Business Ethics and Responsible Management Report - J&J Case Study

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the business ethics and responsible management practices of Johnson & Johnson, focusing on the opioid crisis. The report is divided into three parts, the first part discusses the importance of business ethics within the organization, the issues of business ethics in the organization, the role of business within society and the effect of business on stakeholders. Part 1 also includes recommendations for the company. Part 1B discusses two ethical theories, utilitarianism and ethics of rights and justice, and their relevance to the case. The second part is a reflective essay on ethical leadership, exploring the moral person versus moral manager, unethical leadership behaviors, and codes of practice. The report concludes with a reflection on ethical leadership and the importance of ethical decision-making in business. The report references various academic sources to support its analysis.

BUSINESS ETHICS
AND RESPONSIBLE
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART 1 A........................................................................................................................................3
Importance of business ethics within the organisation................................................................3
Issues of business ethics in the organisation given in case study................................................3
Role of business within society...................................................................................................4
Effect of business on stakeholders...............................................................................................4
Recommendations........................................................................................................................5
REERENCES..................................................................................................................................5
PART 1 B........................................................................................................................................6
Discussion of two Ethical theories..............................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
Reflective essay of ethical Leader...............................................................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Business ethics and management can be explained as the process where an organisation is
required to follow the laws and ethical duties for the purpose of attaining the targets. Different
form of business needed to different types of practices and policies which is connected with
CSR, Corporate Governance, Discrimination, bribery and many more. In present scenario,
organisation can only attain their goals if they are follow the ethical languages in a desire
manner. In this respective report, there are three parts. While talking about first part it will
discuss about the importance of business within the entity. On the other side, part two will have
two different types of ethical theories which are crucial for the company. Here, the chosen case
study is all about Johnson and Johnson
PART 1 A
Importance of business ethics within the organisation
In any of the organisation, it is essential to understand that ethics plays the most crucial in
handling day to activity. Following the ethics gives the idea that how an organisation performs
words its goals in best possible manner. In context of Johnson and Johnson, they are one of the
organisation which manufactures the drugs and drugs product for the betterment of human life
(Ahn, Lee and Yun, 2018). But, they are among one of those organisation which is misguiding
its customers by not providing the detail information about the chemical they use to manufacture
the medicine at a cheaper price. In simple words, company is not following the ethical terms and
condition which is one of the reason that different penalty has been imposed upon the company.
If in any of the situation, an organisation follows the law then in that respective situation
company will not require to face any of the problem and even goals can be accomplished easily.
Issues of business ethics in the organisation given in case study
In context of the given case, the company named Johnson and Johnson is not following
the ethical principle which is one of the reason they have been creating the problem for
themselves as well as for public at large. They have been misguiding the patient as well as
medical practitioner about the medicine which is of very low price. Due to misguidance to the
doctors they were prescribing the patient to use the medicine as more as possible which increases
the sales of a company. It was one of those ethical issues which led to an opioid addition crisis.
Due to the unethical practises, company was penalised for $572 million which created the huge

problem for the organisation. Also, the negative image continues to develop within the market
which is creating the problem in attaining the targets (Greenwood and Freeman, 2018).
Role of business within society
It is necessary to understand that any of the business has a crucial role within the society.
Any of the decision which is being taken on the regular basis must not create problem for the
public at large. There are number of essential policies which are required to be followed while
making any of the business decision. The first thing which an organisation must understands is
related with Corporate Social Responsibility plays the crucial role.
During the course of performing the business activity, it is essential that any of the
customers should not take any of those decision which create issues for the public. All of the
services company is offering should be provided in an ethical manner and that must not create
any of the problem for stakeholder. Whenever company is able to fulfil the requirement of CSR
then in that respective condition, then value of an organisation increases and creditability of the
company also improved due it. Also, it is said that the company starts to get financial rewards
and chances of ethical conflicts also decreases. In context of Johnson and Johnson, they are
among one of those organisation which is not able to meet out the requirement of role of
business within the society. Here, company didn’t though about its customers and the services
which they must get also fraudulent activities where conducted by the organisation (Hemberg,
Syrén and Hemberg, 2018). It directly or indirectly affected the society at large. The business
activities which were performed by Johnson and Johnson take thousands of deaths on yearly
basis.
Effect of business on stakeholders
Stakeholders are those people within the organisation who contributes certain percentage
fir the purpose of attaining the attaining the goals. All of the stakeholders have some of the
responsibility which they must perform and their way of performing the business has direct
impact on the overall result of an organisation. In context of Johnson and Johnson, there are
number of stakeholders who are connected with the company and the decision which has been
taken by the organisation has effected them. The detail information about different stakeholders
has been mentioned below.

