Ethics, Business, Social Responsibilities: Analysis of a News Article

This essay delves into the crucial role of ethics in the business world and its impact on society. It begins by highlighting the importance of ethical practices for organizational and societal development, emphasizing the need for fair competition and adherence to ethical standards. The essay then analyzes a news article concerning an anti-Muslim statement made by a political candidate, Ms. Whelan, and reflects on the ethical implications of such statements. It explores various ethical moral philosophies, including normative ethics, virtue theories, and duty theories, and applies them to the case study. Furthermore, the essay discusses egoism and altruism, providing insights into human motivations. The conclusion summarizes the key points and reinforces the significance of ethical behavior in business and society, referencing the negative consequences of unethical conduct. This essay is a valuable resource for students seeking to understand the complexities of business ethics and social responsibility.

Running head: ETHICS
Business Ethics and Social Responsibilities
5/4/2019

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the Article related to Ethics...............................................................................2
Reflection over Ethics............................................................................................................3
Ethical Moral Philosophies....................................................................................................4
Normative Ethics................................................................................................................4
Egoism and Altruism..........................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
A number of people will agree that if there are ethics in the practices then only business and
society gets the purpose and direction to move towards their and society development. It is a
fact, that everyone in the social desire for fair, beneficial, and clean society. For that, it is
very essential for the businesses and community to abide by rules or ethics of law, involve in
fair competition as well as practices, all of which will provide benefits to the customer,
organization, and society (Assudani, Chinta and Burns, 2011). The intent of this report is to
discuss and highlight the key issues of an ethics news article that has a major influence on
society. Besides this, some ethical philosophies are also being presented which will be linked
with the ethics article and applied for better results.
Overview of the Article related to Ethics
From last few months, there is a number of controversies and scandals centered on the bad
behavior of the candidate. Controversies in the Australian market have been thick and quick,
from homophobic outbreaks to sexist posts and anti-Muslim posts.
The case is regarding Ms. Whelan, the former Liberal candidate for Lyons in Tasmania. She
is the one who makes offensive statements on social media considered to be Anti-Muslim
statement. Whelan is considered to the third discarded Liberal party candidate in today's
discussion among people. In her comments, she suggested women have their genitalia
mutilated (Bedo, 2019).
The social media post of Whelan “Round them up Donald, cut their clitorises off & sell them
to Muslims in Muslim countries & cancel their passports. You’ll make a mint.” According to
one of the spokesperson, the image of her comment posted on the newspaper article is
doctored to insult her. In the counter-argument, she responded that there was no vulgar post

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from her side however, accepts that she has made few of other comments in question (Bedo,
2019).
Reflection over Ethics
In my opinion, decisions regarding right and wrong invade everyday life. Ethics must be
concerned with every stage or level of life whether it is about working as an individual,
forming responsible business and government, and converting society in a more ethical body.
Ethics offers a set of behavior standards that support us in deciding how to act in different
types of circumstances. In other words, ethics is considered to be making choices and backing
reasons for our every choice. Ethics is many times confused with different ways of choosing,
comprising religion, or morality (Mackenzie, 2014). There are several religions that promote
the importance of ethical decisions but do not always provide the complete range of ethical
choices that we face in daily life. Religions can also sponsor or forbid some of the behaviors
which cannot be regarded as the proper ethics domain, like sexual behaviors or dietary
restrictions.
In the context of above ethics case, I would like to comment that, the post of Whelan on the
social media side as the Anti-Muslim statement is against the human ethics, as we are tough
to respect each and every person, irrespective of their cast, religion, gender, race, etc. because
all these things contribute towards creating discrimination in the society. Even it is against
humanity. Whelan must have thought before speaking and considered the right of each and
every individual on this earth. It is suggested that Whelan must apologize for her statement
on the same social media platform. Besides this, the social media platforms must work on
their system and try to contribute to evading this type of statement by the users and put high
penalties on them. In addition to this, these social media platforms must work on framing

