3006IBA Workshop Case Study Report: Ethical Issues Analysis

This report, prepared for the 3006IBA Business Ethics and Corporate Governance workshop, presents an analysis of two case studies. The first case study, "Welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism," explores the ethical implications of surveillance capitalism, examining how digital technology alters employee and manager dynamics. The second case study, "Sherron Watkins – revelations of a letter," focuses on whistleblowing, particularly the Enron scandal, and the ethical responsibilities of individuals. The report compares and contrasts these cases, highlighting ethical decision-making processes and the importance of ethical behavior in organizations. It also addresses the changing social contract between employers and employees, employee rights, freedom of speech, and privacy concerns in the workplace. The report uses theoretical frameworks to analyze the cases, providing solutions and advice for ethical dilemmas. References and a bibliography are included to support the analysis.

3006IBA-WORKSHOP CASE STUDY
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1.1. CASE STUDY A: Welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism
As described by Shoshana Zuboff, the term surveillance capitalism is essentially a
kind of force which is considered to be as undemocratic profoundly as it will be exploitative.
As per her view, the surveillance capitalism is known to be unilaterally claiming the
experience of the human as a kind of fully free raw material for translating into the data
which will be greatly behavioral. The term “Welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism”
basically means that the main goal or aim if the automation or rather automating everyone
(John Naughton, 2019). It has been known that we are actually living through the mostly
profound transfer in the environment of the information and the actual problem with this kind
of living though a specific kind of revolution is that it is totally impossible to obtain a much
longer view of what will be ultimately happening. The case study has been able to provide
the specific kind of account up to that time period of the certain kind of way the digital
technology has been altering the working of both the employees as well as the managers. The
main headline is mainly that it is not at all much regarding the particular nature of the digital
technology as a fully new form of the capitalism that has been able to found a definite way of
utilizing the technology for various purposes. It will eventually be performing by offering
services free of cost such that large number of people utilize and this will be allowing all the
various providers of the service to properly monitor the specific kind of behavior of all of
users.
It has been stated by Naisbitt that the kind of solution to the actual intoxication with
that of the technology is mainly to search for the appropriate balance. There is a great
requirement to properly embrace the kind of technology that will be preserving the humanity
and rejecting that technology which will be hugely intruding on it. People must know the
time when to push back upon the technology in the daily lives and also the work for affirming
the humanity. There is a great need for understanding that all the various bashers of the
technology are much short sighted as zealots of the technology. The exact area of technology
must be actually questioned in the lives of the people.
The precise combination of the surveillance of the state and the counterpart of the
capitalist really means that the digital technology is truly differentiating all the various
citizens in the societies into two different kinds of groups involving the observed and the
spectator ones. This will actually profound all the various consequences for that of the
democracy as the knowledge’s asymmetry will be translating into various asymmetries of the
power. Whereas most of the societies which are hold with at least some of the oversight
degree of the surveillance of the state, we recently own no oversight which will be regulatory
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of the private counterpart of it and this is surely intolerable. It is quite tough to exactly fix it
as tackling will be very much needed for the particular essence of the exact kind of problem
related to the logic of the implicit of accumulation in the surveillance capitalism. That
essentially means that the self-regulation is basically a nonstarter. Particularly demanding for
the privacy from various capitalists of surveillance will be something like asking for the old
henry Ford for making each of the Model T by his own hands. Certain kinds of demands are
considered to be various threats which may be greatly violating all the various basic
mechanisms of the survival of the entities.
1.2. CASE STUDY B: Sherron Watkins – evelations of a letter
The altering social agreement shows how the older social bond has been transferred to
that of the new social deal. Faithfulness towards the employer has been moved to the
trustworthiness towards self, sense of service of the worker has been shifted to that of the
personal responsibility of the one’s future in the job and rising income has been converted the
pay for the value addition (Weiss, 2006). There are a number of rights of all the several
workforces as the firm’s stakeholders. There are some of the issues which have been
observed to be well associated with that of the rights of the workers. In the particular right
towards the freedom of both speech as well as conscience, the issue which has been involved
is the whistle blowing. A whistle blower is mostly a person who will be exposing any
detailed type of information or rather activity which has been deemed totally unethical or
somewhat illegal or quite totally inappropriate within any organization which will be private
or rather public. Such kinds of laws are truly enacted for helping in the prevention of the
corruption and also for encouraging all the various people for directly exposing any kind of
misconduct or rather dishonesty for the betterment of the society. It has been known that all
the people who opt for acting as whistleblowers often greatly suffers retaliation from their
respective employers. In the case study, it has been observed that Sherron Watkins has been
able to obtain fame as the “whistle-blower” within the accounting scandal of Enron. Watkins
has written a full page anonymous letter by directly expressing all of her various concerns
related to the all the arrangements off the book and finally deposited it within the dropbox.