Members: These are the most important stakeholders of the company which controls the
business entity. The responsibility to take major decision has been given to the members. It is
necessary for them understand that they hold the key position within the company due to which
their decision should be based on analysing the different factor (Wettstein, 2015). The effect of
opioid addictions crisis can be easily seen upon them as their reputation has been affected, even
they had to face revenue losses.
Patient: These are the external stakeholders of the company but holds the crucial
position in the company because they are the one who allows the company to generate the
revenue. They have been highly affected by the decisions which were taken by Johnson and
Johnson because number of patient has to loss their life, even they were misguided by the
company.
Doctors: Any of the organisation which manufactures the medical drugs requires the help
of doctor for promoting the business. It is essential to understand that their interaction with
customers can directly allow the company to meet out its target (Wymer and Rundle-Thiele,
2017). But, after having the knowledge regarding the scandal of a company they had to face huge
problem. Firstly, they failed to sustain the trust of a patient and secondly they risked to extend to
other countries as well.
Recommendations
After having the analysis on the above facts, it is recommended to the organisation that
whenever they perform the business activity, they must be able to determine the CSR policies.
Organisation like Johnson and Johnson should be able to determine that what are the facts they
must consider for at the time of taking decision. In any of the circumstance, company should not
take any of those decision which can put the life in danger of patient. Not only this, but they are
also required to understand that they must be able to disclose all of the benefits and drawbacks of
using any of the drugs.
REERENCES
Books & Journals
Ahn, J., Lee, S. and Yun, S., 2018. Leaders’ core self-evaluation, ethical leadership, and
employees’ job performance: The moderating role of employees’ exchange
ideology. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(2), pp.457-470.

Greenwood, M. and Freeman, R.E., 2018. Deepening ethical analysis in business ethics. Journal
of Business Ethics, 147(1), pp.1-4.
Hemberg, J., Syrén, J. and Hemberg, H., 2018. Ethical Leadership in a New Light: As Described
by Leaders in Public Healthcare. International Journal for Human Caring, 22(4), pp.179-
188.
Wettstein, F., 2015. Normativity, ethics, and the UN guiding principles on business and human
rights: A critical assessment. Journal of Human Rights, 14(2), pp.162-182.
Wymer, W. and Rundle-Thiele, S.R., 2017. Inclusion of ethics, social responsibility, and
sustainability in business school curricula: a benchmark study. International Review on
Public and Nonprofit Marketing, 14(1), pp.19-34.
PART 1 B
Discussion of two Ethical theories
Business ethics takes a significant part in successfully planning and performing jobs. This
dimension leads to mitigating corporate controversies. Business ethics' primary function relies on
ethical behaviour and unethical activities within the entity. Ethics cover various areas of
industry. There are number of consumers in the market who buys any of the product on the basis
of ethical consideration. Customers assume businesses are fair which conduct business with are
responsibility and ethical way (Pennock, 2015). Ethical behaviour is characterized as an integral
part of how management is practiced. Most individuals want a firm's members to be ethical
leadership models. In context of Johnson and Johnson, their management will have the depth
knowledge regarding any of the issue if they have good knowledge regarding ethical theories.
Below, there is the detail discussion about two different theories in context of Johnson and
Johnson.
Utilitarianism is classified as among the most influential as well as convincing strategies to
fundamental ethics. Moral behaviour, as per utilitarianism, is the behaviour who creates the
maximum number of benefit. There have been different reasons to make this general argument.
Utilitarianism is characterized as a group of consequentialist moral theories that encourage
behaviour to improve people’s beliefs and well-being. several types of consequentialism which
accept different features. The key goal throughout all this is to make full use of utility. While
talking about Utility it can be explained as the property within the object which always ends up
with the by delivering the advantage, benefits as desire result. It is the theory which explains that

