Case Study Report: Ethical Issues at Ladbrokes and Business Response

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the ethical challenges faced by Ladbrokes, a prominent British gambling and betting company. The study begins by identifying key ethical issues, such as consumer vulnerability and job losses due to the shift towards online gambling. It then explores the role of the business within society and its impact, particularly concerning unemployment. The report identifies major stakeholders including consumers, investors, government, society, and shareholders and discusses how they are affected by the company's ethical practices. It provides examples of both good and bad business ethics, drawing from companies like Starbucks and Volkswagen. The report also recommends ethical improvements, such as providing alternative employment options and using attractive marketing strategies. Furthermore, the report discusses the application of ethical theories like virtue ethics and utilitarianism in managing ethical systems, and how these theories can be applied to improve ethical practices. The final section reflects on ethical leadership and its importance in maintaining integrity and compliance within the company.

REPORT OF CASE STUDY:
LADBROKES THE ONLINE
WAY TO SAVE YOUR JOB

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
PART 1 A........................................................................................................................................4
Ethical issues..........................................................................................................................4
Role of business in society.....................................................................................................5
Stakeholders...........................................................................................................................5
Examples of good and bad ethics...........................................................................................6
Recommendation....................................................................................................................6
PART 1 B.........................................................................................................................................7
Theories..................................................................................................................................7
Application of theories...........................................................................................................7
Critical evaluation..................................................................................................................8
Recommendation....................................................................................................................8
PART 2............................................................................................................................................9
Ethical leadership...................................................................................................................9
Maintaining integrity and compliance....................................................................................9
Reflection on own experience..............................................................................................10
Conclusion............................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Ethics are very necessary to be maintained in the business. This is majorly pertaining to
the fact that if company does not work in ethical and correct way then the consumer will not like
the product of the company to a great extent. Ethics refers to as the principles and values which
governs the working of the business (Robertson, Voegtlin and Maak, 2017). Thus, for this it is
very necessary for the company to responsibly manage the working of the company to a great
extent. The present report is based on the case study of Ladbrokes which is a British gambling
and betting company which is founded in the year 1902.
The present report will start by outlining the ethical issues being faced by the company.
Further the role of the business and its issues within the society will be discussed in the report.
Next the different stakeholders of the society and their role in maintaining and dealing with the
ethical issues will be outlined. Furthermore, the discussion will take place on some good and bad
examples of ethics in business and some recommendation of improving it. Further two different
theories of ethical consideration will be discussed for overcoming the ethical issues within the
business. In the end the reflection of the ethical manager and how they deal in business will be
discussed.
PART 1 A
Ethical issues
The ethical issues occur in business when the decision taken by the company are
conflicting to the morals and values of the other people or the society. Majorly the ethical issues
arise at time of deciding what is right and what is wrong at time of deciding anything. The
present case study of the Ladbrokes states that it was seen that the company suffered a huge loss
because of increase in the users going for online way of playing and gambling. Thus, there are
many ethical issues relating to this case of the Ladbrokes.
The major ethical issues outlined is the vulnerability of the consumers and the leaving of
more of the staff. These two are the ethical issues because here the reason for this act is not good
and correct and are against of the moral and ethical values (Quarshie, Salmi and Leuschner,
2016). The first issue that is the vulnerability of the consumers is because there is a loss of the
company in the consumers because they are more attracted towards the online mode of
gambling. This is majorly due to the fact that the company is suffering with much losses and thus

the consumers does not feel good in dealing with that company. As they are in dilemma that
whether the company will be able to pay for the amount of the consumers or not.
If the company is not in position of paying the consumers their required amount then the
consumer will not like to play within the company (Strobel, Tumasjan and Welpe, 2015).
Another ethical issue is of the employees leaving the job. This is an ethical issue because of the
fact that because of loss the company is closing its 1000 shops and because of this employee are
leaving the job. This is an ethical issue because in this case it is the responsibility of the company
to provide for alternate employment option for the employees of the stores which was employed
in those shops.
Role of business in society
The business plays an important role within the society and the upliftment if the society.
This is majorly because of the fact that the working of the company impacts the society to a great
extent and this is the reason behind the important role of the business within the society. The
present Ladbroke also plays an important role within the society as they work within the society
and for the consumers of the society. The ethical issues faced by the company also impacts the
society because when the employees are removed form the job it means that unemployment is
created within he society which hampers the growth of the society. Thus, every decision taken by
the Ladbroke impacts the society to a great extent. Another issue that is the consumers going for
other option also impact the society. As if the consumers will go for online way for saving their
job then this will degrade the society.
Stakeholders
The stakeholder is the person who are interested in the working and results of the
company in direct or indirect way. The stakeholder is an important part in the successfulness of
the business. The key stakeholder ion which Ladbroke focuses is the consumers, investors,
government, society and the shareholders. This is mainly because of the fact that these are the
major stakeholders of the company and if they are not satisfied then the company will not be
enough successful (de Bakker, Rasche and Ponte, 2019). Thus, if the company is not working in
ethical manner then the stakeholders will not be satisfied and if they are not happy then the
company will have to face losses. Therefore, when company goes to close its 1000 shops then at
that time the major stakeholders are not satisfied. Hence, this leads to failure of the company.

