Analysis of an Ethical Dilemma in Business Ethics

This case study analyzes an ethical dilemma in business ethics where a CEO proposes a solution that could harm human beings. The analysis uses the ACS Code of Ethics and the Thomas White methodology to resolve the dilemma.

Running head: CASE STUDY
Case Study
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CASE STUDY
Analysis of the case study
Question 1
Juan had faced quite a serious ethical dilemma in this context. The CEO of the company
was quite furious and desperate to get the job done by any means. He was willing to get success
in the project since it would bring great success and profits for the company. In this scenario,
Juan has been left in a situation where he would have to think of the proper outcomes indeed. It
is clear that 64 gold wires would surely damage the eyes of the human beings in the great ways
since the rays are harmful for the retina of the eyes.
This would be applicable for all the human beings at all the places. There were indeed no
variables for that. The CEO was completely of the opinion that the solution was good so he
wanted to apply it on the human beings of an island on the Indian Ocean. Juan should keep in
mind if he agrees to the proposal of the CEO he would be the one who should take up the
initiative to push the human beings to blindness without any fault. This would be utterly
disgraceful for him as a human being.
As per his job is concerned he is an experienced person with good qualities and
capabilities. He would surely get another job elsewhere but he should not at all go for do harm to
the human beings by thinking in a selfish way. He should abide by the working ethics of doing
the work without harming anyone. The clause of Honesty in ACS Code of Ethics would be very
important for making the decision by Juan. It says ‘You will be honest in your representation of
skills, knowledge, services, and products.’ (Acs.org.au 2018)

2CASE STUDY
Question 2
The ethical dilemma in this context is indeed a serious one. Juan has to decide what he
should do. Either he has to obey the orders of the CEO to make the trials in the island of the
Indian Ocean where no work health and safety acts exist or he has to choose to reject the plan
proposed by the CEO. It will be against the work ethics to do harm to the poor people of the
island who are ready to do the work for one tenth of the wages of the Australian people. In order
to resolve the dilemma he will have to consult with the Thomas White methodology. He must
follow the various steps said in the methodology and take the final decision only after that.
At first, Juan should make a thorough analysis of the analysis of the consequences that he
might face. He might get fired by the CEO of the company or he should have to pay the penalties
for getting failed in the process. He can be show caused as well. However, he must think of the
long run process (White 2013). He can get over the worse times and better products might be
discovered that will not cause any harm to the organs of the human body. He should look at the
benefits from the decisions rather than the harms.
He should look to focus on the point that he would be able to save the eyesight of
hundreds of people through this. He should definitely take pride in this. Next he should make an
analysis of his actions and compare them with the moral factors like honesty, fairness, ethical
measures, respecting the rights of the people and others (White 2013). After discussing about all
these points he should come to the conclusion that he does not have any right to harm the equal
rights of the people. He should not break the ethical and moral principles to gain the profits.

3CASE STUDY
Question 3
In this context, Juan should be very strict and bold to take the steps to reject the proposal
of the CEO of his company. He should go on to tell his labor force that this proposal should not
be initiated in the practical scenario. He should try to convince that their relatives could also be
the victims of this kind of unjust decision made by the CEO (White 2013). He can communicate
with the doctors, legal advisors or even the Police to take the proper actions against this indeed.
He should urge the legal advisors to make the CEO understand that this is not the proper way to
do the things. Hopefully the CEO will understand because the legal advisors are very important
stakeholders of the company indeed.

4CASE STUDY
References and Bibliography
Acs.org.au (2018). [online] Acs.org.au. Available at:
https://www.acs.org.au/content/dam/acs/acs-documents/Code-of-Ethics.pdf [Accessed 24 Nov.
2018].
Collins, D., 2012. Business ethics: How to design and manage ethical organizations. Hoboken,
NJ: Wiley.
DesJardins, J.R., 2014. An introduction to business ethics. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Ferrell, O.C. and Fraedrich, J., 2015. Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson
Education.
Lo, B., 2012. Resolving ethical dilemmas: a guide for clinicians. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
White, T.I., 2013. Resolving an ethical dilemma. Retrieved from: bourbon. usc. edu7engr102-
p09/ethics. pdf, Accessed, 18.