Business Ethics and Management Report: Southern Water Case

This assignment provides a comprehensive analysis of business ethics and responsible management, focusing on the case study of Southern Water, a private utility company facing ethical issues related to wastewater management. The report identifies the ethical issue of sewage dumping, its impact on society and stakeholders, and provides examples of good and bad ethical practices from other companies like McDonald's and Starbucks. It also explores the role of business in society through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and applies utilitarianism and ethics of rights and justice theories to the case. Furthermore, the assignment includes a reflective essay discussing ethical leadership, integrity, and compliance in both ethical and unethical organizational cultures, drawing from personal experiences and learning. The document concludes with recommendations for Southern Water to improve its ethical practices and stakeholder relations. Desklib offers this document and many more resources to aid students in their studies.

Business Ethics and
Responsible Management

TABLE OF CONTENT
PART 1-A REPORT .......................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
1. Ethical issue faced by the company.........................................................................................3
2. Role of business in society.......................................................................................................3
3. Five stakeholders.....................................................................................................................4
4. Examples of good and bad ethics ............................................................................................6
5. Recommendations....................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
PART 1-B TWO THEORIES .........................................................................................................9
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................9
1. Describing the two theories ....................................................................................................9
2. Applying the theories ..............................................................................................................9
3. Advantages and disadvantages of theories ...........................................................................10
4. Recommendations..................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERNCES ................................................................................................................................12
PART 2 Reflective essay ..............................................................................................................13
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................13
MAIN BODY ................................................................................................................................13
1. Discussion on ethical leadership management in ethical and unethical organizational culture
....................................................................................................................................................13
2. Analysis on maintaining integrity and compliances in ethical and unethical business
environment ..............................................................................................................................13
3. Own experiences and learning...............................................................................................14
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15

PART 1-A REPORT
INTRODUCTION
Business ethics refers to the system which implements the business policies and practices
in order to mange the issues in the environment. This assignment is based on the Southern Water
which is the private utility company and the company is responsible for the public wastewater
collection in Hampshire. This report will outline the ethical issue of the company and the impact
on role of business in society and how ethical issue affected society. Further it will outline the
impact ethical issue on the stakeholders and good and bad ethics of two companies and at last it
will outline the recommendations.
1. Ethical issue faced by the company
The ethical issues occur when the cited policies and practices are not followed by the
company and affects the principles of the company. This issues can be affected by both
individuals and businesses by doing some unethical practices in the external environment
(Hobday and et.al., 2019). It is basically the situation where the moral standards of the company
are questioned. The organizations establish the ethics in their business in order to promote
integrity among the members of the company (Navalta, Stone and Lyons, 2019). Southern water
has also done the unethical work which has caused the environment has polluted the coastal
areas in the parts of the Hampshire, where they operate. The fine was imposed on the company
of £90 Million in order to dump the sewage into the seas. As the role of the company is to collect
the public wastewater and do the treatment of that wastewater. But the company has dumped the
rubbish and sewage into the seas which causes an ethical issue done by the company in the
external environment. This issue has caused health related problems to the humans and fisheries
and other businesses which are dependent on the coastal waters.
2. Role of business in society
Corporate Social Responsibility is the main activity of every business that makes the
company to be socially accountable from its stakeholders and the public in the external
environment (Allhoff and Henschke, 2018). It makes the company to have good reputation in the
market by providing some percent of net profit in the welfare of market. The Corporate Social
Responsibility is the multi-layered concept which makes the company to know about the
responsibilities to be fulfilled at the four levels that are economic, legal, ethical and
philanthropic.

The following levels of the Carroll's Pyramid of CSR raises the performances of the
company in order to manage financial rewards and manage the conflicts related to the ethical
concerns and profits of the company. As the company has faced the ethical issue by dumping the
sewage into the sea which has caused the problems in the society. By doing this the humans have
faced the health related issues, some issues were also faced by the fisheries who used to go into
the sea and many businesses has also affected by this ethical issue as these business were
dependent on the coastal water of the seas. This caused a bad impact on the society and affected
many people in the external environment.
3. Five stakeholders
Freeman used to suggest that the stakeholders of the company are those groups which
used to support the organization in order to exist in the market (Ferns and Amaeshi, 2019). This
includes the customers, employees, owners, suppliers, government, financial institutions, etc.
The five stakeholders of the Southern Water are the owners, employees, government and
regulation bodies, society and shareholders of the company. The impact and influence of the
ethical issue on the stakeholders of the company are as follows:
Stakeholders Internal/
External
Impact Influence How
stakeholders area
affected by
ethical issued
done by the
company
Southern Water
owners
Internal High High By doing this
unethical issue it
has affected the
reputation and
image of the
company.
This makes the
company to lost
its profits by
paying the fine