Examples of good and bad ethics
While running a business there are many different situations in the business which either
are good business ethics or a bad business ethics. But it is not possible for the business to have
only good business ethics within the business (Bull and Ridley- Duff, 2019). This is due to the
fact that all the people within the company are of different nature and perception and thus there
can be both positive and negative business ethics followed within the business. The example of
good business ethics is like working in accordance with all the applicable laws, maintaining
consumer loyalty, retaining good and expert employees, increasing reputation or goodwill of the
company a many other positive activities of the business. For instance, Starbucks, which is a
coffee shop uses many ethical practices within its business. The company encourages its
consumers to be environmentally conscious. This is done by company by offering consumers 10
% discount to the consumers who bring their own reusable cups. Also, the company is using
recycled paper in their cups as the dipper used lot of water in the cups.
On the other hand, the examples of bad ethics are like mismanagement of cash in
business, frauds in accounts, discrimination and harassment among the efficient employees and
inefficient employees, not providing for proper health and safety measures for the employees and
many other factors which relates to the unethical behaviour of the individual in company. Thus,
to promote the good working within the company it is very necessary for the company to
promote good ethical behaviour if the employees and this is only possible because of the fact if
the company promotes ethical and satisfying environment within the company. For instance, the
VW that is Volkswagen has been involved in the various scandals like payment protection
insurance, phone hacking, Libor and many other unethical practices have been used by the
company. In latest, Volkswagen has been witnessed cheating on the emission test (Volkswagen:
The Scandal Explained, 2015). The car of company was found to have a defeat device or
software in their diesel engines which can detect the changing performance of the car and can
have improved. Also, the company has admitted the fact that they were cheating emission test in
US.
Recommendation
From the above discussion it is recommended to Ladbroke to work in an ethical and
correct manner. This is majorly because of the fact that if company is not working properly the it
will have to face many difficulties and challenges which will result in decrease in the goodwill of

the company. Therefore, it is recommended to the company that the company needs to work in
proper and accurate manner. In the present case where the company is closing its 1000 shops
they need to provide for some alternate employment options for the employees so that they have
an opportunity to work when the shops are closed. Also, for attracting the consumers to come for
the gambling at Ladbroke it is very necessary for company to use some good and attractive
marketing strategies and methods (Luetge, Armbrüster and Müller, 2016). This is because of the
fact that due to online gambling sites the competition has increased to a great level and thus, it is
essential for Ladbroke to distract the consumers from online stores to the shops of company.
PART 1 B
Theories
The management of ethics is very necessary for the leader within the company. Thus, for
this it is very necessary for the manager of Ladbroke to use some of the theories which are
applicable for the management of the ethical system within the company. For these two theories
are applied that is Virtue ethical theory and utilitarianism (Wang, Cheney and Roper, 2016). The
virtue ethical theory is the one which holds an ethical value of the individual is defined by their
character. The character is the inclination, virtues and intentions which makes the person to get
ready to act in an ethical manner. On the other hand, the utilitarianism is an ethical theory which
states that the action of the person is good only if it provides maximum satisfaction to the large
number of people. This is because of the reason that if the other people or the person himself
who is doing the work is not satisfied then it means the work is not accomplished in the ethical
manner.
Application of theories
The application of these theory is very necessary for Ladbroke as these theories will help
the company in analysing the ethical needs of the company which is very necessary to be
fulfilled in this competitive era. Thus, the application of these theories is very necessary for the
company for gaining advantage of ethical working. The Virtual ethical theory is applied in the
business by way of maintaining three different types of ethical behaviour. This theory is applied
in three perspective that is individual character ethics, work character ethics and professional
character ethics. This is majorly because of the fact that the application of this theory states that
in an employee as an individual work in ethical manner then the whole working of the company

