LSBM201 Report: Ethics, Sustainability, and Social Impact in Business

This report, addressing the LSBM201 module on Ethics, Sustainability, and Social Impact, delves into the ethical dimensions of information technology and international business. Task A examines ethics in IT, exploring issues like unrestricted access to digital communications, data privacy, and the digital divide, alongside relevant ethical principles. Task B focuses on ethical issues in international business, identifying key principles like honesty, respect, accountability, and law-abiding behavior. The report analyzes two research reports, evaluating their methodologies and key findings, and draws conclusions based on the ethical frameworks discussed. The report provides a comprehensive overview of ethical considerations in the modern business landscape, emphasizing the importance of responsible practices and their impact on society.

Ethics Sustainability
and Social Impact

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK A: Ethics in information technology....................................................................................3
1. Should law enforcement agencies be allowed unrestricted access to such complete and
intrusive information on people’s lives?.....................................................................................3
2. What would be the worst-case scenario you could personally imagine in regard to
unrestricted access to the digital communications of the general population?...........................4
3. Should we afford data stored in private email accounts as much protection as letters in a
locked desk drawer, that is, stored where law enforcement agencies would otherwise need a
warrant to access and review the documents?.............................................................................4
4. Describe which ethical principles are most relevant to information technology. Support
each of them with an example in relation to IT..........................................................................4
5. What are the arguments as to why closing the digital divide is important?............................5
TASK B: Ethical issues in international business ...........................................................................6
1. With examples, identify which ethical principles are most relevant to international business.
.....................................................................................................................................................6
Research report 1.........................................................................................................................6
Research report 2.........................................................................................................................7
4. Are there any common observations to be made from both reports?.....................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Information technology is mainly the use of computers in order to store, transmit, retrieve
and also manipulate the information and data. Information technology is the subset of the
information and communication technology. Digital communication is a part of IT which mainly
involves the efforts of online communication in the organisation. The companies use wide range
of channels on online basis which includes websites, blogs, mobile chat in order connect with the
prospective and current customers., stakeholders and employees (Miller and Taddeo, 2020).
However, there are many ethical challenges which is being faced by the companies in terms of
use of information technology which includes uncertainty in level of consent, difficulty in
maintaining the confidentiality and many other. This report shall cover ethics in information
technology and ethical issues in the international business.
TASK A: Ethics in information technology
1. Should law enforcement agencies be allowed unrestricted access to such complete and
intrusive information on people’s lives?
The nature and the depth of the internet surveillance have been revealed to be different
from what was been previously acknowledged publicly. Privacy is portrayed as the individual
right in opponent to the collective need for the security. Data surveillance and gathering have an
impact not only on privacy of the people but also impacts broad spectrum of rights which
includes freedom of expression, prohibition of the discrimination and many other. Governmental
data and commercial data gathering are treated as the different and separate aspect rather than
the intrinsically and inextricably linked. There must be systematic access by the government
which includes direct access by the government without any interaction or mediation of third
party. For instance, in UK, the government agencies have made 500000 request for the telephony
metadata in just one year (Phukan, 2020). The government have the right to get unrestricted
access to the data and information of the people, in case there is threat to national security. The
data protection laws gives access to the regulatory or law enforcement agencies for the purpose
of national security as they are considered as the authorised access under many different law
which may or may not provide any adequate safeguard against the possible abuses. Moreover,
when it comes to the data protection, the access for the national security is regulated more
sparingly than the access for the law enforcement purpose. So unrestricted access given for

