Business Ethics Assignment: Analysis of Ethical Issues in Business

This assignment addresses critical ethical issues in business, examining environmental sustainability, data security, and government regulation. Question 1 analyzes environmental concerns for a mid-size manufacturer, recommending sustainable approaches and relating them to ethical theories. Question 2 investigates a major data breach, assessing its impact on stakeholders and the overarching ethical issues involved. Question 3 explores the Boeing 737 Max 8 crashes, evaluating the roles of government regulation and business responsibility. The assignment utilizes course materials and external research to support its reasoning and provides a comprehensive analysis of these complex ethical challenges.

Business Ethics
March 7
2020
Different types of
ethical issues in
businesses

Business ethics 1
Question 1: Environmental Issues
In modern world where there is such drastic climate change and environment in
general has been changing so rapidly, there is a dire need for the businesses to become
sustainable to apt as per the changing scenario. Even this aspect of sustainable development
is very essential in a business as it promotes creativity and develops efficiency, in terms of
innovation of various new alternatives or they can also be something digital, basically
something that makes working efficient and cost effective as well and also helps accelerate
the growth (Lashley, 2016).
In small or mid- size enterprises, the mode that can be utilized in order to make it a
business that is sustainable is through doing what is best possible in given resources and also
not spreading or directing towards an aspect that makes things longer or tasks longer as such.
These need to be time and cost effective for starters. Innovating different techniques to work
around environment yet provide the best out comes or for that matter instead of using more
space as in on a hard drive or something, storing everything on the cloud, these are a few
examples that help in understanding the concept of sustainable business better. There are so
many approaches as well as so many aspects related to the framework of a sustainable
business; even corporate responsibility is something very important that shall be discussed
(Cassar, 2019). These mid -sized manufacturers or the businesses or organizations are there
with an idea behind them so as to working in accordance with which it can yield to efficient
out comes and better gains. This will help lessen the workload as well as help them build
their goodwill as well (Business Case Studies, 2019).
Ethical aspect that revolves around sustainable business is development or growth of
business along with the betterment of nature surrounding the firm or organization for that
matter. Various ethical theories such as utilitarian theory is what applies here (Kim, 2020).

Business ethics 2
The plans and ideas do not need to be expensive or extra, they just need to function and even
if they don’t, things can be put to work, thus affecting the mind set of people working for the
firm. These kinds of activities make a workplace survivable and help individuals develop
their creativity as well, although they do not always work, but it is a learning process and
evolution or growth keeps on taking place (Krishna, Dangayach, & Jainabc, 2011).
Question 2 Data security:
The data of 29 million Facebook users was hacked that included highly sensitive data,
relationship status, location details by the hackers. The data breach happened in the period of
July 2017-September2018 thus affecting the image of the company (LESKIN, 2018).
1. The nature of data breach was stolen information where the hackers wanted to obtain
the information of the client associated with it. The client basis included the Facebook
users whose information was stolen with the motive that had political reasons.
According to the WHO, the policy of stolen information causes huge losses for the
company and also for its users as their personal information get affected.
2. The overarching ethical issues that are demonstrated by the data breaches are
Breach of trust-
It breaches trust of the company and the client base thus affecting the image of
the company and other employees in the long run.
Loss of information-
There is huge loss of information of the client thus resulting in greater loss for
the people. The loss of information results in high degree of coordination between the
people.
Creation of fake database-

Business ethics 3
The other ethical issues that are concerned with it are the creation of the fake
database that can be used for other negative purpose thus negatively affecting the
image of the company
Breaches prevail due to following reasons-
Evil motives of the other parties-
The evil motives of the other parties are that leads to such breaches that results in such
illegal activities.
Unscrupulous profit making objectives -
The unscrupulous profit making is another important motive for the parties as they do
it by creating fake database.
3. The level of governance that I espouse for the industry is to bring effective private
settings. These private settings are helpful in achieving the right results next time. The
Facebook must take care of these private settings to govern the data of its clients so
that no one can use the data in the negative manner. They should try to secure the data
in the manner that Facebook users feel safe in posting their private details (Groot,
2019).
Question 3: Government Regulation
There were basically two crashes of Boeing Airlines’ 737 Max 8 that resulted in
around 346 people dying. When such an incident takes place there is involvement of basically
two authorities, one is the governmental authority that was involved in the permits being
passed and secondly, the organization or the company that let such a disaster happen. Lives
of individuals are something that are superior to any faulty airplane or something that is
material or can be repaired. Here the incident that took place is a clear example of a negligent
act on behalf of the FAA or the Federal Aviation Administration as well as the Boeing or the

Business ethics 4
authorities that passed the permits and did not do any kind of thorough inspection before
launching the flights (NAYLOR, 2019). Though the Crew members as well as the pilot and
other staff did their best that could be done to minimise the harm, yet despite all the efforts
around three hundred people died. Here the steps that were taken by the company could have
been monitored thoroughly or a least for that matter that it may harm other individuals, yet
this responsibility was ignored by the company (Cassidy, 2019).
Another aspect is the governmental regulation. As per the standards according to
which the Aviation companies need to work state, in a similar fashion the particular
department or organization as authorised or legalised by the government needs to conduct
inspection and check once before the permits are passed. Both the parties have been blaming
each other for the accident or the disaster here. As per the scenario, both the parties were at
fault. This instance clearly shows the relationship between the business, society and the
government. Here the relation between the company or the organization for that matter which
is related with the government in some or the other manner proved to be a tough situation to
deal with the society or might lead the market to crash for that matter. The government
regulations are there to lead the society in a better manner or to make the framework
surrounding the task convenient to be conducted (German, 2020).

Business ethics 5
Bibliography
Business Case Studies. (2019). business-ethics-and-sustainability-in-the-steel-industry.
Retrieved March 7, 2020, from Business Case Studies:
https://businesscasestudies.co.uk/business-ethics-and-sustainability-in-the-steel-
industry/
Cassar, C. (2019). Business Ethics and Sustainable Development. In L. F. W., Encyclopedia
of Sustainability in Higher Education. Springer, Cham.
Cassidy, J. (2019). How Did the F.A.A. Allow the Boeing 737 Max to Fly? Retrieved March
7, 2020, from The New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-did-the-faa-allow-the-boeing-
737-max-to-fly
German, K. (2020, February 10). As new Boeing CEO takes over, it's unclear when the 737
Max will fly again. Retrieved March 07, 2020, from cnet:
https://www.cnet.com/news/boeing-737-max-8-all-about-the-aircraft-flight-ban-and-
investigations/
Groot, J. D. (2019). The History of Data Breaches. Retrieved March 7, 2020, from Digital
Guardian: https://digitalguardian.com/blog/history-data-breaches
Kim, D. C. (2020). Ethical Theories. Retrieved March 7, 2020, from
https://pagecentertraining.psu.edu/public-relations-ethics/introduction-to-public-
relations-ethics/lesson-1/ethical-theories/
Krishna, A., Dangayach, G. S., & Jainabc, R. (2011). Business Ethics: A Sustainability
Approach. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 281–286.

Business ethics 6
Lashley, C. (2016). Business ethics and sustainability. Research in Hospitality Management,
1-7.
LESKIN, P. (2018). The 21 biggest data breaches of 2018. Retrieved March 7, 2020, from
Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/national-security/the-21-
biggest-data-breaches-of-2018/articleshow/67045497.cms
NAYLOR, B. (2019, April 2). Boeing's Not Alone In Companies That Government Agencies
Have Let Self-Regulate. Retrieved March 07, 2020, from NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709203191/boeings-not-alone-in-companies-that-
government-agencies-have-let-self-regulate