BBC chief resigns over false child abuse report, 2012). The ethical dilemma brought out in this story is that, as the director general, George Entwistle chose to resign despite the fact that he was not the one who did the investigations, rather the police gave a mistaken identification of the offender to the one investigating the report. As a result of the newsnight film was followed by lawsuits and he felt that the honorouble thing to do was to resign (AFP, 2012). He added that the mistake was based on the huge trust that he had, which resulted to a bad predicament; hence, he resigned to avoid the tinting of the rest of the amazing work that the BBC network had done in the past . He also said that he didn’t want to see the public’s confidence for BBC corporation ruined; since it still had staff that were full of integrity values and great talent . He also added that with the events that unfolded after the newsnight film, he resolved that it was time BBC had a new leader who would effect new policies (Telegraph, 2012). Business ethical theories are put into practice in a company’s moral system, to make certain that all its employees are acting within the boundaries of suitable behavior (wisegeek, 2013). The owners and managers of the business put these theories in place so that they may be used as a guideline for the daily operations of the company or organization . These business ethical theories are categorised in a wide range; for instance, rights, egoism, justice, virtue,utilitarian, and common good are some of the business theory approaches that can be used in a company either hand in hand or on their own (Wisegeek, 2013). The ethical theory used in this article is both the utilitarian and common good approach, though the utilitarian approach is more profound. The reason is that in the utilitarian approach, the amount of harm done is reduced to few individual, in this case George Entwistle, where the ethical proceedings are supposed to be for the better good of the society . From the ethical dilemma, the choice of George Entwistle resigning, the utilitarian approach can be seen in the way in which George Entwistle choses to resign so as to avoid the BBC corporation from suffering from the lack of public confidence in the news that it delivers (Telegraph, 2012). He choses to take the blame of poor journalism by others since he believed that the corporation still had staff that were harworking, had integrity, and great talent (Telegraph, 2012). George decided to render his resignation despite the fact that it was somebody else who did sloppy investigations that resulted to intense controversy under his watch . Hence, to save the corporations name, Patten accepted his resignation, with regrets though, since he said that George had brilliant policy ideas that were yet to be implementedin the corporation (Reuters, 2012). CONCLUSION In conclusion, the ethical dilemma that was found in this article was the fact that one man, George Entwistle, had to make a decision in regarding the unprofessionalism that was done under his watch. He decided to resign so as to save the corporation from the public’s lack of confidence in their news reportings, which showed the Utilitarian ethical theory approach. In that, he had to take the blame for the newsnight film since the mistake was done under his watch. This eventually led to the loss of a skillful leader who had a promising prospectus, in terms of new policies to the corporation. ARTICLE 2: GINA RINEHART THREAT As previously discussed, ethics in a business workplace can be viewed as the way in which beliefs are applied by organizations in short term and long term decision, while morals in a business environment are viewed as the standards that are placed on a particular system of beliefs (Saez, 2013). In this respect, the article can be referred to an ethical dilemma since it involves several ethical issue that the Fairfax board has to deal with in regards to Gina Rinehart intimidations. Firstly, the ethical dilemma is seen when Gina Rinehart demand the three posts in the Fairfax board, this will give her the right to hire and fire anyone, being the majority shareholder (Hernandez, 2012). Therfore, the Fairfax board has to decide on the predicament of the company since Gina Rinehart is threatening to sell her shares . The ethical dilemma in this article has been brought out by the fact that the Fairfax board has to decide on the way forward of the company having Gina Rinehart pressure in mind. Since Gina Rinehart is a major shareholder, she wanted to be made the director of the Fairfax media and to prove that she was solemn about this notion, she threatened to dispose her shares-which constitute of 19 percent of the company (Hernandez, 2012). Another ethical dilemma that the Fairfax board faces is that they fear that since Gina Rinehart endeavored to get her way into the Fairfax board, she may as well attempt to interfere with the editoring of the firm media’s reports (Hernandez, 2012). It is widely known that rich individuals have a tendancy to buy the media firm majority share, so as to influence on its reporting (Hernandez, 2012).. In this case, Gina’s idea was to lessen the intensity to which global warming issues were being raised, and state that global warming had occurred since the ice age times; as a result, lessening the tension that arises with global warming activists (Hernandez, 2012). As previously stated, the business ethical theories are put into practice in an organization’s moral system, to make certain that all its employees are acting within the boundaries of suitable behavior . Therefore, as previously stated, the owners and managers of the business put these theories in place so that they may be used as a guideline for the daily operations of the company or organization . These business ethical theories are in versatile categorises; for instance, rights, egoism, justice, dentology, virtue,utilitarian, and common good are some of the business theory approaches that can be used in a company either hand in hand or on their own (Wisegeek, 2013). For that reason, the business ethical theory in this article is dentology. With this Dentology, the theory is based on the actor, that is whether the individual’s intentions are ethically or unethically based (Gulcan, 2011). This theory is associated with Immanuel Kant, and He emphasises that this theory is applied in cases