Business Ethics and Responsible Management

This document discusses the importance of business ethics within an organization, the ethical issues faced by EA Games, the role of business in society, and the impact of business activities on stakeholders. It also explores two ethical theories - utilitarianism and ethical leadership. The document provides recommendations for EA Games to improve its ethical code of conduct. Find study material and solved assignments on business ethics and responsible management at Desklib.

Business Ethics and
Responsible
Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
PART A...........................................................................................................................................3
Importance of business ethics within the organisation...........................................................3
Issues of business ethics in the organization given in case study...........................................3
Role of Business within the society........................................................................................4
Effect of business activities on Stakeholders.........................................................................5
Example of good and bad ethics.............................................................................................6
Recommendation....................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................6
PART B............................................................................................................................................8
Discussion on two ethical theories.........................................................................................8
REFERENCES ...............................................................................................................................9
PART 2..........................................................................................................................................10
Reflective essay of ethical Leader .......................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Business ethics can be defined as the set rules and regulations which are needed to be
followed by business organisation in order to accomplish the target which organisation wants to
accomplish within the given time period (Wettstein, 2015). It is important to understand that any
of the business organisation is not allowed to take those business decisions which creates
problem for the business organisation. Performance of company can be easily declined if
unethical decisions are being taken by the organisation. In context of the file, the chosen case
study is EA Games: FIFA, Loot boxes and Whales. It is one of the American based company
which is involved in the gaming world. Whole of the report will be written by middle manager to
senior manager about the concept that what people are thinking and what are the changes which
is required within the company. In part A, there will be detail description about the business
ethics and its importance and whereas what are the main ethical issues which are being faced by
the company. Also, impact on the stakeholders will be explained. In part B, ethical theories will
be explained in context of chosen case study. Finally, in second part, there will be the
explanation that what are the ethical terms which is needed by the leader in reflective format.
PART 1
PART A
Importance of business ethics within the organisation
It can be easily said that business ethics plays the crucial role in any of the business
organisation as it gives the fair idea to organisation that how company can accomplish their goals
in a systematic manner (Hemberg, Syrén and Hemberg, 2018). If any of the business
organisation follows the business ethics then then it will become an easy task to take any of the
fair decision through which goals can be accomplished easily as per the requirement of a
company. In addition, it can easily improve the level of trust for stakeholders towards the
company.
Issues of business ethics in the organization given in case study.
The case study which has been given in the file is related with the EA Games which is
one of the multinational companies which distribute the games worldwide. This game are very
popular among the children as they are able to play those games by the choice of their team.

Here, company also offers number of loot boxes which has been creating the problem for
parents. There are number of gamers who try to collect the loot box for getting rewards but at the
end of the day they are unable to get any of the rewards which is unethical from parents point of
view. By looking at the situation, the legal body of UK is explaining that they must examine
each factor to find whether all of the work which has been conducted by the company is ethical
or not. On the other hand of side, Vice president of a company is explaining that they are not
conducting any of the unethical activity and it is necessary to understand by the users that loot
boxes are just for the purpose of fun and providing gifts to gamers (Homann, 2016).
Role of Business within the society
In any of the business organisation, it is necessary to that company must conduct each
work in as systematic manner. If in any of the situation company fails to do so then it might
create legal problem for the business organisation. So, by looking at this requirement, it is
necessary for business organisation to understand that they must satisfy their customers’ needs
which will directly help the company to accomplish their goals within the specific time period.
The second duty which is needed to be understood by the company is that they must conduct
those work which can help to improve the level of society. It becomes crucial for the company
to work as per the ethical codes because that will help them to take positive decision for the
company. In context of the given case study, the decision which are being taken by EA Games
are not in favour of company because it has been creating lots of problem for the users because
directly or indirectly, the money of parents are being used in wrong direction (Kaplan, 2017).
The wrong concepts are also being generated in among the children because they do not have the
knowledge that whether they should give focus on work or whether their target should be related
with personal benefits.
While talking about the company, they are needed to make clear about the games which
they develop because it is necessary to understand that they must not conduct any of the activity
which create problem for the society. Secondly, they must justify among the gamers that loot
boxes and whales will not allow anyone to earn the money as it will just incur the expenses as it
is just for the purpose of fun. In addition, loot boxes and whales is one of the critical case which
means it is necessary to for company to prepare the clause which will explain about its benefit
and disbenefits for public at large. If all of this can be done by the company then they can easily
ensure that company is not conducting any of the unethical terms which can create issues for the

