This report discusses the role of business ethics within society, ethical issues in the gaming industry, stakeholders, and ethical theories. It also explores good and bad ethics and provides recommendations for improvement.
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Business Ethics and Responsible Management 1
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Contents INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4 PART 1 (Report)..............................................................................................................................4 1. Ethical issues............................................................................................................................4 2. Role of business ethics within society.....................................................................................5 3. Stakeholders.............................................................................................................................5 4. Good as well as bad ethics.......................................................................................................6 5. Recommendations....................................................................................................................6 REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8 PART 1-B (Theories).......................................................................................................................9 1. Description of Ethical Theories...............................................................................................9 2. Application of Ethical Theories...............................................................................................9 3. Critical Analysis of Ethical Theories.....................................................................................10 4. Recommendations..................................................................................................................11 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12 PART 2 (Reflective Essay)............................................................................................................13 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14 .......................................................................................................................................................14 2
INTRODUCTION Business ethics refers to the type of applied and professional ethics, which examines each and every ethical principles as well as moral which as a result can develop some problems within the business surroundings. In addition to this, it has also been said that business ethics is an essential factor which needs to be applicable in every business aspects (Ferrell and et. al., 2019). The current report includes a case study ofEA Games: Fifa, Loot boxes and whales which is the base of current project. In this report, there are mainly two sections where in part one, discussion about role of business ethics within society and good as well as bad ethics, along with significance of business ethics are going to be discussed. Whereas, in relation to part second, two subsections are there in which two ethical theories are going to be explained and on the other hand, section two includes reflective essay. PART 1 (Report) 1. Ethical issues Technological progression as well as combination of latest technological invention like augmented reality and virtual reality leads to have huge market growth within gaming sector from past few years. It has been analysed that most of the latest games are developed bya business entity Electronic Arts (EA) which is settled on freemium-model. According to this, any of a user can easily get free access towards the game. Apart from this, there are various things for which users need to purchase the games which as a result help the company in order to generate revenue. In the current duration, a game has been launched with the concept of loot boxes which is gaining huge criticism as it includes unethical practice which motivates a player in order to form in-game purchases which as a result is not justifiable in most of the cases. As per the opinion of Vice President of Electronic Arts, the whole idea of loot boxes is quite effective as well as ethical (EA Games: Loot boxes aren’t gambling, they’re just like a Kinder Egg, 2019). it has also been identified that the concept of Loot boxes provoke the behaviour of addiction within children and gambling attitude of individuals towards playing all the games which as a result help business entities in order to generate more profit margin. In addition to this, it is said that large number of players spend lots of money in order purchase loot boxes who usually says that they are not happy with their existence and they are forced due to their addiction to purchase them. This as a result shows unethical issues on 3
different grounds. First of all they business entity is developing such games on a regular basis which generate addiction among youngsters whereas second unethical behaviour encourages addiction of gambling among youth. These are the unethical behaviour of EA which as a result reduces the positive image of business entity at the competitive marketplace. 2. Role of business ethics within society Each and every company needs to follow every business ethics policies and procedure in an effective manner which assist in promoting ethical and social goods within the society in an effective manner(Sroka and Szántó,2018). The top management team of EA, needs to reconsider the approaches used by them in advance so that they will be able to generate more and more revenues and maintain their position at the competitive marketplace. According to the present business model, it has been identified that a negative influence is developed on the value system as well as on the whole society. It needs to be understood by the higher authorities of the company that the factors of loot boxes along with in-game purchases highly provokes the addiction of gambling within a person which mainly gain success at the market. Because of the ineffective and unethical business practices managers of EA, players need to reduce their usage which includes negative results like poor mental health, depression, lack of eye sight and anxiety, social isolation and many more. All these factors leads towards unethical practices which affect the society in a negative manner. 3. Stakeholders Gamers: as per the given case study, it is said that the gamers are one of the most effective stakeholder which have the capability to highly affect all business practices of EA. It has been said that developing all the game in an addictive as well as encouraging manner leads towards serious mental issues on the gamers. Furthermore, addictive gaming creates negative impact on the mental health, depression, anxiety as well as loss of sleep among children(Harris and et. al., 2019). Developers: Another most effective stakeholder are the developers as they create addictive gaming models which highly influences the overall business functionality in an effective manner. They develop games for their personal and professional benefits which as a result highly influences the values as well as beliefs of individual and the whole society. 4
