HC2121 Comparative Business Ethics & Google's Social Responsibility

This essay delves into the ethical issues and social responsibility challenges faced by Google, as highlighted in a recent news article concerning employee concerns over ethical decision-making processes within the company. The analysis includes a discussion of relevant moral philosophies such as teleology, egoism, utilitarianism, deontology, relativism, virtue ethics, and justice, and their application to Google's situation. The essay also explores the legal implications and key ethical concerns arising from Google's development of a censored search engine for the Chinese market, emphasizing the importance of transparency and ethical considerations in corporate decision-making. The author provides a personal opinion on the ethical practices within Google, advocating for greater employee involvement and transparency in projects that carry significant ethical implications. The essay concludes by stressing the need for companies to align their actions with core values and consider the impact of their decisions on stakeholders.

Running head: COMPARATIVE BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Comparative Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The concept of moral philosophy is the rational study of the justification and the meaning
of the claims regarding the morale(Medeiros et al. 2017).It is basically the evaluation of the
rightness and the wrongness regarding the moral claim. Apart from all other moral philosophies
this particular study focuses on the application of the application of moral philosophy towards
the study of business ethics (Teulon 2014). The study of the moral philosophy includes the study
of the value and the moral judgments or the value on the process of the decision. The application
of the moral philosophy to the ethics of the business in the scenario of the global market place is
certain difficult to comprehend. The essay focuses on the ethical issues portrayed in ‘Over 1,400
Googlers signed a letter to the top execs demanding a say on ethical issues - read the letter
here.’, the article related to a business organization.
Main Body/ Discussion
The concept of moral philosophy includes multiple perspectives regarding the notion of
goodness. According to the perception of Aristotle and his arguments, happiness is an
intrinsically good end and the goodness of the happiness is natural and universal in nature
without the concept of any relativity (Rawwas et al. 2018). The philosopher Immanuel Kant
argued that the concept of good will that is seriously applicable towards the accomplishments is
the one particular thing that is good in itself. The concept of the instrumental and the intrinsic
goodness is one of a thing which is included in the context of the moral philosophy.Some of the
noted factors that is used in the business decisions includes the concept of teleology, the egoism ,
the utilitarianism, the deontology, the relativist, the virtue ethics and the concept of justice
(Ferrell and Fraedrich 2015).The assignment highlights the ethical issues in the business arising

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in the eminent organization, Google regarding the views and the perception of the employees
working on it. The article explains how the organization uses the strategy of signing of the forms
or the letters by the employees demanding their says over their concept or their experience of the
organizational or the ethical issue related to the business.The article highlights how Google
planned to build a search engine that censored the information without the concern of its
employees in the previous state. The organization planned on developing the search engine in
compliance with the government of china and for the improvement and expansion of their system
of operation there.
Background
Teleology refers to the concept of the moral philosophies where the act is considered to
be morally acceptable in case of desired results like pleasure, carrier growth, knowledge,
realization of self interests, wealthy, utility and fame. The philosophies of the teleology tend to
assess the moral worth of thee behavior by identifying the consequences. The theories by the
concept of teleology are generally termed as the consequentialism.Furthermore, the concept of
egoism defines the correct or the acceptable behavior for the individual (Alfano, Loeb and
Plakias 2018). According to the insight of the egoistsdecisions should be made for the
maximization of the self interest. Just like the theory of egoism, the theory of utilitarianism is
generally included with some of the consequences. The theory seeks the greatest good for the
major number of people.
Legal Implications
In the scenario of the moral philosophies related to the business ethics, the notion of the
legal implications includes the Justice. Justice is basically the fair treatment in accordance and