public as it will raise the situation where it will be the choice of customers that whether they
want to avail the services or not.
Effect of business activities on Stakeholders
Whenever any of the organisation conduct unethical activities then it usually creates lots
of problem and in this situation the person who suffers the most is stakeholders. It is said that
stakeholder is the most crucial member of the company who helps organisation to attain the
goals which are preplanner by the company (Wettstein, 2015). Below, there is the explanation
about the stakeholders who have been affected the most just because of the activities which are
conducted by the company.
 Customers: In any of the organisation, customers play the most significant role for
attaining the goals and it is necessary to understand that whenever any of this activity are
conducted then it creates lots of problem. Customers will be affected the most as they
will be in the situation where they have a faith upon company. As this games are
designed for personal benefit, people might suffer from different kind of losses if similar
feature related to loot boxes will be available.
 Shareholders: Whenever any of the negative news arises in the market then it has a
direct effect on shareholder because they don’t feel safe to invest in that respective
company. Even share price may decline due to which shareholder may have to suffer
from financial issues.
 Employees: It is said that employees are the most important part of the company who
gives their best to accomplish the target within the specific time period. If in any of the
situation company fails to perform as per the requirement then in that situation employees
feel demotivate as their work is not being appreciated by the customers (Wymer and
Rundle-Thiele, 2017).
 Government: Whenever any of the company perform the business activity at a greater
platform them then government also shows their interest towards the company. But it is
necessary for company that they must conduct the ethical conduct. In above given case,
government be also affected because they will have to commence those laws which can
help to resolve the problem and it is one of the serious natures of problem. Even in this
situation, if any of subsidies are being provided then they will not be able to provide them
in future period of time as games which are being designed is just for personal benefit.

Example of good and bad ethics
There are number of organisations which performs number of activities on regular basis
and it is necessary to understand that none of the organisation can conduct those work while falls
under the category of bad ethics. The best example now which can be taken as good follower of
ethical code is National Health Care as they follow the codes in a systematic manner. They
provide the best treatment to their patient who visits the hospital. On the other of side, EA
Games can be picked which is one of the organisations who conducted bad ethics due to which
number of people have to suffer on regular basis (Vitell, 2015). It is necessary for EA games to
understand that if they will be able to follow the good ethics then they can easily allow
themselves to accomplish their goals but on the other sides if in case they will not be able to
conduct ethical activities then in that situation company might have to suffer where customers
will not like to be the part of an organisation.
Recommendation
In this respective topic, it is necessary to understand for company that they must not
conduct any of those activities which create issues for the public because it will have a direct
impact on the result. Here, company should think that how they can clear to public about loot
box and whales because company have different concept behind its introduction whereas
customers are understanding it in a different manner. Also, it is necessary that ethical codes must
be followed because that has a direct impact on the outcomes of a company. In addition, changes
can be done in the area of loot boxes where they company can take the suggestion from game
players that what are the additional things they want within loot boxes and according to that they
can introduce it in ethical manner.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Wymer, W. and Rundle-Thiele, S.R., 2017. Inclusion of ethics, social responsibility, and
sustainability in business school curricula: a benchmark study. International Review on
Public and Non-profit Marketing, 14(1), pp.19-34.
Wettstein, F., 2015. Normativity, ethics, and the UN guiding principles on business and human
rights: A critical assessment. Journal of Human Rights, 14(2), pp.162-182.
Vitell, S.J., 2015. A case for consumer social responsibility (CnSR): Including a selected review
of consumer ethics/social responsibility research. Journal of Business Ethics, 130(4),
pp.767-774.
Kaplan, A., 2017. European management and European business schools: Insights from the
history of business schools. In Management Research (pp. 211-225). Routledge.

