Ethics Case Study: BHP Billiton and Cambodian Prime Minister

ETHICS CASE STUDY
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Table of Contents
1.0 Overview of an ethical decision making model...............................................................3
2.0 Overview of ethical principles...........................................................................................5
3.0 Stakeholders in the present case study.............................................................................7
4.0 Ethical issues involved.......................................................................................................8
5.0 Comments...........................................................................................................................9
References...............................................................................................................................10
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1.0 Overview of an ethical decision making model
Ethics can closely be defined as a set of rules to justify right from wrong, describe moral
obligations towards the community, and to protect the rights of people. These models are put
in place to decide whether a person or an organization are in violation of the ethical standard.
In the current case study, BHP Billiton had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
with the Cambodian Prime Minister (PM) to explore the land for Bauxite. The company
while conducting business on international grounds, must adhere to some ethical decision-
making models as following:
Utilitarian
The model is one of the most widely used moral theories that the researchers use in order to
prove and assess the causes and impact of unethical practices. Utilitarian theory is primarily a
consequence-based approach where the best possible solution is selected based on the factor
of the greatest good for all and least harm caused (Cooper, 2012). The theory advocates the
balance between all the stakeholders involved in this agreement.
Common Good
This is another consequential model which see to the wellbeing of everyone around. Culiberg
and Bajde (2013) suggest that it emphasize the relationship of people in a society and the
compassion for fellow men and women.
Rights
As the name suggests, this model designed to respect the right of all the person affected by
the ethical decision and protect them. The citizens of Cambodia and the employees of the
company must be treated with dignity and not as a mean to achieve something. Right
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theorists advocate the human right and the same may extend to non-civilian like prisoners and
even the animal rights as well.
Fairness or Justice
This is a non-consequential approach which narrates that every person must be treated
equally irrespective of their position or stature in the society (Tsalikis and Peralta, 2014). It
enforces that law and justice should be equal for the owners of BHP and the PM as for the
citizens.
Virtue
The theory of virtue argues that ethics does not comprise the consequence of a decision only,
but is the sum of a certain virtue of compassion, courage, honesty etc. of a person. This is an
agent-based approach placing the essential human characteristics as a driving factor
(Saunders and Wenzel, 2011). In this context, it may be noted that the theory of virtue is very
much individual and does not necessarily apply to all contexts where the human psychology
plays a major role in determining what is right or wrong.
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