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justification with the legal and the ethical standards in case of the business platform. This
furthermore includes the disposition of the deal together with the perceived injustice with the
others in the business market (Medeiros et al. 2017). The three basic types of justice that is
applicable for the development of the framework for the evaluation of the multiple situations
arising in the business platform are the Distributive justice; which is dependable on the
evaluation of the outcomes of the business leadership. The procedural justice; which is based on
the activities and the procedures producing the results and the interactional Justice that is based
on the relationships and the treatments of other. In the chosen article, the legal issues and the
ethical issues arising among the organization Google encircles around the development of a new
search engine by the company on the request of the Chinese government. This is one of the legal
issues since the organization is not taking permission from the government of the other countries
before activating the features of the censoring of the information and the search tracks of the
public. According a close source, Google has asked only a handful number of employees for
signing the letter previously which challenges the ethical dilemma of the employees of the other
organization.
Key Ethical Issues
The concept of the virtue ethics argues the ethical behavior including the conventional
standards of the moral together with the judgment and the analysis of the character of individual
towards the decision making in the appropriate situation. The virtue ethics summed up with the
approach to the business platform can be furthermore summarized as follows. These includes
good corporate ethics programs that encourages the virtue and the integrity of the individual,
acquiring the virtues from a good person, clearing the fact and the purpose of the individual for
serving the demand of the society and the public good for the reward of his career. The key

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ethical issues concerning the organization, Google is the need for more transparency and the
commitment towards clear and open procedure. The decision towards the introduction of the new
search engine together with the censorship of the data has without the permission and the
concern of the other national governments and the employees form the other countries has been
one of the major ethical issues highlighted in the article chosen. The Chinese government found
certain of the data objectionable and the decision of the company to act according to the Chinese
government just to initiate the expansion of their business in china, is a major ethical issue.
Personal Opinion
In the chosen media article for analysis regarding the signing of the letters of the google
employees to the top excess demands on the issues relating to ethics, this letter which is
circulating among the employees is a vivid example of the ethical structure and review including
the representation of the workers according to their ranks (SANDOVAL 2018). In my personal
opinion, I believe this in one of the best ethical practices by the organization. The structure of the
letter which needs to be duly signed by each and every employees of google as per the rules of
the organization provides enough transparency for enabling the worker towards the
determination of the projects and the works they have contributed in the organization are synced
with the terms and standards of the corporate ethics of the business or not. The letter furthermore
offered a code yellow for reporting any of the serious situations which bears rapid attention.
Individuals tend to use multiple categories of moral philosophies that depends on the
personal decisions or the decision is related to the work. Some of the basic personal opinion
towards the critical review of the article includes explanation of the behavior towards the moral
philosophies in the context of the ethical behaviors in the platform of business. In some of the

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arena of the business, the pressures and the goals for the success tends to differ a lot from the
personal goals and the targets (Carroll and Buchholtz 2014). The various multiple factors
contributing to the moral philosophy of a person tends to weight differently in the business
situation.Furthermore, the very reason the individuals or the people changes their moral
philosophies is due to the corporate culture they work in.The concept of the moral philosophy is
inexact. According to the psychologist Kohlberg there lies a six stage model of cognitive
development in the context of the implication of moral philosophy in the business ethical
platform (Orlitzky 2017). Thus according to my personal opinion, I feel each and every
employees of the Google has the right to know regrading the development of the search engine
and the organization must take the acknowledgement of all of the employees before their
operation.
Conclusion
The study of the moral philosophy includes the study of the value and the moral
judgments or the value on the process of the decision. The application of the moral philosophy to
the ethics of the business in the scenario of the global market place is certain difficult to
comprehend. In some of the arena of the business, the pressures and the goals for the success
tends to differ a lot from the personal goals and the targets. It can be concluded that in some of
the scenarios, the company tends to make questionable decisions from the perspective of the
values and the moral philosophies of the individual customers. It is the core values of the
organization that determines the decision-makingprocedure in which the concept of the moral
philosophies is in major conflict. Most of the business forms in the current era thus have

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developed the mission and the corporate culture for the effective expression how they can relate
their ethical decisions to the customers, the employers and the existing stakeholders.
References
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Carroll, A. and Buchholtz, A., 2014. Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder
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Ferrell, O.C. and Fraedrich, J., 2015. Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson
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Medeiros, K.E., Watts, L.L., Mulhearn, T.J., Steele, L.M., Mumford, M.D. and Connelly, S.,
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SANDOVAL, G. (2018). Over 1,400 Googlers signed a letter to the top execs demanding a say
on ethical issues - read the letter here. [online] Business Insider. Available at:
https://www.businessinsider.in/Over-1400-Googlers-signed-a-letter-to-the-top-execs-demanding-
a-say-on-ethical-issues-read-the-letter-here/articleshow/65432113.cms [Accessed 29 Sep. 2018].
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