Business Ethics: Ethical Dilemma and Whistleblowing
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This article discusses the ethical dilemma faced by Michael, a new product manager of a technology startup, and the relevance of ethics in business. It also explores the concept of whistleblowing and the actions that Michael should take.
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Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS Business Ethics Name of the student Name of the university Author note
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1 BUSINESS ETHICS Ethical issue in this scenario The ethical issue which has been identified in relation to the scenario is that whether Michael should choose business interest over ethical principles. In the given situation it has been provided that Michael has started to work as a new product manager of a technology startup. His boss has provided him with a few documents which are actually documents of private strategies belonging to the closest competitor. This documents consists of pricing strategies product plans and partnership agreements and are clearly marked with the words private and confidential. It has been notified to Michael that his boss has not at the account himself but have access to this information via his colleague. However this was only said by him as he realized that Michael was suspicious about how the documents have been obtained. In addition it has been provided that the situation would clearly not able to comply with the 60 minutes test. The ethical dilemma in which Michael was in with respect to the situation is that whether we should use the documents towards gaining a competitive advantage for the phone or she should restrain from using the document which would not put the reputation of the organisation at risk and would also comply with the principles of ethics. In this situation Michael is not feeling good about using the materials for the purpose of gaining a competitive advantage. On one hand he has to himself comply with ethical principles and on the other hand it is also his duty to highlight the conduct which has been indulged into by his boss by stealing the document from his competitors. If he does so he might be able to comply with ethical principles but he would not be able to retain his job and would not work in the best interest of his boss or the company is working for. Therefore choosing between what he feels right and the interest of the company as an ethical dilemma which Michael faces in the situation.
2 BUSINESS ETHICS What actions should Michael indulge in? The decision which Michael should take in this case would be derived from the application of to ethical theories. These theories are namely deontology and utilitarianism. The application of these theories in the situation would ensure that Michael is able to take a decision with complies with ethical principles (Lazari-Radek and Singer 2017). Firstly actions of Michael would be evaluated by the application of deontology theory as provided by Immanuel Kant. The primary domain in relation to this theory is the question that what should a person do (Bentham 2014). The principal which has been provided by the theory states that a person should only indulge is in an action which we perceive can be expected from everyone else in the society (Zhang, Liao and Yuan 2016). Thus if the person perceive that everyone in the society can be allowed to lie then he may himself indulge in lying ethically (Vadastreanu, Maier and Maier 2015). In the same way if the person perceive that it would not be ethical for everyone in the society to indulge in actions like lying under this theory he should also not indulge in the act of lying (Bentham 2014). In the given situation it is definitely evident that Michael would not want everyone in the society to steal documents on the competitors and use it to gain a competitive advantage. In addition he would also not want everyone in the society to hide an illegal activity which has been indulged in by his or her boss. Therefore in the given situation it would be ethical for Michael to report the actions which have been indulge into by his boss and not use the documents for gaining competitive advantage for the form. The theory of utilitarianism on the other hand stripes to maximize Universal benefits over Universal harm (Barrow 2015). In the given situation it is also clear that if Michael indulges in using the stolen documents for gaining a competitive advantage it would only result in the benefits of his firm and not for the society. Therefore the application of the utilitarianism theory also forward them from utilising the
3 BUSINESS ETHICS documents which has been stolen by his boss. In addition it would also not be towards the benefits of the society to not highlight a person who is indulging in fraudulent activities which he is very likely to do in the future. Therefore through the application of the utilitarianism theory Michael should also whistle blow about the actions of his boss. Analysis of Michael's Boss's action It has been provided in the given situation that Michael’s Boss has indulged in gaining unethical and maybe illegal access to private and confidential documents of his competitor. He makes a claim that he has not done such actions personally but he has managed to obtain such information via a colleague. In the given situation his actions would be assessed by applying the ethical theories which have been utilised the above. Firstly to the application of the deontology theory in the given situation it is clear that Michaels Boss would not want everyone the society to indulge in actions which constitutes telling of private and confidential documents from a competitor and using it for gaining a competitive advantage. Therefore in the given situation it is clear that the actions of the boss is clearly unethical through the application of that the deontology theory. In the same way by applying the utilitarianism theory in the situation it can be analysed that it would not be for public good to allow everyone to steal documents from their competitors and use it for gaining competitive advantage. The actions are only going to benefit the boss and not the overall society. Therefore through the application of the utilitarianism theory it is also clear that actions of the boss are not ethical. This is because utilitarianism theory strive to achieve overall happiness and benefits and not the happiness and benefit of a specific individual. The defence which has been claimed by Michaels boss that he did not himself indulge
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4 BUSINESS ETHICS into such actions would also not be applicable in the situation as the application of the two theories would not allow such a conduct to be called ethical. Whistle blowing As defined byBrown and Lawrence (2017)the act of a person of raising his voice with respect to an unethical activity which is carried out within a workplace is known as whistle blowing. This activity maybe indulged into by the police of such person for his or her boss. In this situation the person who highlights such activities or raises his voice against them is known as a whistleblower. On the other handCarroll and Buchholtz (2014)has defined whistleblowing as the process of gaining public attention or that of a public authority with respect to a perceived misconduct, wrongdoing or unethical activity within a private, public or organisation sector. A whistleblower exposes an activity which is going to be an ethical or illegal within his knowledge. There are several motivations through which a whistleblower may be motivated to report the actions of a colleague or supervisors to the authority. The most prominent of such motivation is the objective of putting an end to practices which are unethical when an injustice or unethical activity has been witnessed in the organisation. According toChen, Nichol and Zhou(2017)it has been stated that motivation is often provided to the whistleblowers to report the activities which are unethical in nature when they observe that there has been a sharp decline in the compliance of ethical activities within the workplace. In addition to such factors other motivating forces include social organisational and ethical pressure working on the whistleblower. People often indulge is in the process of whistleblowing when others are also aware about the unethical practices as they do not want to be held for the offence of being silent in relation to an unethical activity.
