Ethical Decision Making Assignment Report

Ethical decision making
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Ethics 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Seven steps of the ethical decision-making.....................................................................................2
Step 1: Define the problem..........................................................................................................2
Step 2: Seek out relevant assistance, guidance and support........................................................3
Step 3: Identify alternatives.........................................................................................................3
Step 4: Evaluate the alternatives..................................................................................................3
Step 5: Make the decision............................................................................................................4
Step 6: Implement the decision....................................................................................................4
Step 7: Evaluate the decision.......................................................................................................5
Model could have mitigated ethical dilemma at the chosen organization.......................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

Ethics 2
Introduction
The paper aims to select a current proper dilemma at an organisation which is Facebook. The
report helps in analysing the ethical issues Facebook Company with the help of seven steps of
the ethical decision-making model. Each step of the model is practical to moral dilemma that
took place. The paper shows how model could have alleviated ethical dilemma of Facebook. The
research shows that hundreds of millions of Facebook operator’s histories were unprotected to
Amazon cloud server.
Seven steps of the ethical decision-making
Ethical scandal that took place at Facebook is analysed with the seven steps of model that are
given below: -
Step 1: Define the problem
In the research, this has been witnessed over 540 million records about the Facebook users were
openly unprotected to Amazon's cloud computing services as per the cyber city research firm.
The report of the UpGuard shows that two third-party Facebook app designers posted all
histories in the basic vision which leads to extra major data breach that took place for world’s
major system of social media (Silverstein, 2019). It has been found that the developers were not
able to handle the records effectively. Therefore, the ethical issue leak of the personal data of
customers to another company. The elements of the personal data include friends, likes, photos,
music and location (Romm & Dwoskin, 2019).

Ethics 3
Step 2: Seek out relevant assistance, guidance and support
This step includes critical to exploration out wealth that may be of support in forming the choice
(ECI, 2019). According to the ethical issue, the company need professional guidelines for the
developers so that they can effectively handle the customer data. In addition to this, Facebook
needs the organisational policies as well as codes for the app developers so that they can
contribute in making the right decision. Furthermore, Facebook company app developers should
listen to their external colleagues which will help them to handle the data effectively as they
might have a different perspective.
Step 3: Identify alternatives
Option 1: The first alternative for the company is to reinforce its security measures to protect the
data and privacy of Facebook users.
Option 2: The second alternative for Facebook is to hire the specialist team of the cyber risk that
helps to stop from any kind of breach.
Step 4: Evaluate the alternatives
This step includes evaluation of each alternative that can contribute in resolving the ethical issue
faced by the Facebook Company (Wittmer, 2019).
In the first option, Facebook strengthens its security measures which eliminate the data breach
and provide the safety to the customers. This alternative allows the company to win the trust as
well as the loyalty of the customers (Iphofen, 2016). In addition, Facebook own employees will
have all the information about their system that offers them an advantage to implement the new
system or software as per their company needs. However, the negative aspect of this approach is

Ethics 4
that the company might face issues because they might not be able to detect the loopholes that
are present in their business.
The evaluation of the second alternative shows that Facebook hires an expert team of the cyber
risk that helps in identifying the loopholes in the security system of the company and also it leads
to the up-gradation of the new software. However, this alternative can leads to the negative
element for the company as it's hard to search for the right team for them that can help them in
providing safety from any kind of breach. In addition, there will high investment by the company
due to the high cost of appointment of the cyber risk team as the operations of Facebook are
wide.
Step 5: Make the decision
This step of the ethical decision-making model allows the company to select the best alternative
for their ethical issues. In this case, the company will select option 1 for their business as it helps
them to detect the error and eliminate the same (Schwartz, 2016).
Step 6: Implement the decision
The following step shows the implementation of choice in which company will conduct the
meeting with their existing team members. The manager will ask for the suggested and way out
through which they can reinforce their security measures (Jamnik, 2019). Accordingly, the entire
members of the company find the way out through which they can measure security and install
the new software for managing the safety of the customer’s data.

Ethics 5
Step 7: Evaluate the decision
In this step, Facebook company will check that the security issue that they are facing is resolved
or not. The steps help the company to take the right decision to deal with the ethical issues which
are faced by the company.
Model could have diminished ethical dilemma at selected organization
The study reflects that the ethical decision-making model could have alleviated ethical dilemma
of Facebook as model provide actual way to be ethical in any situation. This model includes the
step by step work which remains effective for the company at the time of crisis which is
generally faced by them (Valentine & Godkin, 2019). They could have taken the right steps in
the ethical situation that are faced by them in current corporate environment. The steps could
have stopped the ethical issues Facebook might have not lost all their customer details to the
Amazon Company.
Conclusion
In the end, this can be concluded that the business environment is dynamic due to which
maximum companies find ethical issues. Similarly, Facebook registered the ethical issue in
which they lost the details of 540 million people to the third party company that is Amazon. The
paper includes the seven steps of moral decision-making model which include resolution of
decision that helps the company to deal with the issue.

Ethics 6
References
ECI. (2019). Seven Steps to Ethical Decision Making. Retrieved from:
https://www.ethics.org/resources/free-toolkit/decision-making-model/#filters
Iphofen, R. (2016). Ethical decision making in social research: A practical guide. Springer.
Jamnik, A. (2019). The question of ethical decision in marketing and ethics. Cultura
económica, 29(80), 41-53.
Romm, T. & Dwoskin, E. (2019). Millions of sensitive Facebook user records were left exposed
on public web, security researchers say. Retrieved from:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/04/03/millions-sensitive-facebook-
user-records-were-left-exposed-public-web-security-researchers-say/
Schwartz, M. S. (2016). Ethical decision-making theory: An integrated approach. Journal of
Business Ethics, 139(4), 755-776.
Silverstein, J. (2019). Hundreds of millions of Facebook user records were exposed on Amazon
cloud server. Retrieved from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/millions-facebook-user-
records-exposed-amazon-cloud-server/
Valentine, S., & Godkin, L. (2019). Moral intensity, ethical decision making, and whistleblowing
intention. Journal of Business Research, 98, 277-288.
Wittmer, D. P. (2019). Ethical decision-making. In Handbook of administrative ethics (pp. 507-
534). Routledge.