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Government: Habit-forming gaming as well as loot boxes match the harmful effects which as a result highly influences gambling addiction and leads towards some sort of serious challenges within the society. Government is the biggest stakeholder in this context where they can formulate strategies in order to reduce the usage of such gaming and improves the overall society in an effective manner. 4. Good as well as bad ethics OneofthemosteffectiveexampleofethicalbusinessentityisStarbuckswhere considering all the business ethics help in maintaining sustainable performance. This is the organisation which remain committed towards their ethics and develop positive relationship with their customers by providing high quality services to them by practising all the ethical strategies. With the help of effective ethical practices, Starbucks gain positive goodwill and response from their customers (The world’s most ethical companies, 2017). on the other hand, if talking about unethical practices, TESCO is the organisation which faces allegations in 2016, with their suppliers which as a result affect their image at the marketplace in a negative manner. In addition to this, TESCO stay unethical in order to delay the process of payment with their suppliers and the objective behind this is to enhance the financial position of the company (TESCO knowingly delayed payments to suppliers, 2016). After this, top management team of the business entity accept their mistakes and decided to compensate their suppliers. Therefore, unethical business strategies highly affects the overall image as well as reputation of an organisation in an adverse way. 5. Recommendations Some of the most effective recommendations which are given to the higher authorities of EA are going to be mentioned below which help in improving the ethical position of a business entity: The higher authorities of the business entity needs to divert their strategies towards other modes which help them in maintaining their ethical position at the marketplace along with the generation of more profit margin. Apart from this, it is the most essential activity of higher authorities of a business entity to develop effective code of conduct as well as ethical standards which aid them in order to perform all the functions in an ethical manner. 5
REFERENCES Books and Journals Ferrell, O.C., and et. al., 2019. Business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and brand attitudes: An exploratory study. Journal of Business Research, 95, pp.491-501. Sroka,W.andSzántó,R.,2018.Corporatesocialresponsibilityandbusinessethicsin controversialsectors:Analysisofresearchresults.JournalofEntrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, 14(3), pp.111-126. Harris, A.L., and et. al., 2019. Incorporating ethics and social responsibility in IS education. Journal of Information Systems Education, 22(3), p.1. Online EA Games: Loot boxes aren’t gambling, they’re just like a Kinder Egg. 2019. [Online]. Available thru<https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-48701962> TESCOknowinglydelayedpaymentstosuppliers.2016.[Online].Available thru<https://www.bbc.com/news/business-35408064> Theworld’smostethicalcompanies.2017.[Online].Available thru<https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2017/03/14/the-worlds-most-ethical- companies-2017/#739251fb7bc3> 6
PART 1-B (Theories) 1. Description of Ethical Theories Theory of Utilitarianism: Utilitarianism theory of ethics is one of the most effective theory of normative ethics which have the main aim of discovering of all the morally right as well as wrong choices which is based on the result which are in sort of consequentialism. This theory is based on ethical behaviour as well as decision-making process which assist all the activities that produces outcome in the happiness and is against of all those actions which develops sorrow (Dawson, 2018). As per this theory, if an act conducted by a person create positive results for large number of persons within the society is considered as morally right activity. Therefore such activities are considered as justifiable acts. Theory of Deontology: In comparison with consequential explanation of business ethics, it has been said that as per the theory of deontology, all the actions intrinsically right as well as wrong are based on ample number of elements apart from the result of these actions. It has been analysed that all the actions are identified as good and bad as per the number of norms as well as regulations. For instance, in reference to the business organisation, any action which comes under scope of obligation and duty of a manager is usually considered as morally good apart from its outcome and impact on the welfare of society. 2. Application of Ethical Theories In relation to the present case study which is based on EA Games, it has been said that the theory of utilitarianism might effectively be implemented in order to examine the individual within the society who can provide positive results from actions. It is said that the thought process of loot boxes help in generating revenue for business entity which as a result assist in order to maximise the investment of shareholders investment (Bull and Ridley-Duff, 2019). Apart from this, it has also been said that the users face ample number of problems like social distractions, addiction, mental health issues, emotional loss and many more. Along with this, government of the nation also faces huge number of challenges related to the gaming addiction. Therefore, implementation of the theory of utilitarianism help in gaining ethical benefits within the business entity. 7
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On the basis of deontology theory, it is said that the duties as well as obligation needs to be identified apart from the results. As per the given case study, higher authorities of EA Games have this moral duty & obligation which help in protecting stakeholders interest along with this contribute for the development of the society. Herein, it has been identified that conflicting nature of the actions of the business needs to identify all the ethical issues by top management team of EA Games (Bernsand et. al.,2020). 3. Critical Analysis of Ethical Theories Theory of Utilitarianism: Benefits: This is the theory which aims in order to foster positive development within the society as well as it is one of the easiest theory which can be implemented in an effective manner. This is the theory which is widely accepted by the companies. This is one of the most effective theory used by business entities for the growth of business organisation. Furthermore, this is the theory which mainly emphasis on the adoption of democratic approach for the decision-making process. Limitations: Utilitarianism is the theory which often develop unrealistic view for the whole society . It has been identified that unpredictability as well as uncertainty of the future is considered as one of the weakness of the theory which emphasises in order to advocate actions which return positive results within near future. Theory of Deontology: Benefits: This the theory which develops very strong fundamental for the human attitude and conduct positive results with the help of practising duties as per the series of different rules without any sort of anticipation of the positive outcomes. It has also been said that it help in emphasising on the value along with the importance of an individual person (Weber and Wasieleski,2018). It has also been identified that it assist in order to enhance individualized responsibility of a person among the society which help in engaging a person. Limitations: All the actions categorized under this theory is that the result developed in by this is created by ignoring maximum welfare of whole society in different situations. This approach is 8
