Case Study Analysis: Ethical Dilemmas in KSoft's Expansion

This case study examines the ethical dilemmas encountered by KSoft, a software solution provider, during its expansion into a new country. The scenario involves Shawn, an employee tasked with securing government approvals, facing pressure from his manager, Ian, to expedite the process. Shawn encounters obstacles and is subtly encouraged to engage in bribery to overcome bureaucratic hurdles. The analysis delves into the roles of internal and external stakeholders, the impact of ethical and unethical practices, and the relevance of moral standards and ethical culture within the organization. The case study explores the application of codes of ethics and legal frameworks in the context of business expansion and the importance of adhering to ethical principles. The report concludes by emphasizing the significance of ethics in maintaining a company's reputation and fostering a positive work environment, while also highlighting the consequences of unethical behavior.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Ethics play an important role in every organization as it helps in creating good
environment in the company. Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards
of behaviour that are expected by professional. In the company everyone has to work in
systematic manner and they have to follow rules and regulations which are made by the
company.
MAIN BODY
Internal stakeholders are the people who are having interest in the company , they want to
invest in the company and what to come in direct relationship such as, employment, ownership
or investment. External stakeholders can be defined as persons who are not directly related with
the company and they have less interest in the working of the company. These stakeholders are
not affected by any action that is taken by the organization. External stakeholders in the case can
be government authorities. Internal stakeholders in this case study are shown, manager of the
company .
Ethics play ca crucial role in the company because it helps in satisfying employees and create a
good environment in the organization. All the employees should behave properly in the company
and they should work efficiently so that goals and objectives of the company are achieved. In the
case study KSoft , a software solution provider wants to expand its business and what to open
new office in other countries (Akcamete, Kayhan & Yildirim (2017)).
The company wants to apply expansion strategy so that they can earn profit and satisfy more
customers. A new person is hired in the company i.e., Shawn who is familiar with the culture of
the country in which they want to open their new office. In this case Shawn faces many problems
while working in the company, due to unforeseen circumstances, Sahwn is not able to obtain
permission from the local government authorities within the deadline. Lan who is the manager of
Shawn to permit approval process would take longer than anticipated because of policies made
by the government.
Lan is not pleased with the delay and stresses upon Shawn to do whatever they want to
accelerate the process because management in the headquarters was not happy with the
performance of the company as they are not working properly and the company was having slow
progress. The project was not working good so they have to take steps for the betterment of the
organization. After that Shawn calls Peter, his main government contact who works on
approving overseas organization permission and explain the situation (Ashraf, Hosseinnia &
Domsky (2017)).
They are affected as Peter calls Shawn to meet personally so they can sit together and
discuss this situation in detail. In their meeting, they will listen to Shawn and the idea
given by Peter . The suggestion given by Peter to Shawn is that to speed up the permit

approval process if he is paid a fee. Shawn was not satisfied with the idea given by Peter
and he was also not satisfied to give money to Peter. Lan further explains to Shawn that it
is the policy if the company to respect the culture in which they work. Shawn, backed by
lan's response, agrees and pays Peter the money. The permits get approved by the local
authorities and the first office opens quickly in the new destination. As the company want
to open its branch in new location or in new country and this impels teh company to
expand and acquire more locations to open their offices in their region. Shwan continue
to pay the money to local authorities so that he can get permission.
Moral standard can be define as the norms which we have in which types of actions are
included and which we believe to be morally accepted or unaccepted . Moral standards
deals with the matter which are seriously harmful or benefit human beings. In this case
study shawn can have the amount to petter as it is not wrong and the amount is also not
so high .
Ethical culture can be refer to as experiences , assumptions and expectations or manager
and employees regarding the organization , how it helps in preventing them from
behaving unethically and encourage them to behave properly in the company. In this case
study ethical culture can be seen as Shawn was not doing any illegal prcaticw or he want
to do everything in systematic manner and he follows proper procedure to handle the
situation or solve the problem.
Shawn takes permission from the local authorities and also contact Peter for
suggesting some ideas so that they can expand their business. As Shawn is having
knowledge about the other country in which the organization what to do their business
and he is ethically following all the rules and regulations that are important. The manager
of Shawn was agreed by the idea given by the peter as the money was not much and they
can afford it for expanding their business. The company has to take some steps so that
they can earn more profit and their will be beneficial for the organization as well as for
the employees (BELINOVA and et.al. (2017)).
In every organization the company has to make policies or plans for the betterment of the
company. They can make new plans which will help them in increasing profit and
managers can make plans to expand their business.
Code of ethics can be refer to as ethical behaviour, code of ethics sets forth values, ethical
principles and ethical standards to which professionals can be judged and employees can
work properly. Ethical behaviour should result from their personal commitment to engage
in ethical practice. In this case study shawn is following proper rules to ensure that
company should get benefits and they should expand their business by applying new
policies for expansion of the organization. In the case study Shawn did not take any step
without taking permission from the manager he didi not take any decision and he was not
satisfied in the end when Peter was asking for money. Shawn tried his best to take
permission from the local government authorities so that they agree to give permission
and this will be beneficial for the company. This will save money of the organization as

they do nota have to pay amount to Peter and they can easily expand their business in
another country and generate more revenue.
Legal framework can be defined as a set of documents in which it includes the
constitution, legislation , regulations and contracts. These documents related to one
another, which has more force than the other. When legal framework is applied then it
will help in satisfying employees because they are safe and they get helath environment
for doing their work. In this case study Shawn is following proper rules and he is also
applying ethical standards. So every organization has to make ethical standard and they
should give instructions to employees to follow rules so that environment of the company
remains good and everyone like to work in the company (Kruijtbosch and et.al. (2019)).
CONCLUSION
From the report it can be concluded that, ethics play a crucial role in every company
because it helps in building good reputation in the market and employees are also
satisfied and they will work efficiently to achieve goals and objectives of the company.
Ethical standards are also important because if there are no rules and policies then
employees will not follow any instruction and then the company will not able to achieve
goals and they will also not able to expand their business. So, they should try to make
giod ethical code of conduct for the smooth running of the company.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Akcamete, G., Kayhan, N., & Yildirim, A. E. S. (2017). Scale of professional ethics for
individuals working in the field of special education: validity and reliability study. Cypriot
Journal of Educational Sciences. 12(4). 202-217.
Ashraf, H., Hosseinnia, M., & Domsky, J. G. (2017). EFL teachers’ commitment to professional
ethics and their emotional intelligence: A relationship study. Cogent Education. 4(1). 1298188.
BELINOVA, N. V., BICHEVA, I. B., KOLESOVA, O. V., KHANOVA, T. G., &
KHIZHNAYA, A. V. (2017). Features of professional ethics formation of the future
teacher. Revista Espacios, 38(25).
Kruijtbosch, M., and et.al. (2019). Moral reasoning among Dutch community pharmacists:
testing the applicability of the Australian Professional Ethics in Pharmacy test. International
journal of clinical pharmacy. 41(5). 1323-1331.