The particular letter of Watkins has been discovered within the box of Enron documents all
that which have been completely detained pursuant to a kind of investigation which will be
congressional of the collapse of Enron and the accounting scandal which has been associated.
Watkins has been dubbed as the hero blower of whistle. Even though some news covered by
media well characterized Watkins as the whistle blower, some even pointed out by saying
that Watkins has never blew the whistle at all. As per the observation of the commentators, a
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whistle blower must have written the letter to Houston Chronicle and much longer before the
month of August. Watkins has written the letter to Ken Lay and then provides with the
warning of all the various potential blowers of whistle lurking among all of them. Some other
commentator has written that a whistle blower is mainly the one who has the capability of
spotting a criminal caught for robbing a bank and then blows the whistle for alerting the
police. That is not at all Sherron Watkins. It has been agreed by Watkins that the warnings
have been very much slight and late as several questions have been raised regarding the late
warning provided.
1.2. Compare and Contrast the 2 Case Studies
The two case studies are mostly involving the various issues related to the ethics. The
first one is an assignment depicting all the various ethical issues which have been raised by
that of the surveillance capitalism in particularly the definite context of both the ethics as well
as the full new technologies. Several theories have been provided in support for all the
various arguments involving the ethics which are pertinent and also the various full new
technologies which have been directly related to all the frameworks as well as the theories.
The case studies have been involving all the various decision making procedures which are
ethical. The second case study involves various theories related to the whistle blowers and
also several structures. Ethics is considered very much essential for satisfying all the various
basic requirements of humans. Being completely fair and ethical is considered to be one of
the basic requirements of human. One of the case studies is based upon the particular goal of
automating us by welcoming the specific age of the surveillance capitalism. It has been
observed that there are a number of various ethical issues observed with the various
companies utilizing the surveillance capitalism. The surveillance capitalism has been
considered in relation to that of the determinism which has been technological. There is a
great need for all the many firms to address innumerable ethical issues. The other case study
which is mostly based upon the revelations of the letter written by Sherron Watkins. He has
been considered to be the hero whistle blower. This is mostly the case study involving
various issues which have been greatly leading to the particular collapse of Enron. There are
a number of ethical issues which have been raised by the collapse of Enron. It is very much
important to always stand up if and confess if there is any kind of misconduct or dishonesty
within any organization. A certain person who will be exposing several activities or rather
information which will be greatly unethical within any organization involving either the
private or rather the public one will be known as the whistle blower. It is to be well known
that all those who will be becoming whistle blowers can be opting for bringing in information
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or rather any kind of allegations to the specific kind of surface which will be either internal or
rather external. There are a number of laws also which have been existing for the protection
of several whistle blowers. Hence, it can be said that both of the case studies have been
focusing upon all the various ethical issues which are needed to be well concerned within any
organization.
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References
John Naughton (2019) 'The goal is to automate us': welcome to the age of surveillance
capitalism, The Guardian [Online]
Weiss, Joseph W. (2006) Business ethics: a stakeholder and issues management approach 4th
edn, Mason, OH : Thomson South-Western, pp. 418-422
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Bibliography
Alleyne, P., Hudaib, M., & Pike, R. (2013). Towards a conceptual model of whistle-blowing
intentions among external auditors. The British Accounting Review, 45(1), 10-23.
Dalton, D., & Radtke, R. R. (2013). The joint effects of Machiavellianism and ethical
environment on whistle-blowing. Journal of Business Ethics, 117(1), 153-172.
Davis, M. (2013). Whistleblowing. International Encyclopedia of Ethics.
Foster, J. B., & McChesney, R. W. (2014). Surveillance capitalism: Monopoly-finance
capital, the military-industrial complex, and the digital age. Monthly Review, 66(3), 1.
Henik, E. (2015). Understanding whistle-blowing: a set-theoretic approach. Journal of
Business Research, 68(2), 442-450.
Lee, G., & Fargher, N. (2013). Companies’ use of whistle-blowing to detect fraud: An
examination of corporate whistle-blowing policies. Journal of business ethics, 114(2),
283-295.
Srnicek, N. (2017). Platform capitalism. John Wiley & Sons.
Wood, D. M., & Ball, K. (2013). Brandscapes of control? Surveillance, marketing and the co-
construction of subjectivity and space in neo-liberal capitalism. Marketing
Theory, 13(1), 47-67.
Zuboff, S. (2015). Big other: surveillance capitalism and the prospects of an information
civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30(1), 75-89.
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