Report on Business Values and Ethics

RUNNING HEAD: BUSINESS VALUE AND ETHICS
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Business Values and Ethics

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Executive Summary
This report aims to highlight the concepts of business ethics and in order to understand these
concepts, different case studies and their solutions are highlighted with the proper application of
business ethics theories such as Utilitarianism. Further, purchasing ethics, ethics related to
employee absence, discrimination in the workplace and ethical and unethical decisions in the
businesses are highlighted.

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Case Studies
Case 1
a. In this situation I would like to see the bid of my competitor, I know that this is an
unethical thing to do but this is necessary to save the business. As an entrepreneur, there
are always two choices in the business and to survive it is the responsibility of the leader
to choose the best possible manner so that it can benefit most of the people. Furthermore,
in the context of business ethics, the most applicable theory of ethics is “Utilitarianism”.
This theory focus on ‘the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of people’.
Besides, this indicates that decisions that promote more happiness and lead to the absence
of pain are the right decisions or ethical decisions (Ebenstein,2018). Hence, to check the
competitors' bid tend to be the right decision as it benefits the whole business and
employees. This is the last chance to save the business and by taking this decision I want
to benefit stakeholders who are associated with me throughout my business journey.
Both negative and positive consequences of seeing the competitor's bid are; I get present
better bid than competitors in the auction and make strategies accordingly to win the
auction and this benefit me as my business will survive, employees get to pay on time
and investors get a higher return. The negative consequences of this could be
disqualification from the auction and negative image. So it could be better to open the
competitor bid and take a chance to win.
b. If , I opted for ethical way it will be difficult to survive in the market. However, some of
steps that I will take in near future for businessinclude finding out options for mergers
and acquistions, or investors that would see potential in my busisness. But most
probabaly I would like to go for merger and look for coampnies that are ready to acquire
my business.
Case 2
a. No, Marian should not quit.
b. No, her coworkers are not correct in their evaluation as Marian is a top graduate from
Loyola in Humanities, hired at management position and finished the corporate training
program and positioned top in her group. The evaluation of her coworkers was not on the

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basis of her qualification and talent rather they were judging her because she is a woman
and performing better than the experienced person in their field.
c. Yes, Marian should confront the coworkers so that they can realize their mistake and
don’t try to discriminate between man and woman's capabilities.
d. No, Marian should not file any discrimination suit as this can be done in extreme cases.
In this case, Marian does not go through any discrimination from the side of top
executives and colleagues. Her coworkers are discussing amongst themselves and not
taking actions to discriminate. Furthermore, in ethical terms, discrimination is defined as
‘the prejudicial or unjust treatment of different categories of things or people, mainly on
the grounds of age, race, and sex’ (Bowie,2017). In this case, Marian is facing
discrimination regarding gender and age as she is junior but still working at the top
position; in addition to that, there is no woman in the workplace due to that Marian
feeling isolated in the company.
e. Yes, Marian should contact her supervisor, as each and every organization has policies
related to employee discrimination if both of these coworkers will do any unethical acts
in the near future than she can get the support of her supervisor. But at present, she
should talk to the supervisor so that he can at least give warning to coworkers that all
these things are not allowed in the workplace.
f. The next best alternative for Marian could be to not ignore this issue and present some
concern in front of top management regarding workforce diversity as there is no woman
in the organization. Hence, Marian in the light of this situation can highlight the
discrimination in the workplace and highlights the workforce diversity issue as well.
Case 3
a. Yes, the suspension is fair in the term of business as absenteeism of employees is taken
as the serious concern in any organization. In this case, it can be seen that she had
excessive absenteeism earlier also and the management also gave her written and oral
warning. If the suspension was given without any warning that could be an unethical
decision but after warning, this is an ethical decision.

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b. Yes, Sylvia acts professionally and responsibly because Sylvia warned Joan that she
exceeded the allowed leaves and also Sylvia warned her orally and in writing. Hence,
suspension for 15 days was a good step by Sylvia.
c. Yes, she acted irresponsibly as instead of handling the situation professionally she didn’t
go to work and gave priority to other things. Her irresponsible behavior showed that she
didn’t take her job seriously. Hence, should be fired.
d. No, the babysitter should not be punished because this was not her fault rather Joan
should find an alternative to solve this issue. Further, if this excuse is true then why Joan
was absent earlier. If Joan was not absent earlier she might have used her leave balance in
this situation.
e. Yes, Sylvia warned Joan that she exceeded the allowed leaves and also Sylvia warned her
orally and in writing. She acted fairly and ethically.
f. Yes, there should be a solution for single working mothers. In this case, being a single
mother is a situation that organizations also understand but only in emergency cases.
Further, a single mother should clarify with their superior about her situation at the
beginning. Moreover, business life and personal life should be kept separate.
g. Yes, fathers should also be liable for their children's upbringing. As it is not the only
responsibility of the mother to take care of the child.
Case 5
a. The accounting fraud to the society and business is increasing, in this case, Enron
accounting fraud has been discussed. From this case, it is analyzed that Arthur Edward
Anderson supported and supported the fraudulent activities. But after investigation, the
company led to bankruptcy. Enron scandal was the biggest audit failure of all the time.
Some of the outcomes of accounting fraud to the society are hazardous such as loss of
people's trust on public institutions, financial loss, external confidence, high audit fee and
impact on employees and impact directly on business culture and morale (Palla, Billy,
Harter & Palla, 2018).
b. In the field of accounting and finances, fraud and unethical practices are increasing day
by day even after so many laws and strict restrictions. After Enron scandals, there were

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more accounting scandals such as Worldcom, Nortel, and AIG. This leads to a question
mark on accounting principles that are accepted at the global level.
Case 6
a. Yes, purchasing should have gone through the normal bidding routine rather than directly
purchasing from Tiddley. Further, here procurement through ethical way is an important
consideration in the business. J.R should not misuse his position, maintain integrity with
bidders and other suppliers, and don’t use the business label for private benefits.
b. No, this is not acceptable for any person whether Vice president or purchase manager to
do business with family members and violate business policies (Quarshie, Salmi &
Leuschner,2016).
c. No, this is not an ethical choice as this only benefitted his son Jim and not proves to be a
bad deal for the company as IBM had a better deal and providing computers for $2000
with better features.
d. The purchasing agent should talk to Vice president or committee members as this is
called whistleblowing.
e. No, no one in CCVU has an interest in this activity
f. No, Tiddley Cripple franchise owner was right as he objected to Tiddley Corporation that
his protected franchise has been bypassed in the deal.
g. Jim has made the sale and received commission however with the help of her father. This
could be ethical if he had provided computers at a low cost than IBM.

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References
Bowie, N. E. (2017). Business ethics: A Kantian perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Ebenstein, L. O. (2018). Routledge Revivals: The Greatest Happiness Principle (1986): An
Examination of Utilitarianism. Routledge.
Palla, A. K., Billy, I. A., Harter, E. S., & Palla, K. K. (2018). A Case Study on Ethics in the 21st
Century & the Enron Effect. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 9(4).
Quarshie, A. M., Salmi, A., & Leuschner, R. (2016). Sustainability and corporate social
responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and
business ethics journals. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 22(2), 82-97.