whenever Johnson and Johnson will use it, they will need to consider its main stakeholder as
they are the one who will be affected the most by the opioid drug addiction crisis.
While promoting the products i.e., drugs of Johnson and Johnson, are required to be
produced wisely so that healthy amount of profit can be earned by also considering the amount
of pain which a patient has to face. It is necessary to understand that whenever ethical theory of
Utilitarianism is used, the major work is to reduce the pain among the patient which they have to
face just because of the drugs. Here, it will be the responsibility of government to spend more
amount of money in order to diminish its effect (Corlett, 2016). After analysing the facts, it is
necessary to understand that although drug has not taken any of the life but still it has been
creating issues for the public at large. It is because regular use of medicine makes the habit of
taking the medicine who given negative impact on the stakeholder on a long term basis. While
talking about the advantage of Utilitarianism to the stakeholders, it can be easily said that it can
easily help to support moral position within the organisation. Also any sort of belief which is
related with the ethical grounds can be justified with it. On the other side, disadvantage for the
stakeholder states that every time it is not possible to take decision on the basis of moral ethics
which can be the reaction towards any of the decision which has been made. Despite the
aforementioned claims, the acts of Johnson and Johnson led to countless problems causing a
massive media uproar, undermining medical evidence, misleading physicians, patients and wider
society. Although, number of problems were there but still company was able to earn profit but it
will be necessary for them to change their approach regarding the market. Here, pain and
pleasure must have considered.
Ethics of rights and justice is one of the most important theory which includes the rights
that an individual must get such as right of life, freedom, privacy and many more. In any of the
condition, it is necessary to understand that human rights must not be affected in any of the
circumstances whether it is for person benefits or for the benefits of other people (Levy, 2016).
By looking at the scenario of the case in Johnson and Johnson, the theory of Rights and justice
ethical theory can be used easily in it. In this case, company had not provided much and more
information about the opioid drug which they had prepared. It was their rights to know about the
medicine but it was not provided to them. Looking at the scenario, it can be easily said that
human rights were affected and even doctors must have accessed to the whole information

related to medicine so that they could have taken better decision that whether they should
prescribe the medicine or not. Even it becomes the duty of patient as well to know about the
medicine which they were consuming. Here, wrong information was provided due to which all of
the pros were omitted from it. In short, it becomes essential for the Johnson and Johnson to
provide all of the detail knowledge regarding Opioid with its major advantage and disadvantages.
In addition, the information and promotion which were made to the patient where
presented with less facts that medicine will reduce the percentage of pain even with less amount
of money. It was the reason that consumption of medicine got increasing day by day and
something was required to be planned for effective decision (Wiens, 2016). Here, mainly it was
focused by the organization that medicine will cure their pain. Later on, the authorized body of
the government took some of the crucial decision which is related with the biased information of
the medicines. Only accurate information was provided to that respective individual who was
benefitted from the sale of medicine.
In simple words, it can be easily said that the mentioned theories have helped to
developed the concept related to ethical competence. This theory has helped to developed the
concept with the help of case study about making the right decision (Buchanan, 2017). It is
because in the case between Johnson and Johnson was quite complex where number of ethical
issues were there but with the help of ethical theory better conclusion can be taken out easily.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Pennock, J.R., 2015. Democratic political theory. Princeton University Press.
Corlett, J.A. ed., 2016. Equality and liberty: analyzing Rawls and Nozick. Springer.
Levy, J.T., 2016. There is no such thing as ideal theory. Social Philosophy and Policy, 33(1-2),
pp.312-333.
Wiens, D., 2016. Assessing ideal theories: Lessons from the theory of second best. Politics,
Philosophy & Economics, 15(2), pp.132-149.
Buchanan, A., 2017. A critical introduction to Rawls’ theory of justice. In Distributive
Justice (pp. 175-211). Routledge.

