SBS MBA/MSc Business Values and Ethics Assignment - Kuwait 2020

This assignment is a comprehensive case study analysis of business ethics, addressing several real-world scenarios. The student explores ethical dilemmas in various contexts, including a conflict of interest in a bidding process, workplace discrimination, employee absence, and ethical advertising. The analysis provides detailed answers to case-specific questions, applying ethical principles to each situation. The student examines the ethical implications of actions, such as opening a competitor's bid, and provides recommendations for ethical conduct. The document also addresses accounting fraud and purchasing ethics, examining how these issues impact businesses and society. The analysis references relevant academic sources to support the arguments presented, offering a robust understanding of business ethics principles.

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BUSINESS VALUES AND ETHICS
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CASE 1: Ethics at business
(A) No, It will not be ethical for him to open the envelop and see the bid of his competitor
as this would be considered as malpractice.The unethical behaviour is any kind of
action that falls outside whatever is considered morally right and in the above case, if
the person will look into the bid by the competitor it would be seen as morally
incorrect(Donaldson, 2015).
(B) If he will behave ethically, then in order to save his business he will have to look after
some other options, as a business person, he should understand the importance of
being ethical and he should think about other ideas to save in business from failing.
Case 2: Discrimination in the workplace
1. Marian should not quit, as she has been performing well and she is capable to doing
the job, as mentioned that she toped in the management training program and has
been enjoying in the firm. She should continue to work in that organization.
2. No, according to the case, I don’t think that there Co- workers are correct in their
evaluation as they all are just judging her ,because of the fact that she is a girl and is
doing good at the management position.
3. Yes, Marian should confront the Co- workers and ask them directly about the issues
they been facing with her and she should also confront the opinion her co- workers
have about her(Sroka and Lőrinczy, 2015).
4. Yes, she can file a discrimination suit as through the case it can be clearly seen that
the male co-workers are blaming Marian because she is a women and she is working
at a management position.

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5. NO, I don’t think that she should go to the supervisor as he was also involved in the
conversation where everyone was complaining about her and her qualification; hence
she should talk to the higher authorities about the same.
6. Marian should not doubt her capabilities because of the things said by the Co-
workers. She should instead focus on her core beliefs and value and she should also
motivate herself in order to succeed and she should also prepare herself for the future
challenges (Seele, 2016).
CASE 3: Employee absence
1. NO, According to me the suspension was not fair at all because, the company should
understand the needs and the wants of working mother.
2. NO, Sylvia did not act in a responsible manner, because as a manager of the company
she should understand the situation of a working mother and she should look for an
alternative(Pullen and Rhodes, 2015).
3. NO, Joan she should not be fired, instead the company should discuss about the
issues of that she is facing and the reason behind her leaves and should come out
with an alternative.
4. Yes, The babysitter should be fired as she should have informed about her
unavailability beforehand, So that Joan could think of an alternative idea and would
have not missed office, if she was told about this earlier.
5. No, Sylvia was not fair in her actions as knowing the situation about Joan, who was a
working mother, Sylvia should have understood how important it was for Joan to stay
at home. She could have come up with some other solutions.
6. Yes, there are various solutions that a company can use for the working mother as
they can provide the working mothers will flexible shift timings, the company can

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provide working mother with the facility of work from home, in situations where
they cannot leave their child at home and lastly the companies can provide a child
care service at the workplace for the mothers who work in the office.
7. Yes, Both father and mother are responsible for talking care of a child and if both are
working, it is important for the fathers to sometimes stay at home and take care of
the child as only mothers are not responsible for taking care of the child.
Case 4: Ethical advertising
1. Yes Sandoz has violated the ethical norms or principles by launching an
advertisement program which is exaggerating in nature.The promotional brochures
are misleading the customers and putting false misconceptions about the product.
2. No, liquid diets are not healthy as these kind of supplements are not regulated like
food and some of them also have harmful ingredients which are not listed on the
label, for example some of them include thing like lead. Our bodies were intended to
digest and chew the whole food, and, a liquid diet is risky.
3. Advertisers should be clearly disclose all the material conditions like payment and
the side effects of the products they are endorsing as they should build an interest of
transparency and full disclosure. Apart from this, there should be full disclosure about
the authencity of the product. In the above case the study, the company Sandoz should
have disclosed all the side effects of Optifast along with its
benefits(Mastracchio Jiménez-Angueira, and Toth, 2015).
Case 5: Accounting Fraud
1. some of the ways a financial fraud impacts the society and the business are