5 BUSINESS ETHICS Whistleblowing is totally justified as it increases the accountability of those who indulges in an ethical decision making and works in favour of public interest. Therefore in the given situation Michael should without any doubt whistle blow in relation to the unethical activity which has been in indulged into by his boss. Relevance of ethics in business 1.Firstly, there are no employees who wants to work for an organisation which does not have any ethical principles governing their activities. Employees want to work for organisations with comply with ethical standards and through this they are able to fulfil personal moral standards and attain a piece of mind as it is clear for them in relation to the expectations which they have from the workplace (Crane and Matten 2016). 2.Secondly, the customer base of the organisation is enhanced by complying with ethical principles. No customer or client would like to deal with an organisation which does not intelligent ethical decision making or basis is activities upon unethical practices. In additionwhendealingwith anorganisationwhichobservedethicalprinciplesthe customers are able to feel that they are contributing for the benefits of the society (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2015). 3.Thirdly,compliancewithethicalprinciplessurelyenhancesthereputationofthe organisation in the society. Information with respect to a company is readily available on the Internet and if there is any health of any unethical practices in relation to the organisation know person would like to associate him or herself with the organisation. Thus the reputation of the organisation in relation to ethics is of utmost importance for it sustainability and growth (Mudgal, Sharma and Kumar 2014).
6 BUSINESS ETHICS 4.Finally, compliance with ethical activities exposes organisation to very less if any legal risk associated with its operations. When the organisation strives to work ethically it also complies with all legal and procedural requirements and that minimises the risk of any action associated with them. (Reyes, Kim and Weaver 2016)
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7 BUSINESS ETHICS References Barrow, R., 2015.Utilitarianism: A contemporary statement. Routledge. Bentham, J., 2014.Deontology; or, The Science of Morality.: In two volumes. Adegi Graphics LLC. Brown,A.J.andLawrence,S.A.,2017.STRENGTHOFORGANISATIONAL WHISTLEBLOWING PROCESSES–ANALYSIS FROM AUSTRALIA. Carroll, A. and Buchholtz, A., 2014.Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education. Chen, C.X., Nichol, J. and Zhou, F.H., 2017. The Effect of Incentive Framing and Descriptive Norms on Internal Whistleblowing.Contemporary Accounting Research. Crane,A.andMatten,D.,2016.Businessethics:Managingcorporatecitizenshipand sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press. de Lazari-Radek, K. and Singer, P., 2017.Utilitarianism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. Ferrell, O.C. and Fraedrich, J., 2015.Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson Education. Mudgal,D., Sharma,A.K. and Kumar, S., 2014. Talkingabout Ethicsin Business and Professional Practices is appearing with masked face to deceive the society: A social audit of BusinessmenandProfessionalPractitionersconductedinBhiwaniCityofHaryana State.GLOBAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, p.34.
8 BUSINESS ETHICS Mulgan, T., 2014.Understanding utilitarianism. Routledge. Reyes,I.G.,Kim,W.T.andWeaver,G.,2016.Teachingethicsinbusinessschools:A conversation on disciplinary differences, academic provincialism, and the case for integrated pedagogy.Acad manag learn edu. doi,10. Vadastreanu, A.M., Maier, D. and Maier, A., 2015. Is the success possible in compliance with ethics and deontology in business?.Procedia Economics and Finance,26, pp.1068-1073. Zhang, F.W., Liao, J.Q. and Yuan, J.M., 2016. Ethical leadership and whistleblowing: Collective moral potency and personal identification as mediators.Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal,44(7), pp.1223-1231.