imposed.
Employees Internal; Moderate Medium This happening of
the unethical
issue has
basically affected
the position of the
employees and
makes the
employees
to ;eave the job
due to lack of
profits (Akinola,
2021).
Government dan
Regulation bodies
External High Very high The government
has spent lots of
money in order to
clean the sea
where the
company has
dumped the
sewage in the sea.
Society External Moderate Medium The health of the
human area
affected by
dumping the
rubbish in the sea
and also affected
the fisheries'
health.

Shareholders Internal High High By happening of
this company has
paid fine which
reduces the
dividends of the
shareholders by
not earning the
planned profits.
4. Examples of good and bad ethics
McDonald's is the most unethical company across the world as it used to conduct the
business in very unethical way. The company was ranked as the least ethical company in the
index which was complied by Fraser Consultancy which has ranked the 42 brands from fashion
to food. Almost 35% of the population of the UK describes that they don't treat good with their
suppliers, customers, staff and with the external environment. This shows that the company was
not having the good ethics related to their policies and practices and caused the bad impact on
the reputation of the organization.
On the other hand, Starbucks is the ethical company because it makes the continuous
efforts in order to follow and conduct the good ethical practices in the company. This company
makes itself to do its business by following the policies and practices and by focusing on the
external environment ans diversity. The mission of the company is to value the wants and needs
of the customers every day. As it is the world's largest coffee house chain it must follow the good
ethics and by this it can boost its performance and increases the revenue. The business analyst
has also agreed that the organization is the respected company in order to have good Corporate
Social Responsibility.
5. Recommendations
There are some recommendation which Southern Water must follow in order to cope up
with the ethical issue faced by the company which are as follows:
◦ It is suggested to the company that it must focus on the health aspects related to
the humans and fisheries in the external environment (Silva and et.al., 2019).

They must treat the customers like they want to be treated in the market by having
dignity and respect.
◦ It is recommended to the company that they must not dump the sewage in the sea
rather than they can dump that sewage at other place which does not cause harm
to the fisheries.
◦ The organization must follow the ethics and standards in order to protect the
public health and it also includes the standards related to the hygiene.
◦ It is also recommended that they must treat there staff and employees in fair and
respectful manner and make them know about the ethical practices of the
company.
CONCLUSION
From the above part it has concluded the ethical issue of the company and the impact on
role of business in society and impact of ethical issue affected society. Further it has evaluated
the impact ethical issue on the stakeholders of the company which are owners, employees,
government, etc. and good and bad ethics of two companies and at last it has described the
recommendations to follow the ethics in the organization.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Akinola, A. A., 2021. Promoting reading culture, the role of stakeholders and ICT for societal
development. IP Indian Journal of Library Science and Information Technology. 6(1).
pp.4-8.
Allhoff, F. and Henschke, A., 2018. The internet of things: Foundational ethical issues. Internet
of Things. 1. pp.55-66.
Ferns, G. and Amaeshi, K., 2019. Struggles at the summits: Discourse coalitions, field
boundaries, and the shifting role of business in sustainable development. Business &
Society. 58(8). pp.1533-1571.
Hobday, A. J. and et.al., 2019. Ethical considerations and unanticipated consequences associated
with ecological forecasting for marine resources. ICES Journal of Marine Science.
76(5). pp.1244-1256.
Navalta, J. W., Stone, W. J. and Lyons, T. S., 2019. Ethical issues relating to scientific discovery
in exercise science. International Journal of Exercise Science. 12(1) p.1.
Silva, L. M. D. and et.al., 2019. The role of stakeholders in the context of responsible
innovation: A meta-synthesis. Sustainability. 11(6). p.1766.