national security purpose is valid but for law enforcement purpose, it must be denied as there is
right to privacy of the individual prevailing than any other law.
2. What would be the worst-case scenario you could personally imagine in regard to unrestricted
access to the digital communications of the general population?
Digital communication is referred to as the exchange of the data which transmit the data
in the digital form. It provides seamless experience to the people and eliminate the need to
interact face to face which may be time consuming. If there is unrestricted access to the digital
communication, there shall be infringement of right to privacy of the individual. If any authority
or organisation needs access to the digital communication any any person, the most essential
thing is to take consent of the concerned person. Unrestricted access shall open the sphere for the
criminals to commit fraudulent or criminal activities may lead to violation of right to privacy of
the general population. The worst case scenario could be that there may be rise in fraudulent
activity where the people's privacy will be infringed in authorised manner and may lead to
commission of cyber crimes like hacking, phishing and many other (Foley, 2020).
3. Should we afford data stored in private email accounts as much protection as letters in a
locked desk drawer, that is, stored where law enforcement agencies would otherwise need
a warrant to access and review the documents?
Storing data in the private email account and storing data in the locked desk drawer have
their requisite level of protection. Both are safe in storing the data but there may be
consequences when the data which is stored in the private email account gets hacked. This may
lead to loss of data but on other hand, if the data is stored in locked desk drawer, there is no such
situation as the locked drawer does not have any unauthorised access in the physical form. But
when the law enforcement agency needs to have access to it, it is mandatory that it brings
warrant to review and access the document. This will increase their privacy to review the data as
compared to private email account as the law enforcement agencies have unrestricted access to
the digital communication which may lead to violation of right to privacy.
4. Describe which ethical principles are most relevant to information technology. Support each
of them with an example in relation to IT.
There are many ethical principles relevant to the information technology which are
discussed below-

 Privacy- The use of information technology must respect and promote the privacy of the
other person so that a confidentiality is maintained and there is no unauthorised access to
to any person's digital communication means. For instance, there must not be
unauthorised access to any person's information which will violate the privacy it. Like
hacking. Code of ethics- Another ethical principle is to implement the code of ethic in the policies
so that ethical responsibilities is highlighted in using the information technology. For
example, the banks must have the code of ethics for using the IT so that there is no
unlawful activity being committed at the workplace like phishing or fraud. Prevention of unlawful activity- The user must not misuse the information technology
resources or system where the ethical principle states that there must not be unlawful use
of the IT system in order to commit the illegal activities like fraud.
 Consent- The next ethical principle is to use the data of other person with the consent of
the concerned individual. The user must not make any unauthorised access to the data or
information of other without the consent of the other. For example, the organisation must
take consent of the customers or employees before their information to third party (Price,
2020).
5. What are the arguments as to why closing the digital divide is important?
Digital divide is the gap between the people who are able to get benefit from digital age
and the people who do not. It is important to close the digital divide with an aim to provide
meaningful access to the internet infrastructure, services and applications. As the part of UN
Sustainable development goals, the world leaders have been committed to strive for the universal
and the affordable access to internet in developed countries and also to ensure that the men and
women get equal access to the basic service such as technology by the year 2030. internet is the
most vital tool in today's era where people have relied on internet in order to connect with each
other, obtain necessary information and for other. The importance of closing the digital divide is
that it helps in lessening the digital inequality as it is also the uphill struggle of fighting against
the social and digital inequalities. The digital divide has also helps in increasing the digital media
as closing the gap of digital divide which increase access of internet to all so that all can utilise
the technology and become sustainable in the country. Furthermore, the digital inequality also

give rise to the social inequalities which is harmful for the people to sustain in the technology era
(Bowie, 2019).
TASK B: Ethical issues in international business
1. With examples, identify which ethical principles are most relevant to international business.
The ethical values which are translated into the active language establishes the rules or
standards which describe the behaviour which the ethical person must possess or do not possess.
These are the ethical principles. In context to international business, the principles of ethics
which are very much relevant are narrated below- Honesty- The business executives working in international business should be truthful
and honest in their dealings so that they do mislead or deliberately deceive the other
person by means of misrepresentation, partial truths and many other. For instance, the
business must not cheat any other business or individual while making any dealings and
work with full honesty. Respect for others- The business executives must demonstrate respect for human dignity,
privacy, interest, rights and autonomy for the people who have stake in decisions. There
must not be discrimination on any grounds like sex, race or nationality. For example, the
executives must respect the opinion and ideas of the other local employees as well so that
they do not feel discrimination in the workplace. Accountability- The business must take accept and acknowledge the personal
accountability of the decisions or the omissions taken by themselves or their colleagues
so that they work ethically for the success and growth of the company. For instance, the
business must be accountable for the action of its business and employees.
 Law abiding- The business working internationally must follow the laws and rule of the
nation where the business activities are being conducted so that they do not face any legal
consequences. For example, the bushiness must abide by the local laws of the nation so
that there is no harm being caused to its brand image and business (Zanotti, 2018).
Research report 1
What were the research methods and were they sound?
Under this report, the researcher have used both primary and secondary means of data
collection. Under secondary research, the researcher have used opinion of experts from the