subjective in nature and is classified their actions in morally good and bad results without their presence of important code of conduct. 4. Recommendations The top management team of EA Games need to consider the influence of their decision making as well as choices associated with the improvement of habit-forming gaming enterprise models which consist of negative effect on the mental health of children, enhancement of emotional conflicts, isolation from family, loss of money, challenges by government and many more (James,2019). Therefore, company need to eliminate concept of the loot boxes games which leads towards generation of revenue according to utilitarianism theory. On the other hand, in reference to the resolution of all the issues related to unethical practices, application of deontology theory assist management team of EA Games will consider all their moral duties as per the rules of ethical code of conduct. Therefore, business entity need to develop strong work ethics practices which assist in taking every decisions related to the company. At the time of this, development of all the work ethic policies and standards help the society in an effective manner. 9
REFERENCES Books and Journals Dawson, D., 2018. Organisational virtue, moral attentiveness, and the perceived role of ethics and social responsibility in business: The case of UK HR practitioners. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(4), pp.765-781. Bull, M. and Ridley-Duff, R., 2019. Towards an appreciation of ethics in social enterprise business models. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(3), pp.619-634. Berns, J.P.,and et. al.,2020. Dynamics of lending-based prosocial crowdfunding: Using a social responsibility lens. Journal of Business Ethics, 161(1), pp.169-185. Weber, J. and Wasieleski, D.M. eds., 2018. Corporate social responsibility. Emerald Group Publishing. James, W., 2019. Business Ethics. 10
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PART 2 (Reflective Essay) Ethical leadership is defined as exhibiting morals and value in a management position or its a way to lead the organisation with ethics or value. Ethical leaders are those leaders who involves ethics in his decision-making process he uphold the the belief of the organisation. There are some various qualities to be found in ethical leaders as they are always fair & impartial in conducting practises. They maintain a healthy and positive environment to promote ethical business conduct (Seele, 2018). An ethical leaders is the one who sets an example for others and motivates other to follow his path. Every person has his own value or belief but an ethical leader always make the the organisation's belief and value his priority. Unethical leader uses unethical ways to make his employees work , uses certain forces to achieve targets and never gives the credit to his employees. Unethical leader always sets a bad example and demotivate his team member, and takes all the credits in front of the world. On the other hand ethical leader is the one who gives all his effort to achieve his organisation target with his team member and support his member to the maximum extent. In my opinion an ethical leader is a boon for any organisation , unethical leader is bain on the other side. It takes a constant effort and endeavours to be a ethical leader. By providing ethical training anddevelopment positivity and awareness can be spread to raise the ethical standard. To encourage ethical values strict policy of not bearing unethical behaviour should be implemented and rewards should be given who sets a strong ethical conduct. Reward should be given to encourage others to follow the path of ethic and punishment also to be served for unethical behaviours (Toledano, 2020). with the assistance of providing effective ethical training sessions to the staff members help them in order to gain opportunities in near future within business organisation. This is one of the most crucial as well as step for the overall development of systematic and strong work ethic among the workplace. One of the essential instrument for preservation as well as promotion of all the ethical business practices is strict plan of action of zero tolerance towards the unethical behaviour. In addition to this, on the basis of overall personal experience gained by me it has been observed that it is necessary to show strong commitment towards business ethics at workplace so that the whole results for the organisation is favourable. It has also been observed by me that because of lack of knowledge and awareness about ethics and its implementation within business 11
might create negative impact on the overall growth of business entity. I believe that one of the most effective measure in order to enhance ethical consideration within the business entity is that it must allow team members and subordinates that they mus report towards the unethical activities arise at the workplace without any sort of fear so that there must be development of effective ethical strategies at workplace (Vazquez, 2018). On the other hand, it has also been concluded that there must be effective ethical leadership style at the business which assist in developing goodwill as well as reputation of the entity at the competitive marketplace. I can also conclude that saving of ethics as well as promotion of honesty & compliance at the organisation needs initiation and effective communication of all the organisational ethics policies and standard with their employee so they can work in a systematic manner. CONCLUSION According to the above stated report, it has been identified that every organisation need to adopt ethical policies and regulations in an effective manner so that all the functions need to be performed in systematic manner as well as in ethical way. Along with this, it has also been concluded that there is an effective implementation of all the ethical theories at workplace in an effective manner so that they can perform all the work in an effective manner. There are mainly two types of ethical theories which needs to be adopted by higher authorities of the company in a appropriate manner so that they can develop positive outcome and create strong goodwill at competitive marketplace. Furthermore, it has been identified that these are the models which assist a business entity so that they can conduct all their functions in an ethical manner which develop favourable results for the business entity. 12
REFERENCES Books and Journals Seele, P., 2018. What makes a business ethicist? A reflection on the transition from applied philosophy to critical thinking. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(3), pp.647-656. Toledano, N., 2020. Promoting ethical reflection in the teaching of social entrepreneurship: A proposal using religious parables. Journal of Business Ethics, 164(1), pp.115-132. Vazquez, P., 2018. Family business ethics: At the crossroads of business ethics and family business. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(3), pp.691-709. 13