PART 2
Reflective essay of ethical Leader
Ethical leaders are the one who takes any of the decision by analyzing each and every
situation of the market so that goals can be accomplished easily. It is necessary to understand
that ethical leaders are the one who always tries to deliver desire result for the association.
Leader are the one who can easily influence their subordinates to perform well and tries to find
out the best possible solution to deal with any of the complex problem. Also, ethical leaders
always go beyond the capacity traditional leadership for the purpose of attaining the goals. When
it comes to me, I would like to say that ethical leadership is not an easy job as there are lots of
responsibility and roles which is needed to be performed as per the systematic manner. Here, I
am required to motivate my employees that how they are required to work so that targets can be
achieved without facing any of the problem. As I am working in the post of ethical manager the
first thing which I would like to do is not allow any of the employee within the premises to
conduct those work which can create issues in future time period. Secondly, it is essential to
understand that I would like to provide fair information within the public or to the expertise team
so that better understand can be developed. Developing healthy relation with employee as well as
other stakeholder always play the crucial role in attaining the targets.
There are certain conditions within the organization where I as a manager has to think for
personal benefit and that is one of the particular situation where unethical practices take place.
Not only personal benefits include unethical practices but even lack of knowledge, less introvert
towards the topic can be the major issues for the raise of unethical practices. This types of
practices always create negative impact in the mind of customers due to which attaining the
goals for them becomes one of the most difficult task. In addition, there are certain other
condition as well in which it is generally seen that there are certain leaders as well who have the
knowledge regarding ethical values but they still don’t want to follow the laws and regulations
which is one of the major problem in increase in cases of unethical practices.
While talking about ethical managerial leadership, I would like to explain that there are
number of option through which I can develop the concept of ethical environment within the
organisation. Here, I can take the help of four V model which can be effective for me in making
any of the business decision. While talking about the four V model, it stands for Vision, Value,

Virtue and Voice. This will directly or indirectly allow me to develop as a better leader who can
help my subordinates to perform better in any of the situation. Here, I will allow look that
requirement of each and every people is being fulfilled in any of the circumstances. Also, ethical
leaders are those people who is capable of managing and fulfilling the demands of a stakeholders
in a best possible manner.
The Four V model is effective in itself because it will allow to develop the positive
environment in the company. When discussion about the four V model in detail, Values is
among one of the core of a leadership where commitment plays the crucial role. Here, I can
easily develop the values within the organisation with the help of motivators and identities. In
case of Vision, it is essential for the ethical leader to be capable for handling the things in best
possible manner. Talking about Voice, as an ethical leader, I am articulating organisational
vision to employees in an authentic way which is enlivening into action. Finally, in case of
Virtue, it is necessary for me to identify about rights and wrong decision and even what are those
decisions which can create issues for me.
If I would handle the Johnson and Johnson, I would have manufacture the drug, but the
main thing into which I would have focused the most is related with informing the market. Detail
information would have been provided from my side to doctors as well as patient because that
would have cleared the idea for them i.e., medicine will reduce the pain but still it should not be
consumed on a regular basis as it might create negative impact for the health. This would have
not allowed to impose any sort of penalty upon the organisation.
CONCLUSION
According to above analysis, it can be assumed how business activities should be carried out
by adhering to the rules and legislation which really result in the efficient running of the
organization. Business activity required to increase an earnings and money gained. An ethical
leader is something that has the desire to have a productive place of employment. It builds
organisation's reputation in the corporate climate. When performing business activities, it is
assumed that no person is harmed by them. It is the obligation of entities to perform social
welfare programs.

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Ali Chughtai, A., 2016. Can ethical leaders enhance their followers’
creativity?. Leadership, 12(2), pp.230-249.
Lawton, A. and Páez, I., 2015. Developing a framework for ethical leadership. Journal of
Business Ethics, 130(3), pp.639-649.
Ahn, J., Lee, S. and Yun, S., 2018. Leaders’ core self-evaluation, ethical leadership, and
employees’ job performance: The moderating role of employees’ exchange
ideology. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(2), pp.457-470.
Hemberg, J., Syrén, J. and Hemberg, H., 2018. Ethical Leadership in a New Light: As Described
by Leaders in Public Healthcare. International Journal for Human Caring, 22(4), pp.179-
188.