Homann, K., 2016. Globalisation from a business ethics point of view. In Globalisation and
business ethics (pp. 15-22). Routledge.
Hemberg, J., Syrén, J. and Hemberg, H., 2018. Ethical Leadership in a New Light: As Described
by Leaders in Public Healthcare. International Journal for Human Caring, 22(4), pp.179-
188.

PART B
Discussion on two ethical theories
Business ethics is the study of appropriate policies and practices that should be used in
the business so that ethical code of conduct is ensured in the company. This means that the
business activities do not cause any negative impact on the stakeholders that are associated with
the company such as suppliers, customers, government, environment and overall society. It also
helps in preventing the stakeholders from frauds, scandals, corruption, discrimination and other
illegal and unethical activities (Levy, 2016). Ethical code of conduct in the business helps in
building a strong brand image of the company which also helps it in influencing its customers to
make purchases from the company. It also reduces government intervention in the functions and
operations of the business. The ethical theories that can be applied by EA Games so as to solve
the problems that are being faced by the company due to unethical code of conduct are discussed
below :
Utilitarianism : This theory was proposed by John Stuart which says that an action is
morally correct if it brings happiness to people and the actions are morally wrong if they bring
unhappiness to people. The idea of this theory is that ethical decisions are made based on the
consequences of the actions therefore it is also known as consequentialism theory. This theory
can be used by company so as to choose between various options so that greatest good can be
made possible for greatest number of people. This helps in building good relations with the
general public who are affected by the actions and activities of the business. The sales of the
company products and services can also increase with the application of this theory as maximum
good is done to people by the company (Wenar, 2017).
EA Games can apply this theory by making its online games in such a way that provides
happiness to both the game playing children and their parents. This can be done by regulating the
hours that can be played per day by the children so that they do not become addictive for them.
This will help in creating happiness to the parents of children and also the children can spend
their leftover time in other curricular which will help in their overall development. Also the
company should also manage 'loot boxes' so that the bank accounts of parents are not emptied by
children in the hope of getting something worthwhile in return which will help in making the
parents happy.

The pros of this theory is that it focus on society happiness, helps in making good
decisions, it is easy to implement. However, the cons of this theory is that only happiness is the
basis of evaluating ethical nature of an action, it creates an unrealistic perspective for society and
is unpredictable as the happiness of people at present can convert into their sadness under certain
circumstances. So it is recommended that EA Games can along with considering the happiness
of people should also consider other factors so that the its actions can be said to be ethical
(Pennock, 2015).
Deontology : This theory was given by Immanuel Kant who said that human beings
must be treated with dignity and respect because they have their own rights. In other words it the
duty of company to respect the rights of people so that they can be treated accordingly. This
helps the company in choosing the option which will help in building good relations with public
by respecting the dignity of people. Thus the actions that respects the dignity of people are
considered to be ethical (James, 2017). There are three maxima of Kant's theory and they are: a
choice of one's character, a choice of basic ends of action, and a choice of kinds or policies of
action.
EA Games can apply this theory so that actions and activities of the business can be said
to be ethical if they respect the dignity of parents of game playing children. This can be done by
eliminating the 'loot boxes' from their games so that it does not charge money from parents by
influencing children wrongfully to make investments in their game in return for something
worthwhile. Even if the company continue to use 'loot boxes' then it should provide children with
something valuable in return so that the parents are not looted by the company.
The pros of using this theory is that it is practical to apply, it creates responsibility for
company to respect dignity of people. However, the cons of using this theory is that the company
has to always do the right thing no matter what even if the costs of company increases, also
conflicts might arise among the employees and managers in selecting the best principle involved
in decision-making. It is recommended that EA Games should use this theory in a way that can
help in maintaining the dignity of game-playing parents by managing the 'loot boxes' so that the
children do not spend their hard earned money irrationally (Buchanan, 2017).
REFERENCES
Books and Journals

