Case Study: Ethical Dilemma in Business and Social Responsibility

This case study examines an ethical dilemma faced by Tony, a data analyst working for a casino. Tony needs to complete an important project but lacks crucial data mistakenly sent to his coworker, Robert. To access the data, Tony uses Robert's password, violating company policy. The analysis explores Tony's actions through three ethical perspectives: Virtue Ethics, Duty Ethics, and Utilitarianism. Virtue Ethics assesses Tony's lack of virtuous behavior by violating Robert's privacy. Duty Ethics evaluates Tony's actions based on moral principles, concluding he was morally wrong to access the PC. Utilitarianism justifies Tony's actions based on the greater good of completing the project. The analysis references the concept of conscious capitalism, exploring the conflict between doing well and doing good in business.

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Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
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Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
It is apparent that Tony is in a critical ethical dilemma, and his scenario can be analysed
from three perspectives: Virtue Ethics, Duty Ethics and Utilitarianism.
Virtue Ethics calls for observance of morals in line with virtuous behaviour (Mackey &
Sisodia, 2014). Tony lacks virtue ethics because he has infringed the privacy rights of Robert for
accessing his PC without Robert’s knowledge or permission. Besides, Tony has violated the
company’s information technology regulations on privacy. As such, from Virtue of Ethics point
of view, Tony has no grounds to report Robert for gambling because he has not conformed to the
virtuous behaviour. If indeed Tony wants to be seen as virtuous, then while reporting Robert he
should also report that he has violated the company’s information technology regulations on
privacy and that is ready for any discipline or action against him that might be taken by the
company.
Duty Ethics involves evaluating actions using the morals principles, and this ethical
dilemma scenario, Tony was morally wrong. With the moral principles being the main element
of duty ethics, Tony lacks them while accessing Robert’s PC. It would be ethically justifiable for
Tony to fail to present the report the following morning, and give out the reasons why we were
unable to do so. In line with Duty Ethics, Tony will be right to report Robert. It is true he has
violated the company’s regulations, but if he is to observe moral principles, then he should not
hesitate to inform the management about Robert’s violation of the company policies.
From utilitarianism perspective, Tony is justified to access Robert PC to acquire the
much-needed data. Tony is working on the project, and usually, projects have many
stakeholders. Failure to present the project the following morning will inconvenience a lot of
people. Tony’s justification to violate company rules can be equated to O'Toole & Vogel (2011)

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argument that “in business, it is often difficult to do well by doing good” (p. 67) On the same
note, Tony cannot report Robert since Robert’s act affects Casino gambling policy only.

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References
Mackey, J., & Sisodia, R. (2014). Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of
Business. Brighton, Massachusetts.: Harvard Business Review Press.
O'Toole, J., & Vogel, D., (2011). Two and a Half Cheers for Conscious Capitalism. California
Management Review, 53(3), 60–76. doi:https://doi.org/10.1525/cmr.2011.53.3.60