Macquarie University BUSL204 Business Ethics Assignment Solution

This document presents a comprehensive solution to a Business Ethics and Management assignment (BUSL204), addressing key concepts from the first three weeks of the course. The assignment explores the limitations of legal compliance in business ethics, contrasting it with the importance of ethical conduct. It delves into different ethical perspectives, including Universalist and Relativist viewpoints. The solution analyzes Milton Friedman's perspective on corporate social responsibility and contrasts it with R. Edward Freeman's stakeholder theory, applying these concepts to real-world scenarios, such as Facebook's handling of fake news. Furthermore, the assignment examines deontological ethics through the lens of Immanuel Kant, providing an ethical analysis of a banker's actions. It also compares and contrasts utilitarian and virtue ethics, applying these theories to assess the ethical implications of Westpac's financial advice. Finally, the solution explores the Sandel theory, focusing on utility, consent, and virtues, and applies it to evaluate the ethical considerations of Uber's aviation projects. The document provides a detailed analysis of each question, supported by relevant references.

Business ethics and management
(THIS ASSIGNMENT IS MY OWN WORK)
[DATE]
sTUDENT NAME: _____
STUDENT NUMBER: _______

Answer 1
In spite of the comprehensive financial reporting and the corporate governance requirements
for the businesses, a numerous corporate scandals have occurred in the past few years (Crane
et. al, 2019). The reasons because of which it can be stated that the legal compliance is not
enough are firstly that the financial reporting framework is governed with the inherent
limitations, such as choice of method of accounting, choice of method of valuation of the
assets and others (Bentley, Omer and Sharp, 2013). The same are exploited by the top
management of the companies at times, because it is on the discretion of the management to
choose the above policies. Secondly to state that the legal compliance does not measure the
integrity of the management members and the employees of the company. The contracts are
entered into by the management on behalf of the organisation, which may be legally sound,
but may have conflicts of the interests. Thus, the above two reason state that a transaction or
business decision may be legally sound, but not ethically, leading to the conclusion that legal
compliance is not enough for a business.
Answer 2
The Universalist perspective states that there is universal or common application of the
ethical and moral principles on different people and groups, and thus represents situation of
ideal world. In contrast to this, the Relativist perspective leads to a more realistic perspective
explanation involving the role of different cultures, concluding that different cultures view
same thing differently (Broad, 2014).
Answer 3A
Milton Friedman held the view that the management and organisations have a responsibility
to act for the increment of the social welfare and best interest of the shareholders, irrespective
of the existence of law on the issue concerned. He also held the views that the business must
engage in activities that lead to social welfare (Schwartz and Saiia, 2012). Thus, Milton
would disagree with the Facebook statements.
Answer 3B
R. Edward Freeman had proposed the stakeholder theory according to which there are range
of stakeholders in a business apart from the shareholders. In the case of Facebook not
agreeing to remove the fake news, the two major stakeholders that have been affected and
identified are the users or the consumers and the regulators. This is because, the users have

the right to the truthful information from Facebook and as per the information technology
regulations, and it is the duty of Facebook to display content that is transparent and fair.
Answer 4A
As per the views of Immanuel Kant, an action would be regarded as ethical if the same falls
in the purview of the performance of the duties of the agent, irrespective of the outcome.
Thus, the intention is stressed upon in the form of ethical theory of Deontology ((Broad,
2014). The reason for the holding the view is that if the individuals perform their duties
diligently, this would lead to social welfare at large at the end, for the associated
stakeholders.
Answer 4B
It is not ethically acceptable for a banker to spy on another passenger as per the Kantian
perspective. The first reason for the same is that the said act does not fall in the ambit of the
banker, thus it is beyond the ethics of deontology. The second reason is that the intention of
the agent was the use of the information gained for his own benefit. Thus, it can be stated that
the act of spying was not ethically acceptable.
Answer 5A
There are various ethical theories and utilitarian and virtue ethics are two out of the same.
There are some differences between these theories. The first difference is that utilitarian
theory emphasis on consequences and believes that ethical must lies in consequences of an
action. On the other side, virtue ethics focus on character and believe that ethics must present
in character of a person (Ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu, 2019). Second difference between
these theories can be seen in their approaches. As per the utilitarian theory, an action, which
leads greater good to people, is ethical. Whereas as per virtue ethics, an action considers as
ethical if the same comply with moral characteristics such as integrity, honesty, and trust
(Jonsson, 2011).
Answer 5B
As per a utilitarian, the conduct of Westpac seems to be unethical as it led out terrible
consequences to its customer Jacqueline McDowall. No matter what advice has been granted
or what reasoning and study has been made before providing such advice but since the result
of the same brought no goodness to customer and being the professionals, advisors of

Westpac might have reason to believe about the possible results, hence it seems to be
unethical as per theory of utilitarian.
Here being a utilitarian, a person may raise the first issue about the belief of Westpac advisor.
He may raise a question regarding the reasoning because of which such advice has been
made. Secondly, a utilitarian may question about future dealings of Westpac and argues that
how badly this company may impact a larger group of people. These are utilitarian issues as
the same are concerned about ethics in results.
Answer 5C
As per virtue ethicist also, the action of Westpac does not find ethical. As mentioned above,
they might have reason to believe that such advice may bring harm to the customer. Even if
they have acted with good intention, they might have to keep honesty and to share all the
possible consequences to Jacqueline McDowall.
A virtue ethicist may raise an issue of honest dealing in this case and can argue that Westpac
might have acted with honesty and might inform the risk associated with their advice. The
second issue may be raised with respect to the situation of post issue. It can be argued that
Westpac could help the customer when she faced huge loss because of advice made by the
bank and should have shown some moral features such as integrity. These are virtue ethics
issue as the same consider moral characteristics of Westpac such as honesty and integrity.
Answer 6
The Sandel theory is focussed on three pillars namely the utility for everyone, consent and the
virtues (Honig, 2016). Some of the aspects that fall beyond the utility at a large in the new
Uber aviation projects is that the projects involves tons of money including the acts like
political lobbying. Further, the drivers would now be forced to learn these skills, or else they
would be banned. In addition to the above issues, there would also occur the issue of safety
and security of both the drivers and riders, owing to technological vulnerabilities in mid of
air. Therefore, the project does not involve general utility except that for the rich class of
people.

References
Bentley, K. A., Omer, T. C., & Sharp, N. Y. (2013) Business strategy, financial reporting
irregularities, and audit effort. Contemporary Accounting Research, 30(2), pp. 780-817.
Broad, C. D. (2014) Five types of ethical theory. UK: Routledge.
Crane, A., Matten, D., Glozer, S., & Spence, L. (2019) Business ethics: Managing corporate
citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. UK: Oxford University Press.
Ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu. (2019) Virtue Ethics. [online] Available from:
https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/virtue-ethics [Accessed on 26/08/2019]
Honig, B. (2016). Political theory and the displacement of politics. Cornell University Press.
Jonsson, P. O. (2011) On utilitarianism vs virtue ethics as foundations of economic choice
theory. Humanomics, 27(1), pp. 24-40.
Schwartz, M. S., and Saiia, D. (2012) Should Firms Go “Beyond Profits”? Milton Friedman
versus Broad CSR 1. Business and Society Review, 117(1), pp. 1-31.