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 External self-assurance: once a fraud is exposed the business face many
issues and the society too faces issues. The society loose trust in the
company and the overall brand image of the company is also highly
impacted. As a consequence, the company may have to pay a higher price for
credit, may be refused membership in trade associations or might not be
considered for a strategic alliance.
 Company Morale: The impact of the fraud on a company and its culture can
be shattering, any association with the company also suffers the fraud and
can be very embarrassing as well as a factor of trouble for the employees or
anyone who work there or with the company. This is mostly true for the
small commerce location anywhere the workforce feel associated to the
others, even the employees leave the company and they may have to carry a
tag of deceitful corporation in their next organization, even if they were
never a part of the fraud at all.
2. Some of the reasons behind the companies doing accounting frauds are:
 The first and the main reason is greed, it is one the old shaped human nature
intervenes, when a person or a collection of people see a possibility to make
money fast (Wang and Calvano, 2015).
 The next reason is the lacks of transparency, in various complex transactions
that are complex to appreciate are one of the best ways to hide fraud. The
Barings fraud was committed by use of a secretarial ‘dump account’ that no
one unstated.
 The last one is the poor organization in order, where the organization in
sequence of the scheme does not create the marks in a opportune, accurate

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manner and the caution signal of the deception , like the on-going theft from
the bank account can be obscure
Case 6: Purchasing ethics
1. Yes, since J.R. was over the department of purchasing and had the final decision, he
should have gone through the normal process of bidding because it was as per the
rules of the university.
2. No, business should not include family members; the VP should be ethical in the all
practices towards the university. But in this case the VP ignored all the ethical deeds
and did routine of the university and instead focused on his personal benefit, which
was not at all acceptable
3. NO, it was unethical of J.R. to not requests for the bids as he should have followed the
rules of the university.
4. A purchasing agent is responsible for obtaining the purchase items by forwarding the
orders to the suppliers under the guidelines of the university. In the above case the VP
should have gone by bidding process of buying the laptop which was stated under the
rules of the university(Kolk, 2016).
5. Yes, the higher authorities or the management should step in this situation, as the VP
has violated the rules and regulations of the university and it should be one of the
major concerns for university.
6. Yes, as he had no clue about the deal and the deal happened in his own company
without him knowing about it, even the owner has been cheated in this situation.
7. Jim, too have not agreed to his father or mad the sales and received the commission,
he should have been ethical and refused his father for the deal. Jim was aware that if
the process would have been taken place according to the bidding process he would

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have not got the deal and hence he and his father decided to follow unethical practices
for their own benefit.

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REFERENCES
Donaldson, T. 2015. Where the facts end: Richard De George and the rise of business
ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 127(4), 783-787.
Kolk, A. 2016. The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the
environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business, 51(1),
23-34.
Mastracchio Jr, N. J., Jiménez-Angueira, C., and Toth, I. 2015. The state of ethics in
business and the accounting profession. The CPA Journal, 85(3), 48.
Pullen, A., and Rhodes, C. 2015. Ethics, embodiment and
organizations. Organization, 22(2), 159-165.
Seele, P. 2016. Business ethics without philosophers? Evidence for and implications of the
shift from applied philosophers to business scholars on the editorial boards of
business ethics journals. Metaphilosophy, 47(1), 75-91.
Sroka, W., and Lőrinczy, M. 2015. The perception of ethics in business: analysis of research
results. Procedia Economics and Finance, 34, 156-163.
Wang, L. C., and Calvano, L. 2015. Is business ethics education effective? An analysis of
gender, personal ethical perspectives, and moral judgment. Journal of Business
Ethics, 126(4), 591-602.