University of Sheffield, bath and the Royal Holloway, University of London. And under primary
research, the researcher have used interview as the means to collect the data by conducting
interview of more than 135 business leasers, NGOs, leaders, government agencies and the union.
The methods to collect the information is very sound as researcher have used viewpoint
of experts and also conducted interview where it have face to face interactions in order to
understand the emotions and reasons behind their information. These methods have widen their
scope to draw relevant and valid conclusions from the findings in order to achieve the objectives
of business (Jackson and Reboulet, 2019).
What are the key messages?
The research provides following messages-
 The suppliers cheat the social audits so that they can retain the business by stating the
reason that the ethical certification system is costly and adds very little value to it.
 The Tamil Nadu have uncovered considerable evidence which shows that it has taken
initiatives to make some improvements in the working conditions but they failed to
eradicate the labour exploitations.
 The researcher have found the main cause of the optimism at the bottom of supply chain
who are coming up with strategies to eradicate the exploitation which do not rely on the
audits.
Research report 2
What were the research methods and were they sound?
The report undertakes primary and secondary research. The primary researcher is
conducted through interview by different organisations. For instance, a company conducted the
interview where workers were interviewed regarding their recruitment fees, or foreign migrant
workers were interviewed to understand the working conditions and violations which were faced
by them and many other. Secondary research was conducted were different reports of the
company were considered to draw valid conclusions. The research methods were sounds as they
cover all area to draw relevant conclusion from the research (Franke, 2019).
What are the key messages?
 As per the findings, there are many companies who have implemented the policies but
there is a significant gap which still remains between the disclosure of the policies and its
implementation.

 The companies pursue the audit driven approach but at the same time neglect many areas
like recruitment, worker voice which mainly puts impact on the lives of workers.
 The companies must engage in purchasing practices which will enable the suppliers to
pay the high wages to the workers and also the practices of forecasting and the lead times
does not result in putting pressure on the workers to work for excessive hours. But the
benchmarking results doe not allow the companies to disclose their purchasing practices.
4. Are there any common observations to be made from both reports?
Both the report have one similarity that the research conducted under both reports are
regarding the working conditions of the workers and its strategies as to how it can be further
improved in the future.
CONCLUSION
From this above report, it is concluded that ethics and sustainability plays a vital role in
all the companies and even in the normal life. The ethics and information technology covers a
vast expansion as all the companies uses technology and digital communication but the ethical
principles help in preventing the cyber crimes. Furthermore, it is also analysed that ethical
principles relating to international business includes honesty, respect, accountability and many
more. This implies that all the business must work with proper honesty and there shall not be any
unlawful activity being committed like fraud in the business so that the goodwill can be
protected.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Miller, K.W. and Taddeo, M. eds., 2020. The ethics of information technologies. Routledge.
Phukan, S., 2020. Ethics in Information Systems: A Framework for Evaluation. Journal of
Information Systems Education. 7(2). p.1.
Foley, J.P., 2020. Ethics in Internet. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 32(1/2). pp.179-192.
Price, M.S., 2020. Internet privacy, technology, and personal information. Ethics and
Information Technology. 22(2). pp.163-173.
Zanotti, L., 2018. Ontological entanglements, agency and ethics in international relations:
exploring the crossroads. Routledge.
Jackson, R.A. and Reboulet, A.M., 2019. Nietzsche's Constructions of Power: Implications for
International Business Ethics. International Journal of Responsible Leadership and
Ethical Decision-Making (IJRLEDM). 1(2). pp.27-43.
Franke, M.F., 2019. The patronising Kantianisms of hospitality ethics in International Relations:
Towards a politics of imposition. Journal of International Political Theory,
p.1755088219869362.
Bowie, N.E., 2019. International business as a possible civilizing force in a cosmopolitan
world. Journal of Business Ethics. 155(4). pp.941-950.