Analyzing Ethical Issues: A Case Study of Michael Vasquez's Dilemma

This case study delves into the ethical dilemma faced by Michael Vasquez, a new product manager at a technology start-up. Michael discovers that his boss has acquired confidential strategic documents from a competitor through unethical means, raising significant ethical concerns. The analysis identifies the ethical issues, applies utilitarianism and deontology theories to Michael's potential actions, and explores the implications of whistleblowing. It also highlights the relevance of ethics in this scenario, emphasizing the importance of ethical conduct in business and the potential consequences of unethical behavior. The report concludes that Michael should report his boss's actions to protect the company's reputation and uphold ethical standards. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS
Business Ethics
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Brief Idea of Case Study........................................................................................................2
1. Identification of Ethical Issue in the Scenario...................................................................3
2. Two Ethical Theories for Michael’s Action.......................................................................3
3. Understanding Perception of Michael’s Boss....................................................................4
4. Whistle blowing for Michael with Justification.................................................................5
5. Four Reasons for Relevance of Ethics in the Case Study..................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
Ethics is the major branch of philosophy, which eventually involves the proper
systematization, defending as well as recommendation of concepts about the correct and
incorrect conducts (Lacan 2013). The major questions regarding human morality by the
proper definition of the concepts like good or evil, vice or virtue, right or wrong and finally
justice or crime. There are three specific philosophy in ethics, which are moral psychology,
value theory and descriptive ethics. The three major areas of ethics study are Meta ethics,
normative ethics and applied ethics. This ethics is considered as one of the most important
and significant requirements in every organization (Noddings 2013). The following report
outlines a brief discussion on the case study of Michael Vasquez. He has faced an ethical
dilemma in his job life and this report would be providing proper and relevant details
regarding the case study.
Discussion
Brief Idea of Case Study
Michael Vasquez was happy with his own job as the new product manager for a
technology start up and he was doing well in his job. However, one day, his boss handed him
the pile of private strategic documents. These documents comprised of the pricing strategies,
product planning, and agreements of partnership as well as other document. These documents
were termed as private and confidential and were not supposed to be opened by everyone.
The private strategic documents were of the closest competitor of this organization. When
Michael asked his boss about these documents, his boss proudly said that he has acquired the
documents stealthily by entering into the organizational server of his closest competitor. He
further mentioned that he got into the private section of the intranet and downloaded all the
confidential data. When Michael got suspicious, he mentioned that he had gained the

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electronic access through one of his colleague and has not broken the passwords by himself.
Since, Michael is a responsible and hard working employee; he is extremely concerned about
the reputation of the company. He is in ethical dilemma to whether to work in this particular
organization after knowing these unethical and illegal activities.
1. Identification of Ethical Issue in the Scenario
The major ethical issue that is identified in this particular scenario is the unauthorized
or unauthenticated access of the private and confidential data or strategic documents by the
boss of Michael (Frank 2013). He has taken a completely unethical step by obtaining these
documents by illegal means. He has got into the private server of his competitor firm and has
taken out every sensitive document like product planning, strategies of pricing, agreements of
partnerships and various others. Moreover, Michael’s boss has also mentioned that he had
involved one of his colleague to obtain the electronic access for accessing the data by not
breaking the passwords himself. Another important and significant ethical issue that is
eventually identified in this particular case study is that Michael’s boss is involving Michael
as well in this unethical and illegal activity by confessing everything in front of him by giving
him the confidential strategic documents (Fromm 2013). As Michael is an ethical and
responsible employee, it is unethical to involve him in this scenario.
2. Two Ethical Theories for Michael’s Action
Michael should inform the management of the organization regarding the unethical
activity that he has confronted in his work. If necessary, he should also take legal steps in this
case and as per business ethics, one should not tolerate any type of unethical activity in work
(Peters 2015).
The two ethical theories that could be used in the activity of Michael are utilitarianism
theory and deontology theory. As per utilitarianism theory, the action can be termed as the

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best action only if it is providing maximum utility in the situation. This utility is the
summation of all the pleasure, which could result from the action and the respective suffering
of the individual, involved in the situation is eradicated (Crane and Matten 2016). This
utilitarianism theory is the basic version of consequentialism and hence the various
consequences of any specific action can define the standards of right or wrong. If any
situation or activity is not providing utility to the individuals, that particular situation or
action is termed as unethical. In this particular case study, Michael should inform the higher
management of the organization for stopping the unethical activities (Niebuhr 2013). Since,
this illegal activity of Michael’s boss is not providing any utility to the situation, as per
utilitarianism theory, it is termed as unethical.
According to deontology theory, the morality of any activity is completely based on
whether the action is correct or incorrect. This does not focus on the various consequence of
that action (Sorokin 2017). The moral obligation raised from the external and internal sources
like the set of cultural and personal values. In this case study, Michael must inform the higher
authority about his boss so that these activities are pointed out and are stopped on time
(Greenwood 2016). Moreover, the company reputation is also saved by this and since the
morality of this activity is absolutely wrong, this case study is termed as unethical.
3. Understanding Perception of Michael’s Boss
Michael’s boss in this case study is absolutely unethical as well as illegal. He has
obtained the confidential and private strategic documents of his competitor by wrong means
and without taking proper consent (Durkheim 2013). He got into the server of that
organization and downloaded all the data that were private to the company like product plans,
strategies of pricing, agreements of partnerships and several other documents. He even has
involved one of his colleague for obtaining the electronic access of the organizational
intranet. This particular activity is unethical; since as per business ethics, one should not get