will be ethical. Similarly, the main focus must be levied on the workplace ethics and professional
ethics. This is necessary because the company exist in professional world so it is very necessary
for them to behave and work ethically.
On the other hand, utilitarianism is a theory which is applied by every individual within
the company (Jagger, Siala and Sloan, 2016). This is majorly because of the fact that it is a basic
theory which stats that the work which is performed is not ethical till the worker of the product is
not satisfied with the working of their own. This is theory needs to applied by all the employees
as this is more of an inbuilt emotion then a theory. Thus, both the theories of ethical
consideration that is virtue ethical theory and the utilitarianism theory are helpful for the
company to operate in ethical manner.
Critical evaluation
In accordance with Alzola, Romar and Hennig, (2017) the major advantage of virtue
ethics is that this motivates the people to work in ethical manner as the main focus of this is on
the individual ethics and if individual within the company will work in ethical manner then every
work of company will be in ethical form. But in contrast to this Fontrodona, Ricart and Berrone,
(2018) argues that the focus in individual ethics is not correct as every individual is different
from the other. This means that it is not necessary that if one thing is ethical for one employee is
also ethical in eyes of the other employees as well.
In the views of the Klein, Michal and David, (2018) utilitarianism is applied because it
has the advantage of the fact that this theory is more of a concept then the theory. This is majorly
because of the fact that this is an inbuilt concept as every person work for the satisfaction of their
work and if they are not satisfied then they will not work. in contrast to this Rodríguez- López
and Souto, (2019) criticizes that happiness is subjective and cannot be defined in some
quantifiable terms. Thus, the person cannot define whether they are satisfied with their work or
not and if they are satisfied then up to how much amount they are satisfied.
Recommendation
Thus, for improving the state of ethical working within the company it is recommended
to Ladbroke to adopt to the theory of negative and positive right theory. The negative right
theory is one which states that an action only if it safeguards the individual form the harm or any
other interference from other people or authorities. In contrast to this positive right theory is the

one which outlines that action is right only if the person is getting what they want and for which
they are working.
PART 2
Ethical leadership
From the above discussion it is evaluated that the ethical working is very necessary for
the company to have success and goodwill. Thus, I clearly understood that for the business to be
successful it is very important to employee an ethical manager within the company. it is of
utmost importance for the company to have ethical leadership within the company so that every
work can be effectively and efficiently managed within the company. The ethical leadership is a
concept wherein the leadership directs the behaviour of the employees in the working by way of
following beliefs, rights, dignity, value and many other morally correct principles (Raman, Garg
and Thapliyal, 2019). With this I learnt that the ethical leadership is the practice of the leader
where they work by being honest and responsible towards all its roles and responsibilities.
Maintaining integrity and compliance
It is very necessary for the ethical leader to manage the business in proper and expected
ways. This is very necessary pertaining to the fact that if the business is not managed properly
then the working will not take place in proper way. According to me for managing the business
by the ethical leader it is very necessary for them to have proper knowledge of all the rules and
regulation and the laws which are applicable on the working of the company (Paik, Lee and Pak,
2019). Thus, for this the ethical leader has to constantly study all the applicable rules and
regulation and to monitor that whether these rules and regulations are being followed within the
company or not. If the rules and regulations are not being followed then it is the duty of the
leader to take some measures to maintain the laws on the company.
Another way which the ethical leader can use to manage the ethical and moral working
within the company is maintaining the confidentiality. This is also an important aspect in
maintaining the ethical working. This is majorly because of the fact that if the leader discloses
the information of the company to other competitors then it is not an ethical practice. Thus, it is
very necessary for the leader to maintain confidentiality of the information of every dealing of
the company with outside the business. This is also due to the fact that the competition is tough

and for this it is the duty of the leader to manage the confidentiality of all the details and the
information which needs to be kept in secret and safe (Fontrodona, Ricart and Berrone, 2018).
Another important way or practice through which the ethical leader can manage the
business in proper manner is the integrity within the business practice. The integrity is defined as
the honesty which is needed to be maintained at time of working. This is very necessary because
of the reason that if the leader will not maintain integrity at time of applying all the principles
and strategies within the company. thus, it is very necessary for the ethical leader to manage the
business with integrity.
Reflection on own experience
From my own experience I learnt that there are many different types of qualities which
are necessarily to b possessed by the ethical leader for the proper management of the company.
For managing the ethical leadership in the business, it is very necessary for the leader to possess
or inherit some qualities. The most important quality which is required in the ethical leader is the
honesty. This is the most important quality to be possessed by the leader as if the leader will not
be honest then no one will trust the leader and their saying. However, one more quality for being
an ethical and competent leader is the dedication. This is very necessary because of the fact that
if the leader is not dedicated towards the work then the other employees will also not pay
attention to the work. It is so because of the fact that if the leader will not be dedicated then the
followers will not be motivated and dedicated towards the work as they follow what the leader
does.
Furthermore, another quality for the leader to be ethical in its working is the
accountability. This is the most important quality to be inherited by the ethical leader. It is so due
to the fact that that if the leader will not take the duty of accountability then this will not be good
for the management of the company. This is pertaining to the fact that the leader is the person
who is responsible for the management of the whole company and if they do not take the
accountability of the work then how they will manage the work of the company. Thus, this is an
important ethical quality of the leader as the leader needs to be accountable for all the mistakes
and flaws which have been done because of them and their working style.
Conclusion
In the end it can be concluded that ethical leadership is very necessary in the dynamic
business environment. This is majorly due to the fact that the competition is at highest and to