Levy, J.T., 2016. There is no such thing as ideal theory. Social Philosophy and Policy .33(1-2).
pp.312-333.
Wenar, L., 2017. Why Rawls is not a cosmopolitan egalitarian. In Rawls and Law (pp. 499-517).
Routledge.
Pennock, J.R., 2015. Democratic political theory. Princeton University Press.
James, A., 2017. Constructing justice for existing practice: Rawls and the status quo. In John
Rawls (pp. 69-104). Routledge.
Buchanan, A., 2017. A critical introduction to Rawls’ theory of justice. In Distributive Justice
(pp. 175-211). Routledge.
PART 2
Reflective essay of ethical Leader
An ethical leader is the person who follows ethical values and beliefs so as to monitor
and control the activities of team members so that the unethical actions that may harm the dignity
and rights of others can be avoided. This helps in generating honesty, trust, consideration among
team members so that the decisions that are taken in the company can help in providing benefits
to the company as well as the society. This helps in raising an organisation's culture and value of
employees so that ethical behaviour is executed which will help in increasing the efficiency of
organisation and also increase the performance of the company. A high level of integrity can be
promoted among the team members along with building trustworthiness of employees which will
help the company in achieving company's goals and objectives effectively. As a manager it is
thus important that the roles and responsibilities are performed in an ethical manner which
improves the efficiency of the company (Greenwood and Freeman, 2018).
Leaders can maintain integrity and compliance among team members in an organisation
by giving value to the organisational rules and regulations and strictly following them so that an
impression can be made that it is very important for the efficiency of their performance to
integrate with other employees and also by complying with the company rules. Along with this it
is important that the managers respect the dignity of all the employees and respect their view
points so that they can feel as a part of the team. This will help in encouraging them and will also
boost their confidence which will increase the efficiency with which they perform their work.

Effective communication is another way by which the actions of all employees can be integrated
and their compliance with company rules can be increased (d’Adda, and Et. Al, 2017).
My experience as a leader helped me become more ethical in my actions so that I could
integrate the team members and sole their conflicts efficaciously without hurting the sentiments
and dignity of any of the employees. This helped in increasing the confidence of team members
in my capabilities and also it boosted their trust in my decisions which helped us in achieving the
targets of our team within time and within the budget that was allocated to us. I made decisions
by following the ethical decision-making framework which helped me in making good decisions
that could benefit both the company and team members. Before coming to conclusion I used to
evaluate the consequence of my actions so that appropriate decisions could be made which did
not create any stress and tensions among team members. Also I allocated tasks and
responsibilities among the team members by evaluating their performance so that the deserving
employees could be given the tasks based ow their talents, skills, knowledge and the ability to
think critically. This helped in formation of effective teams so that the team members were
always encouraged to give their best in the tasks allotted to them. Also my ethical behaviour
helped in treating all the employees fairly without discriminating among them based on religion,
culture, sex etc. This also increased the confidence of workers and enhanced their work
effectiveness.
From the above it can be concluded that ethical leadership is important in order to
increase the compliance of ethical actions in the organisation by team members. Also integrity
among team members can be increased by encouraging ethical leadership as the employees can
be motivated to perform well which can be possible by integrating their actions so that target of
teams can be achieved (Ali Chughtai, 2016). Ethics plays an important role in building good
relations among team members and also building their trust in the company and their leaders.
This helps in efficient decision-making in any situation so that the performance of the team
members can be increased.
CONCLUSION
From the above file, it can be concluded that ethical practices plays the crucial role for
business organisation and it is necessary to understand that it must be followed. If in any of the
situation company fails to perform the ethical code then it has a direct impact stakeholders who

plays the crucial role in the company. Ethical theories are the most essential for business
organisation because it helps to take some of the important decision within the business
organisation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Greenwood, M. and Freeman, R.E., 2018. Deepening ethical analysis in business ethics. Journal
of Business Ethics .147(1). pp.1-4.
d’Adda, G., and Et. Al, 2017. Do leaders affect ethical conduct?. Journal of the European
Economic Association .15(6). pp.1177-1213.
Ali Chughtai, A., 2016. Can ethical leaders enhance their followers’ creativity?.
Leadership .12(2). pp.230-249.
Ahn, J., Lee, S. and Yun, S., 2018. Leaders’ core self-evaluation, ethical leadership, and
employees’ job performance: The moderating role of employees’ exchange ideology.
Journal of Business Ethics .148(2). pp.457-470.