where the duty to pursue a certain action is more profound than the duty to obtain the human happiness . He emphasises that when it comes to morality, the duty may be approved, only when the action does not cross the law boundaries. From the ethical dilemma that the Fairfax media board has to deal with; that is, Gina Rinehart threatening to dispose her majority shares unless she is given the director seat of the board, the Dentological ethical approach had been applied by the Fairfax media board. This is seen in the fact that the Fairfax chairman, Roger Corbett, had begun corresponding with the other board members on the possibility of bending to Gina’s demands-giving her two seats instead of three (Hernandez, 2012). Though later after scrutinizing the idea that Gina may want to interfere with the media and that other groups were intimidated by Gina Rinehart, the chaiman resorted to seek legal offers to restrain Gina Rinehart’s manipulation on media (Hernandez, 2012). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the ethical dilemma that was evident in this article was that board members had to decide on whether to sway into the majority share holder demands or risk losing a large portion of the company. They had to have in mind that the shareholder wanted to influence the media and as a result she wanted the director position which allowed the hiring and firing of individuals. The board had to negotiate on the possibilty of giving Gina Rinehart two seats instead of three, so as not to loose the company’s major share but at the same time they seeked legal options so as to restrain Gina from influencing the media, since this was one of her well known goals. Hence, this was where the Fairfax board applie the Dentology ethical theory. ARTICLE 3: STOREMAN VIEWED PORN 'TO TAKE HIS MIND OFF WORK' As previously noted, for a circumstance to be an ethical dilemma, the difference between ethics, morals, laws, policies, and values has to be established (Allen, 2013). Ethics in a business workplace can defined as the way in which beliefs are applied by organizations in short term and long term decision (Saez, 2013). On the other hand, morals in a business environment can be defined as the standards that are placed on a particular system of beliefs (Saez, 2013). With regards to this article, the ethical dilemma is illustrated when the company found out from a member of the Employent Relations Authority; that one of its employees, Mr Hiha, was watching pornographic material at work. When Mr Hiha was investigated and found wanting, he was asked his reasons for watching pornographic material at work, and he said that it took his mind off work, which he regarded it as very demanding (Cowlishaw, 2012). The ethical dilemma brought out in this article is illustrated by the fact that the company found out, through a member of the Employment Relations Authority, that one of its employees was watching pornographic materials at work. Mr. Hiha stated that the pornography helped him take his mind off work, a reason that he said was not well stipulated in the company policies (Cowlishaw, 2012). The company decided to take up the case and disciplined Mr.Hiha by giving dismissing him from work. Later Mr. Hiha presented his case and argued that the company should have specified what type of pornographic material could be watched or not in the company policy. Hence he did not see himself to have breached any company policies (Cowlishaw, 2012). previously stated, the business ethical theories are put into practice in an organization’s moral system, to make certain that all its employees are acting within the boundaries of suitable behavior (wisegeek, 2013). The business theory practiced here profoundly was the common good approach. With this approach, the common standards and principles of a society are upheld within the organization. The organization’s owners or managers put into practice these values to make sure that the company’s mission as a whole is in line with the society’s moral guidelines. From the article, we noted that the ethical dilemma was that the company had to decide to dismiss Mr. Hiha basing on the fact that he was breaching the company policies by watching pornographic material. Even though he insisted that he watched it secretly, he was still caught by a female staff member, this led to investigation from the company management. This resulted to the company applying the common good approach, whereby the company advocated for the society’s moral standards in company settings (Cowlishaw, 2012). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the ethical dilemma that was viewed in this article was that the company decided to dismiss Mr.Hiha since he was going against the moral standards of the company, by watching pornography at the workplace. REFERENCES: AFP. (2012, November 11). BBC Diractor General George Entwistle quits after MP falsely accused of child sex abuse. Allen, K. (2013). What Is an Ethical Dilemma? Retrieved February 14, 2013, from THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER ONLINE: www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Ethics/What_Is_an_Ethical_Dilemma?/ (2012). BBC chief resigns over false child abuse report. London. COWLISHAW, S. (2012, October 17). Storeman viewed porn 'to take his mind off work'. Flamand, L. (1999). What Is an Ethical Dilemma? Retrieved February 14, 2013, from eHow: www.ehow.com/about_5481837_ethical-dilemma_.html Gulcan, A. P. (2011). Introduction2. Ethical Theories. Retrieved February 14, 2013, from icongfesr2011: www.icongfesr2011.tolgaerdogan.net/ Hernandez, V. (2012, June 26). Gina Rinehart Threat: Make Me Fairfax Director or I Will Sell Shares. Kane, R. A. (2010, July 8). Focus Ethical Dilemma Defined-Minnesota DHS. Retrieved February 13, 2013, from DHS: www.dhs.state.mn.us/ Reuters, A. (2012, November 11). BBC cheif quits after 'shoddy journalism'failures. Saez, A. (2013). What Are the Differences Between Ethical Issues & Moral Issues in Business? Retrieved February 14, 2013, from Chron: www.smallbusiness.chron.com/differences between-ethical-issues-moral-issues-business-48134 Telegraph, T. (2012, November 12). George Entwistle's resignation email to staff. The Telegraph . wisegeek. (2013). What Are Basic Business Ethics Theories? Retrieved February 14, 2013, from wiseGEEK: www.m.wisegeek.com/what-are-basic-business-ethics-theories.htm Read More