face it many a times wrong practices are being used. Thus, the ethical leadership eradicates all
the use of such practices and promotes values and good quality of work.
CONCLUSION
With the help of the above study it is concluded that it is very necessary for the company
to have ethical and responsible management within the company. this is of utmost importance
because of the fact that without ethical working no business can run in successful manner. Thus,
for this the report is prepared which outlines a case of ethical issues. In the present case the
ethical issues outlined were like vulnerability of the consumer and expelling of the employees
due to business closure.
Further the different stakeholder was identified who was impacted because of these
issues. Next the discussion was done on two different theories of ethical consideration which is
applied by the business and these were virtue ethical theory and utilitarianism. Also, the
application and advantages and disadvantages were highlighted of these two theories. In the end
the reflection of the learning relating to the ethical leadership and different qualities of ethical
leader like honesty, accountability etc was discussed.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alzola, M., Romar, E. and Hennig, A., 2017. Virtue ethics between east and west.
Bull, M. and Ridley- Duff, R., 2019. Towards an appreciation of ethics in social enterprise
business models. Journal of Business Ethics. 159(3). pp.619-634.
de Bakker, F.G., Rasche, A. and Ponte, S., 2019. Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives on Sustainability:
A Cross-Disciplinary Review and Research Agenda for Business Ethics. Business Ethics
Quarterly, pp.1-41.
Fontrodona, J., Ricart, J.E. and Berrone, P., 2018. Ethical challenges in strategic management:
the 19th IESE International Symposium on Ethics, Business and Society. Journal of
Business Ethics. 152(4). pp.887-898.
Jagger, S., Siala, H. and Sloan, D., 2016. It's all in the game: A 3D learning model for business
ethics. Journal of business ethics. 137(2). pp.383-403.
Klein, P., Michal, J. and David, B., 2018, October. Business ethics and corporate social
responsibility as a tool to stimulate interest in the living environment. In Proceedings of
Business and Management Conferences (No. 6810197). International Institute of Social
and Economic Sciences.
Luetge, C., Armbrüster, T. and Müller, J., 2016. Order ethics: Bridging the gap between
contractarianism and business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics. 136(4). pp.687-697.
Paik, Y., Lee, J.M. and Pak, Y.S., 2019. Convergence in international business ethics? A
comparative study of ethical philosophies, thinking style, and ethical decision-making
between US and Korean managers. Journal of Business Ethics. 156(3). pp.839-855.
Quarshie, A.M., Salmi, A. and Leuschner, R., 2016. Sustainability and corporate social
responsibility in supply chains: The state of research in supply chain management and
business ethics journals. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management. 22(2). pp.82-
97.
Raman, G.V., Garg, S. and Thapliyal, S., 2019. Integrative Live Case: A Contemporary Business
Ethics Pedagogy. Journal of Business Ethics. 155(4). pp.1009-1032.
Robertson, D.C., Voegtlin, C. and Maak, T., 2017. Business ethics: The promise of
neuroscience. Journal of Business Ethics. 144(4). pp.679-697.
Rodríguez- López, Á. and Souto, J.E., 2019. Empowering entrepreneurial capacity: training,
innovation and business ethics. Eurasian Business Review, pp.1-21.
Strobel, M., Tumasjan, A. and Welpe, I., 2015. Do business ethics pay off?. Zeitschrift für
Psychologie/Journal of Psychology.
Wang, Y., Cheney, G. and Roper, J., 2016. Virtue Ethics and the Practice–Institution Schema:
An Ethical Case of Excellent Business Practices. Journal of Business Ethics. 138(1).
pp.67-77.
Online
Volkswagen: the scandal explained. 2015. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-34324772 >