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different policies regarding the posting of these type of anti-statement which have a major
impact on the business as well as society.
Ethical Moral Philosophies
Normative Ethics
Normative ethics includes arriving at moral standards that control the wrong and right
conduct. In other words, it is the search of the idyllic litmus test of behavior. The Golden
Rule is said to be the definitive instance of a normative principle: What we do to others is
what we desire from others to do with us (Gensler, 2011). We want others to treat us
respectively, so it will be wrong if we will treat them badly. For instance, I don't want anyone
to steal my car, then it is also wrong for me to steal anyone else car. By using the same
reasoning people can decide whether their action is right or wrong. This rule is the instance of
the normative theory that founds a sole principle in contradiction of what we judge. Other
normative theories focus on a set of foundational principles or a set of good character traits
(Kagan, 2018).
Virtue Theories
There are number of philosophers who think that morality is comprised of subsequent
accurately definite rules of conduct, like "don't insult," or "don't steal." Seemingly, it is very
important to learn these rules, and ensure that every rule is followed. Though Virtue ethics
provides less priority on learning rules, and in its place focus on the significance of
developing good habits, such as kindness. Considering the above case, it is very important for
Whelan to develop the good habits in her such that she can give respect to others and in
return can ask for the same respect. Traditionally, virtue theory is the eldest normative
traditions in the philosophy of West, with the roots in the early Greek civilization (Battaly,
2015).

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Duty Theories
Today, many people think that there are unblemished obligations that have to be followed by
a human being, like taking care of children, and not to kill or get involved in the murder.
Duty theories base morality on precise, initial principles of please on. These theories are also
known as deontological, which is introduced from the word of Greek that is deon, or duty, in
the interpretation of the foundational nature of everyone’s duty (Barker, 2013). They are
many times known as non-consequentialist because these principles are compulsory,
regardless of any type of outcomes that might track from our actions. For instance, it not
considered to be right to not to take care of children, even if it consequence in any superior
benefit, like financial savings. I the same context of the theory, the Anti-Muslim statement of
Whelan was not ethically right because it does not offer any type of benefit to the society but
yes meets the self-satisfaction for neglecting or insulting someone (Westermarck, 2017).
Egoism and Altruism
The most significant zone of moral psychology talks about the intrinsic human selfishness. In
the 17th century Thomas Hobbes the British philosopher out actions promotes our selfish
desires. Even if any action of human being seems to be selfless, like donation, there are still
some of the selfish reasons like experiencing power over another individual (Batson, 2010).
This thinking is known as psychological egoism and preserves that self-oriented interests
eventually inspire every action of a human being. One of the closely linked views to
psychological egoism is known as psychological hedonism which is considered as the sight
that pleasure precise driving factor behind every action (Batson, 2011). The action taken by
Whelan to post her negative views on the social media platform is considered to be
psychological egoism which encourages people to only consider themselves at a high position
and try to neglect or insult other people or religions.

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Conclusion
The above paper is providing the insight of one of the unethical reflection of the bad behavior
of the candidate. According to the article presented by Stephanie Bedo, Whelan posted an
Anti-Muslim statement on the social media site by insulting the community, which resulted in
announcing her third dumped liberal party candidate. The paper has highlighted different
views regarding the action of Whelan. To base the unethical or bad behavior of Whelan, the
paper has discussed regarding different ethical moral theories that are inclined towards
explaining the ethical conduct that must be followed in the society.

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References
Assudani, R.H., Chinta, R., and Burns, D.J. (2011) The effect of pedagogy on students'
perceptions of the importance of ethics and social responsibility in business firms. Ethics &
Behavior, 21(2), 103-117.
Barker, E. (2013) Greek political theory 2nd ed. U.S: Routledge.
Batson, C.D. (2010) Empathy-induced altruistic motivation. Prosocial motives, emotions,
and behavior: The better angels of our nature, 10(2), pp.15-34.
Batson, C.D. (2011) Altruism in humans 1st ed. U.S.A: Oxford University Press.
Battaly, H. (2015) A pluralist theory of virtue. Current controversies in virtue theory,
20(2015), 7-21.
Bedo, S. (2019) Candidates drop like flies in week of scandal [online]. Available from
https://www.news.com.au/national/federal-election/candidates-drop-like-flies-in-day-of-
scandal/news-story/69cffa220dd8df9a9d3560fc9956fd2a [accessed 4 May 2019]
Gensler, H.J. (2011) Ethics: A contemporary introduction 1st ed. U.S: Routledge.
Kagan, S. (2018) Normative ethics 4th ed. U.S: Routledge.
Mackenzie, C. (2014) The importance of relational autonomy and capabilities for an ethics of
vulnerability. Vulnerability: New essays in ethics and feminist philosophy, 25(2014), 33-59.
Westermarck, E. (2017) Ethical relativity 3rd ed. U.S: Routledge.