University Business Ethics Course: Ethical Dilemma Report Analysis

This report analyzes an ethical dilemma faced by a company regarding the early launch of a product. The core issue revolves around a conflict between delivering a product ahead of schedule to secure future business and compromising the product's quality and security. The report identifies the ethical issues, particularly the potential compromise of product quality and the impact on customer trust. It explores the situation using the Doing Ethics Technique, examining facts, ethical implications, affected parties, and potential solutions. The analysis highlights the internal conflict within the company, involving project managers and senior management, and emphasizes the importance of prioritizing product quality and adhering to ethical business practices. The report concludes with a recommendation for the management to prioritize the completion of a high-quality product, even if it means delaying the launch, to maintain the company's reputation and uphold ethical standards. The analysis includes references to relevant business ethics literature.

Running head: ETHICAL DILEMMA
Ethical Dilemma
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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Executive summary
In the video that is being analyzed for this assignment the dilemma that the company or the
management is facing is regarding the opportunity that the company will get by delivering the
product a month early, on the other hand this would mean that the product will be compromised
with its quality. The assignment has comprehensive details of the dilemma that is being faced in
the situation as well the issues that are being created, there is also DET analysis of the dilemma
that has been identified.

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Contents
Ethical dilemma and business ethics...............................................................................................3
Identification of the ethical dilemma...............................................................................................3
Ethical issue identified.....................................................................................................................4
Analysis of the dilemma using Doing Ethics Technique.................................................................5
Reference list:..................................................................................................................................7

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Ethical dilemma and business ethics
In business management ethical dilemma arises when there is a decision making problem
as the situation calls for the two situations which is equally important for the organisation but
both the situations cannot co-exist at the same time (Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2016). It is not
always possible for the company to be ethically correct as that could cost a lot in such cases the
company has to take the responsibilities of their actions and deal with the consequences of the
actions (Hoffman et al. 2014). Business ethics are a global standard for how businesses
organisation should be conduct their operation. Ethical dilemmas in business are categorized as:
health and safety issues of the employee, conflicts of interest among the people, human resources
issues and customer confidence and exploitation of corporate resources. In situations where there
is ethical dilemma the company must take steps to take the decision wisely; intuitionism, moral
idealism and utilitarianism are the three principles which can be used by the management to
come to a conclusion (Weiss, 2014).
Identification of the ethical dilemma
A business opportunity is something that the management of the company will never
lose. In this case the opportunity is to earn goodwill among the clients of the organisation by
providing the work before time. If the company can deliver the project on time then the client
will be happy and will ensure that the next business will be allocated to the company. This would
mean that the company will have a more business and a happy client which is very important for
the long run of the business (Youtube.com, 2018). But the issue with early launch of the product
will mean that the security of the product will be incomplete which will leave the user vulnerable
and will have chances of exposing personal details if the security is hacked. The project manager

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doesn’t agree with the senior manager as he thinks that the process should be complete before
delivery and since the deadline is a month later the company should not pre-pone the process and
that would compromise with the quality of the work which again would hamper the reputation of
the company. Now the dilemma is that the company will may lose the opportunity of further
business with the client if the delivery is on time on the other hand the company will lose their
goodwill if the client finds out that the product is incomplete and is not full-proof. Hence the
issue that is being developed in this scenario is internal conflict (Youtube.com, 2018).
Ethical issue identified
The ethical issue in this case is the compromise of the product quality, when the company
has the resources to ensure that the product that is being delivered to the client be flawless.
Purposefully offering a product that is not complete in terms of one of the most important feature
of the product like security of the information is the issue. The company will hamper the
goodwill among the clients and the industry if it is identified that the company has failed to
provide the client with a full-proof product (Weiss, 2014). Quality of product and service is one
of the most important aspects that any business organisation should give priority as it ensures
goodwill as well as provides opportunity for the business as well (Hoffman et al. 2014). This
situation will also give rise to internal conflict among the people of the organisation as they are
being pressurized to do more work as the delivery time has been moved ahead. And all these
situations are being raised based on assumptions of the CEO thinks that the next project might be
missed (Weiss, 2014). The question in this case is that: what are the situations that the company
can claim to be justified for an incomplete product delivery? Is the decision of early delivery
justified after the feedback from the project manager who disagrees with the decision?

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Analysis of the dilemma using Doing Ethics Technique
Q1. What's going on?
The issue of the case has been discussed above.
Q2. What are the facts?
The facts of the situation is that the project delivery has time, it is being asked to pre-pone by the
management on the basis of assumption that before time delivery will ensure the next business
project. The higher management agrees to skip the inscription part of the project to deliver it
before time. The project manager disagrees with the situation as he thinks inscription is essential
and is pivotal for the security of the product (Weiss, 2014).
Q3. What are the ethical and non-ethical issues?
Ethical issues: if the company delivers the work before time the product will be incomplete and
will not be of the quality as promised to the client. Products and service quality comes first in
the process of being ethical in the business. Providing sub-standard product when there is means
available is not ethical.
Non-ethical issue: Internal conflict among the project team and the higher management is the
management issue that is being observed in this case.
Q4. Who is affected?
The client will be effect as well with the quality of the work, the reputation of the company will
be affected. The internal conflict will give rise to unsatisfied employees and also will increase
the work pressure among the team which will again give rise to discontent (Weiss, 2014).

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Q5. What are the ethical issues and implications?
Providing the client with an incomplete project is the issue, this can give rise to a fall in
reputation if the product negatively impacts the clients work.
Q6. What can be done about it?
The company should take the time provided to ensure submission of a flawless project (Shapiro
& Stefkovich, 2016).
Q7. What are the options?
 Providing a project without inscription
 The management taking the recommendation seriously
 The project manager discussed with the team and come to a common ground
Q8. Which option is best - and why?
The management should take the recommendation of the project manager and finish the
inscription and then provide the client with a complete product. The company gets the money
because they claim to provide high quality product and according to global business ethics a
company should always provide the best possible quality (Weiss, 2014).

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Reference list:
Hoffman, W. M., Frederick, R. E., & Schwartz, M. S. (Eds.). (2014). Business ethics: Readings
and cases in corporate morality. John Wiley & Sons.
Shapiro, J. P., & Stefkovich, J. A. (2016). Ethical leadership and decision making in education:
Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge.
Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers.
Youtube.com. (2018). Scenario 3: Early Launch. youtube.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5M7ohdZ6qA