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into the server of other organization and should not access the confidential data or documents
under any circumstances (Beets, Lewis and Brower 2016). This type of activity could also
hamper the organizational reputation since it is illegal in nature. Michael’s boss could be sent
to prison and the organizational might suffer from major losses of clients as well as
reputation. Hence, it could be said that Michael’s bos is unethical.
4. Whistle blowing for Michael with Justification
Michael should blow the whistle about his boss to the higher authority or
management. When any former or any existing employee or staff in any particular company
raises his or her voice against the illegal or unethical activities that have occurred or is
occurring within the company, the activity is termed as whistle blowing (Kolk 2016). The
person, who is blowing the whistle is termed as the whistle blower. This type of misconduct
or unethical activity could either in the basic form of corruption, frauds and the violation of
the organizational policies or procedures for the purpose of imposing a distinct threat to the
public interest. Michael should blow the whistle for safeguarding the organizational
reputation and also for the clients for whom, this organization is substantially functioning.
Some of the major reasons are present for whistle blowing in any organization (Goldman
Sachs. 2018). The first and the foremost reason is the threat to life, lost friendships, breach of
loyalty and trust, regulations and finally lost careers and jobs. The information of the alleged
wrong doing could be further classified in several methods as well.
Whistle blowing is justified under this type of circumstances or activities like
Michael. There are two types of whistle blowing, which are called internal and external
whistle blowing. Michael should blow the whistle internally and he should inform regarding
the misconduct to the higher authority (Menzel 2016). The business ethics and the moral
rights motivates an individual to blow the whistle in an unethical situation.

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5. Four Reasons for Relevance of Ethics in the Case Study
The four reasons for which it could be depicted that ethics is strongly relevant to the
provided case study of Michael and his boss are given below:
i) The first and the most important and significant reason is that Michael’s boss has
stealthily taken all the private and confidential strategic documents of their closest
competitor. He has accessed the organizational server and database and taken out all the
sensitive documents and is using them for his own purpose (Peters 2015). This is an unethical
activity.
ii) The next reason for ethics being relevant to this case study is that Michael’s boss
has also involved one of his colleague to execute the work of obtaining the electronic access
and hence he is breaching the work environment.
iii) The third important reason is that Michael’s boss has shared the scenario with
Michael, with the hope that Michael might support him; in spite of knowing that Michael is
an ethical and responsible employee (Sorokin 2017). For this action, Michael is in ethical
dilemma to whether continue his service with this type of unethical organizational or not.
iv) The final reason is that his boss is not at all ashamed of the situation; rather he is
proud of the scenario. This is proving that he does not have good moral conduct and is an
unethical person.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that ethics are the moral
principles, which substantially govern the behaviour of any particular individual or even on
the proper conduction of any specific activity. The above report has properly outlined the
entire scenario of ethical dilemma for Michael Vasquez. He is the new product management
for a particular technology start up; however he is not happy with his job. His boss taken out

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the private strategic documents like pricing strategies, product plans, partnership agreement
and many others from the confidential server of their competitor stealthily. His boss further
explained that he has gained electronic access through one of his colleague and accessed the
data. Michael is in ethical dilemma to whether work or not in such company. This report has
properly described the ethical issues, ethical theories, whistleblowing and other relevant
topics.

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References
Beets, S.D., Lewis, B.R. and Brower, H.H., 2016. The quality of business ethics journals: An
assessment based on application. Business & Society, 55(2), pp.188-213.
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Durkheim, E., 2013. Professional ethics and civic morals. Routledge.
Frank, A.W., 2013. The wounded storyteller: Body, illness, and ethics. University of Chicago
Press.
Fromm, E., 2013. Man for himself: An inquiry into the psychology of ethics. Routledge.
Goldman Sachs. 2018. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/4379342/goldman-sachs-
sued-by-former-director-whistleblowing/ [Accessed on 26 Oct. 2018].
Greenwood, M., 2016. Approving or improving research ethics in management
journals. Journal of Business Ethics, 137(3), pp.507-520.
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), pp.23-
34.
Lacan, J., 2013. The ethics of psychoanalysis 1959-1960: The seminar of Jacques Lacan.
Routledge.
Menzel, D.C., 2016. State of the art of empirical research on ethics and integrity in
governance. In Ethics in public management (pp. 24-54). Routledge.
Niebuhr, R., 2013. Moral man and immoral society: A study in ethics and politics.
Westminster John Knox Press.

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Noddings, N., 2013. Caring: A relational approach to ethics and moral education. Univ of
California Press.
Peters, R.S., 2015. Ethics and Education (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Sorokin, P., 2017. Social and cultural dynamics: A study of change in major systems of art,
truth, ethics, law and social relationships. Routledge.