Examining Governance and Ethics: The Plight of Pacific Islanders

This essay delves into the ethical and governance issues surrounding the marginalization of Pacific Islanders, tracing their history of exploitation and discrimination, particularly in Australia. It examines the role of organizations like Pacific Trade Invest (PTI) in addressing these challenges, while also critiquing the effectiveness of current approaches. The essay argues for the adoption of deontological ethical principles and a common good approach to ensure equitable treatment and opportunities for Pacific Islanders, emphasizing the need for policy framers and governing bodies to prioritize the welfare of this community. The study highlights the importance of ethical decision-making in promoting social justice and rectifying historical injustices faced by Pacific Islanders, recommending that decisions should be based on merit and performance rather than ethnicity.

Running head: GOVERNANCE AND ETHICS
Governance and business ethics
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

2GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
Executive summary
All the organizations must adhere to a definite set of ethics in order to promote the overall well
being of the organization. It is the duty of the organization management to make sure that the
ethical code of conduct is for the equal treatment and justice of all the people irrespective of their
social class, status or ethnicity. There are many communities in the world that are marginalized
due to their racial or ethnic background. The South Pacific Islanders are one among such
communities. They have been kept under slavery and oppression for several centuries; However,
efforts are being made to bring them out from the margins to the center.

3GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
History.............................................................................................................................................4
Existence of issue............................................................................................................................5
Discussion of Issue..........................................................................................................................5
Importance.......................................................................................................................................6
History of organization....................................................................................................................6
Discussion of issue..........................................................................................................................6
Argument.........................................................................................................................................7
Ethical decision approaches.............................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................10

4GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
Introduction
Ethics is a set of rules and laws that must be maintained by all the organizations in order
to abide by the discipline. It is essential for all them of organizations to make sure that they are
being able to make all their employees aware of the different issues that can affect their
organization in the future. Thus it has to be made sure that the company managers' or the
supervisors are taking proper measures to imbibe the ethical awareness among people. One of
the major ethical issues that are existing at the Global level is the issue of the Pacific Islander.
There are many hardships and discriminations done against the people of the South Pacific
island. Thus there are many companies that are working for dealing with this issue. Ong (2016)
has suggested that the issue of the Pacific Islanders is no longer restricted to only the local level
but they are rapidly developing and advancing into the Universal or the Global level as well.
Thus efforts are being made to solve this issue.
History
The history of the Pacific Islanders can be traced back far into the 1850s. This was the
period when there was no more transportation of the convicts or the prisoners from Britain to
Australia. Thus Australia did not have enough labor to make them work on the agricultural
farmlands. Thus the Australian government had to think about another way by which they could
gather labor for making them work on the farmlands. However, it was made sure that the supply
of labor remains constant. Chen and Schonger (2019) have stated that in order to deal with the
issue of labor shortage the Australian Government started shifting their attention onto the people
of the Pacific Island. Pacific Islanders 'Kanakas', a Polynesian word for 'people' or 'boy' was the

5GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
main source of labor that was used by Australia. Thus it is evident that the history of these
Pacific Islanders is rooted not in independence but in Slavery (Globaleducation.edu.au. 2019).
Existence of the issue
Davy (2019) is of the opinion that the issue of slavery has now taken many different
forms. There was the Immigration Restriction Act passed in the year 1901 which was mainly
directed to deport the Pacific Islander from Australia to their native lands so that they can free
their motherland from the domination of the black skinned people. Thus it is evident that
Australian natives or the White skin people wanted to free their land from the overcrowding that
was being done due to the presence of these black skinned people. This came to be known as the
white Australian policy. Thus from an ethical point of view, the Pacific Islanders have been
subjugated for centuries and have been kept under huge discrimination.
As per the Act, Australians wanted to banish or deport the Pacific islanders from
Australia as they felt that the Pacific Islanders were occupying the majority of the job posts.
Larmour (2017 ) stated that this was seen as a good and positive effort as this was done for
reuniting the Pacific Islanders with their family and dear ones. However, Rodríguez and Hagan
(2016) counter-argued in a similar context saying that this Act was actually hinted at dominating
the Pacific Islanders because they did not want to go from Australia. By this time they had
already adopted the Christian faith and also married the local resident and set their family
(Globaleducation.edu.au. 2019). Thus they did not want to go back to their native lands.
However, the Australian Government was forcing them to go back.

6GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
Discussion of the Issue
There are many companies in Australia that are working for the welfare of the Pacific
Islanders or the people of the South Pacific Island. They are working for the welfare and the
uplifting of these people. One such organization is Pacific trade Invest that helps in protecting
and safeguarding the welfare interests of these people (Pacifictradeinvest.com. 2019). Garcia,
David, and Mapaye (2018) has argued that even today the Pacific Islanders have to face many
hardships and discriminations. The discriminations are faced by these people at the social,
political, economic and different other such layers.
Importance
Larbi, Bounif, and Bouzit (2018) have stated that these matters are important because the
people belonging from the Pacific Island are the citizens of Australia and they must be able to
get proper representation and inclusion in the social institutions. However, it has to be made sure
that the different channels that are set for conveying the fund and the other aids for the Pacific
Islanders are able to reach to the people within time.
History of the organization
PTI is Pacific's lead trade and investment facilitation agency that is mainly hinted at
developing the position of these people so that they can get a proper housing and employment
facility. However, Larbi, Bounif, and Bouzit (2018) have counter-argued saying that inspire of
these repeated efforts and initiatives that are being taken by the company there are no such
prominent improvements taking place in the situation of the Pacific Islanders.

7GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
Discussion of the issue
The era between 1842 and 1904 more than 60,000 men and boys from the South Pacific
islands and an unknown number of women and girls were kidnapped and brought to Australia to
work as slaves. Even today there are no such significant improvements in the condition of these
people. Thompson (2016) has stated in this context that even today these people are suffering
from racial and social discrimination. Garcia, David, and Mapaye (2018) has also argued in this
matter saying that these people do not even know about their real identity. They often suffer
from the existential crisis. (Globaleducation.edu.au. 2019) is of the opinion that as they fall under
the indigenous group or the reserved community they are always subjected to immense pain and
torture.
As per the report of Globaleducation.edu.au. (2019), Asian and Pacific Islander
homebuyers face huge discrimination when they are seeking for proper housing facilities. They
are always denied the proper opportunities for getting houses. It is seen that they are subjected to
discrimination at a rate of 20.4% of the time. Availability of advertised housing units is also less
among the people belonging from the Pacific Islander community. Thus it is evident that the
efforts which are being put forward by the companies like Pacific trade Invest are not sufficient.
Lester (2015) has argued that there are many possible reasons behind this. The one possible rain
can be the growing corruption in the middle of the chains that blunder in the help from reaching
to the destined source that is the people of Pacific Islander. Trieu and Vang (2015) stated that
Pacific Islanders are not allowed to get schooling or employment opportunities. There is
discrimination against the white skinned people and the Pacific Islanders. This shows that as they
belong from a reserved or minority group they are marginalized.

8GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
Argument
Larmour (2017) has stated that the Government of Australia along with the efforts of
companies like PTI are trying their level best to open up job opportunities for these Pacific
Islander people. PTI Company works in collaboration or partnership with the Promotion
Authorities in the Pacific. They help in undertaking the ways in which they can make the
investors interested in making donations or funds for the people living on the Pacific island.
However, Neher and Sandin (2017) have argued that the Pacific Islanders are only trained to
work as farmers on the agricultural land or the farmlands.
This makes it very tough for them to propagate in life. Vedung (2017) has argued that the
policy framers, the governing bodies and the other political agencies give the employment
opportunities to the people belonging to the nonindigenous sections of the society. The women
and children belonging from this community are bullied and tortured in the schools and the
different workplaces respectively. Thus it can be said that organizations like PTI are not able to
formulate and also implement the ethical rules in a proper way.
Ethical decision approaches
Yazdani and Murad (2015) have stated that the Utilitarian ethical theory is being followed
in this case. This is because not only in the modern scenario but the Pacific Islanders have been
subjected to this discrimination right from the start of their race. The organizations like PTI are
trying to mitigate the discriminations against the Pacific Islanders but at the same time, they are
lacking somewhere. As per this theory, the welfare interest of the minor section of people is
overlooked in order to pay greater attention to the interests of the people belonging to the non-
indigenous or the majority section of the society.

9GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
Tsalikis (2018) have argued many organizations appoint the majority of their workforce
from the educated and the non-indigenous section as they feel that they are more advanced and
educated for fulfilling the job responsibilities. However, Lazar (2017) has argued in a similar
context that this shows the disadvantage of using the Utilitarian ethical theory. Chen and
Schonger (2019) have argued that the Deontological theory must be used so that all the people
must be treated in an equal way. This theory abides by the belief that all the individuals must be
treated with dignity and respect irrespective of the socio-economic and ethnic background. Thus
efforts are to be made by the Government and also the other companies so that an equal amount
of education and job opportunities are given to the people belonging from Pacific Islander group.
The decisions of recruitment and hiring must take place purely on the basis of the merit,
performance and the years of experience and not on the basis of the background or ethnicity.
As per the opinion of Neher and Sandin (2017), the implementation of the deontological
approach will be helping the companies to deal with the discrimination being done against the
people of the Pacific Islanders. Housing issue and employment issues are some of the major
areas of discrimination faced by the Pacific Islanders. It must be noted that in order to implement
the ethical theories for the overall good of the Pacific Islanders there must be proper ethical
approaches followed. Common Good Approach must be followed by the organization in order
to assess the certainty of the common good of the society from the implementation of the
processes. Larbi, Bounif, and Bouzit (2018) have suggested in this context that in order to solve
the hardships and the discriminations happening against the people of the Pacific Islanders the
policy framers and the Governing bodies must be able to question themselves. Ray (2018) has
added in a similar context that successful implementation of the solutions or the remedies will
take place only when there are proper methods for taking the feedbacks or the updates.

10GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
Virtue Approach must also be used in order to deal with this issue. Organizations like PTI
that are working for the welfare of the Pacific Islanders must make sure that they are using the
moral values for supporting these people. The officials must be governed by their own ethics in
order to evaluate the consequences of their action.
Fairness/Justice Approach must be implemented in order to treat everyone as equal. Efforts
are to be made by organizations like PTI to arrange for proper awareness programs.
Discriminations can be carried on only when there is a morally justified reason to do so. For
example exempting the poor people from paying taxes is justified as they are devoid of all the
opportunities of education and employment. Thus in order to safeguard the interests of the
Pacific Islanders-
 The organization has to strengthen its code of ethics and also arrange for cross-cultural
competency training. This will be helping the officials to understand the importance of
embracing cultural differences.
 PTI must collaborate with Government and other funding agencies in order to get a
sufficient amount of capital funds. The donations available from all the sources will be
very helpful for uplifting the standards of living of the Pacific Islanders.
 Free schooling and on job training facilities must also be conducted so that the Pacific
Islanders are able to get the proper training to overcome the issues of discrimination and
get a good and raised standard of living.
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that pacific islanders are still under the clutches of injustice and
discrimination. Thus it is the responsibility of the Government to make sure that they are not

11GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
only implementing the laws for protecting the rights of the Pacific Islanders but are also
undertaking a timely evaluation of those methods.

12GOVERNANCE AND BUSINESS ETHICS
References
Burton, E., Goldsmith, J., Koenig, S., Kuipers, B., Mattei, N. and Walsh, T., 2017. Ethical
considerations in artificial intelligence courses. AI magazine, 38(2), pp.22-34.
Chen, D.L. and Schonger, M., 2019. Social preferences or sacred values? theory and evidence of
deontological motivations.
Davy, D., 2019. Professional Communication and Network Interaction: A Rhetorical and Ethical
Approach.
Fok, L.Y., Payne, D.M. and Corey, C.M., 2016. Cultural values, utilitarian orientation, and
ethical decision making: A comparison of US and Puerto Rican professionals. Journal of
Business Ethics, 134(2), pp.263-279.
Garcia, G.M., David, E.J.R. and Mapaye, J.C., 2018. Internalized racial oppression as a
moderator of the relationship between experiences of racial discrimination and mental distress
among Asians and Pacific Islanders. Asian American Journal of Psychology.
Globaleducation.edu.au. 2019. www.globaleducation.edu.au. [online] Available at:
https://www.globaleducation.edu.au/case-studies/australian-pacific-islanders.html [Accessed 27
May 2019].
Handy, F. and Russell, A.R., 2018. Theoretical Foundations and Frameworks for Decision-
Making. In Ethics for Social Impact (pp. 45-62). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.