Business Ethics and Sustainability

The article discusses the importance of ethics in business and sustainability through two case studies and the use of diagnostic tools. It also includes a personal assessment of the author's strengths and weaknesses.

Running head: Business ethics and sustainability
Business ethics and sustainability
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

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Ethics play a crucial role in business. Often it is seen business professionals deviate from
the ethical standards which lead to their fall. Hence, based on two given case studies and the
four diagnostic tools an analysis will be done as to on the lessons learnt from the case studies
while elaborating on the results of assessment through the diagnostic tools.
Thus, I will start the discussion with the very first case study named All Asia Airways
which documents an ethical issue. The major lesson that we get from the case study is that
deviation from ethics finally leads to fall. As stated by the case, Richard Change indulged into
bribery for the sake of accelerating business profit. He arranged lavish parties, would give
personal gifts to the people who were in power like the bureaucrats, ministers and so on. When
the company needed to have permissions from the government for its business growth, the leader
further engaged into arranging lavish conferences, personal parties and gifts so that the officials
work in favor of him. Another ethical deviation according to my observation was that when the
Surbanes’ Oxley and the Foreign Corrupt Practices act required the company to introduce and
implement a code of conducts and to train its employees regarding ethical decision making while
being aware of the law of United States government, Richard showed a reluctant behavior
towards the legal terms. He preferred not to invest any more money on internal strategy
development in order to make the employees learn about ethics.
The above mentioned ethical deviation of a leader according to my view point is
extremely undesirable since a leader sets example before his employees and employees
accordingly follow his footsteps. In my point of view Richard should have been given more
ethical consideration in developing training programs in order to make the employees learn about
maintenance of ethics instead of bribing the ministers and other officials for the purpose of
business growth. Deviation from ethical considerations did not only prove Chang as an

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ineffective leader but also put other employees David Leong into trouble who was responsible
for purchasing aircraft parts. The other employee in a leadership position of the company
Graeme Rochford was another example of unethical leader in my point of view since he
encouraged David to indulge in attending the parties that were given with the purpose of bribing.
As a result, the David and the whole company faced legal obligation that could lead the company
to lose its business license. Hence, I strongly disagree with such unethical behavior only for the
sake profit generation.
While studying the other case named Gold and Diamond Watch, I had come across a
wide range of characters that differed on their ethical considerations. For example while one
preferred to choose being unethical, someone else preferred to be stick to their ethical and moral
values. I would say the whole case has documented different character traits. The main character
with ethical issue in my point of view was Ryan because in order get orders he indulged into
bribing. He was easily manipulated by Abdul, a purchasing government officer. Abdul asked
Ryan to give him a gift in order to get the order. As per my observation if Ryan was ethical he
would instantly refuse the deal but instead he said he would try to do something. In addition to
that, even after being rebuked by his boss Charles, he did not change his mind and went to Angus
for second opinion. While Charles advised Ryan to indulge into bribing customers, Angus
further more encouraged Ryan in proceeding ahead with bribing the customers. The whole
consequence of the entire incident led Ryan to lose his job as Charles came to know about the
incident of Ryan’s purchasing a luxury watch for a customer.
Hence, based on the case according to my consideration Ryan is the second most
objectionable person since he was under influence of other two characters Abdul and Angus. Just
in order to get the order and to elevate his occupational position, Ryan went too further without

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considering his low financial situations and bank debts he chose to buy the luxury to gift Abdul
without even thinking that his action might lead to him to lose the job permanently. In the whole
case, in my point of view, Abdul is the most objectionable person as he asked Ryan to give him
commission. He deviated from the ethical values and indulged into asking for gifts as a means of
bribe to fix the deal with Ryan. In my point of view, as a government official, Abdul should not
have been indulged into those unethical practices. However, my observation positioned Charles
as the least objectionable person since he did opt to being unethical even when one of his
employees took personal initiative of bribing customer to get a deal. Instead he warned that
employee Ryan to refrain from being unethical and indulge in practicing bribing. Hence in my
view, Charles is the most ethical person among the all characters mentioned in the case. As per
my viewpoint, Angus, friend of Ryan ranks as the third most objectionable person. When Ryan
went to Angus for taking his opinion, instead of asking him to refrain from bribery, Angus
supported and encouraged him to perform the unethical practice.
The third least objectionable person in my view is Grey Reason. He provided support to
Ryan considering Ryan’s financial need. However, he was partly unethical as he agreed to
sanction the loan even after he came to learn about Grey’s unethical decision of bribing his
customer. Thus, I would consider him neutral while ranking as neither he was partly unethical
nor he was partly unethical. On the other hand the second most little objectionable person in my
view point is none but Jane Reason, wife of Grey Reason because as soon as he came to learn
about Ryan’s purchasing of a luxury watch he soon informed Reason. He could have supported
that but like Grey, her ethical and moral values drove her speak against wrong doings.
The assessment result through the first diagnostic tool suggests a mixed result in which
partly my team members were right and partly I was right in drawing conclusion. In the case of

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tiger and the trainer and the armed robber my team members agreed with my point of view by
holding the trainer and the robber responsible for the action. On the other hand, our opinions
differ in cases of the young brother and father’s shot gun and capital punishment. While I think
the father of the two brothers was responsible for the act, my team members agreed upon the two
brothers as responsible. Similarly I think the capital punishment case was nothing but an
accident, my other group members held the medical attendant responsible due to negligence.
Hence, a difference between my team members and I were seen I terms of opinion.
As per the assessment tool 2, I possess high authentic leadership qualities which I
consider as my greatest strength. However, as per the assessment results, I need to work on the
areas of self awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing as relational
transparency in order improve my ability of authentic leadership more keeping the future goals in
mind.
According to the personal value assessment 3, it is seen that my economic value is
highest than any other values which emphasizes on my practicality and particularity. While my
theoretical value was the second highest projecting myself as result oriented and evaluation
prone person, the aesthetic and social evaluations suggest my values related to aesthetics and
relationship and other social aspects are moderate. Meanwhile as per the assessment with high
rate of political values, I possess a desire to acquire power. However, the spiritual value scored
least portraying me with less religious beliefs and other aspects of spirituality.
In the meantime, the diagnostic tool 4 evaluates my moral competency inventory ability.
The result of this assessment states that I have moderate level of MCI which means some of my

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actions are synced with what beliefs and some of my actions do not sync with what I belief.
Hence the assessment indicates that I need to work more to improve my MCI ability.
Thus in order to conclude it is apt to state that the whole discussion shed light on my
personal attributes. The assessment tools helped to a greater extent in understanding my own
strengths as well my weaknesses. For instance while I learnt that my authentic leadership
qualities are high, I also came to know that I need to give more effort in developing my moral
competency inventory ability. The case studies on the other hand, benefitted me in obtaining
knowledge regarding ethics and why should one maintain his or her ethical values. Moreover, the
assessments and the case studies had given me great opportunities of acquiring knowledge.