PART 1-B TWO THEORIES
INTRODUCTION
This part will outline the two theories and applying those theories to the selected case
study that is of Southern Water. Further it will analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the
theories and recommendations to the company in order to comply the two theories.
1. Describing the two theories
Utilitarianism Theory of ethics: According to Bauer (2020), the theory of utilitarianism
suggest that the theory of morality which makes the organization about the rights and wrongs by
taking the various decisions in the company (Marseille and Kahn, 2019). This theory makes the
company to have the good social, economic and political decisions in order to have the
betterment of the society and the external environment. It basically promotes the greatest amount
of goods and services for the greatest number of people in the society. This theory is the reason
based approach which means it determines the right and wrong with also considering the
limitations. This theory holds the action which implement the right if it promotes the happiness
and wrong it causes sadness in the organizational culture.
Ethics of rights and justice: According to Santiago-Ávila and Lynn (2020), this the theory
of ethics which deals with the moral choices and upholds the ethical behaviour and rights of
people. It chooses the best solution not to damage the fewest people in the organization. The
people are more concern about the human rights which are based on the human dignity, therefore
the rights of the human should be protected and respected by the organization. The company
should follow this theory of justice in order to survive in the market. They must fulfil the needs
and demand of the employees and public in the external environment.
2. Applying the theories
The above two theories should be applied by the Southern water in order to follow the
ethics in the organization and not to create any unethical situation in the outside environment.
The applying of two theories on the organization are as follows:
Utilitarianism Theory of ethics: In order to promote the ethical practices in the
organization the company must follow the utilitarianism theory of ethics. It makes the company
to have good social, economic and political decisions which increases the profitability of the
company. In order to apply this theory it is important for the company to consider its
stakeholders which are owners, employees, government, society and shareholders of the

company. This makes the company to make the good policies and practices in order to lead in the
market. It makes the company to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people in the
society. This makes the employees to participate in the rights and wrong of the company and
have the good decision in the organization.
Ethics of rights and justice: in order to promote this theory we can apply this theory of
Ethics of rights and justice in the Southern Water. Focusing on the ethical issue discussed in the
company they must follow this theory of ethics (Jamal and Higham, 2021). As the cited
organization were not following the ethical policies and practices and damage the environment
which causes the health related issues to the human and fisheries. The company must follow this
theory which focuses on the rights of freedom and life of the person's safety.
3. Advantages and disadvantages of theories
Advantages and disadvantages of Utilitarianism
According to Bauer, 2020, this theory focuses on the welfare and happiness in the
external environment by following the ethics and practices of the company. The theory teaches
that harming the environment is wrong as it affects the ethics of the company. The organization
can apply this theory as it is very easy to implement. All the organization is to do is to determine
the negative and positive effects which makes them to know about its drawbacks.
Some disadvantages of this theory is that creates the unrealistic perspective for the
society as the whole. The utilitarianism can be very predictable as taking decision about the
future can be always correct for the company.
Advantages and disadvantages of Ethics of rights and justice
This theory makes the employees of the organization to have their rights and fairness and
maintain the job stability in the business. It is the corporate doctrine which can be applied to all
the stakeholders in order to create the culture of trust and openness. It makes the employees to
have the fairness in the organization.
Some disadvantages are that sometimes company does not follow this practice and causes
the stakeholders to have the uncertainty about their jobs. As some employees have lost their job
due to the identified ethical issue so it shows that the company has not followed this theory of
ethics and justice.

4. Recommendations
There are following recommendations to the company by identifying the issues and
focusing on the two theories are as follows:
▪ It is recommended to the organization that they must follow the
Utilitarianism Theory of ethics which makes them know about the right
and wrong decision taken by the company. As it is very easy theory so the
organization must adopt this and make the right decision by following the
made practices and policies. As company has not made the right decision
in order to dump the sewage in to the sea.
▪ Further it is also recommended to the company that they must also apply
the theory of ethics of rights and justice. This makes the company to have
the trust and fairness in the company. This makes the organization's
employees to have the certainty about the job.
CONCLUSION
This part has concluded the two theories that is utilitarianism theory and ethics of rights
and justice and these theories are applied to the selected company case study that is of Southern
Water. Further, has evaluated the advantages and disadvantages of the two theories and
recommendations to the company in order to comply the two theories.

REFERNCES
Books and Journals
Bauer, W. A., 2020. Expanding Nallur's Landscape of Machine Implemented Ethics. Science and
Engineering Ethics. 26(5). pp.2401-2410.
Jamal, T. and Higham, J., 2021. Justice and ethics: Towards a new platform for tourism and
sustainability. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 29(2-3). pp.143-157.
Marseille, E. and Kahn, J. G., 2019. Utilitarianism and the ethical foundations of cost-
effectiveness analysis in resource allocation for global health. Philosophy, Ethics, and
Humanities in Medicine. 14(1). pp.1-7.
Santiago-Ávila, F. J. and Lynn, W. S., 2020. Bridging compassion and justice in conservation
ethics. Biological Conservation. 248. p.108648.
Savulescu, J., Persson, I. and Wilkinson, D., 2020. Utilitarianism and the
pandemic. Bioethics. 34(6). pp.620-632.