Analysis Business Ethics Of Dilemma Of Michael †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Analysis Business Ethics Of Dilemma Of Michael. Answer: Introduction Business ethics relates to the detailed study of right business practices and policies that are essential to take care of controversial issues like insider trading, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and many more. Business ethics plays an important role in every business. The ethics related to a business establishes a certain level of trust between the employees of an organization. This practice in a business ensures the fact that everyone receives similar and fair treatment. The business ethics of an organization helps in distinguishing between right and wrong that is done within an organization (Avakian and Roberts 2012). The aim of the business should fair dealing with everyone, the ethics should always be same for all employees working in any level in the organization, remedial measures should be taken if violation in ethics is detected, guidelines need to be provided regarding the business ethics, the perception of right and wrong should be the basis of the ethics (Brenkert and Beauchamp 2012). The importance of business ethics lies on many factors, Satisfying the needs of the employees and people related to the business. The ethics set by the business helps in creating its credibility among the employees. The correct utilization of the resources, that is, the employees of the organization is based on the business ethics. The decision making process of themanagement is effected and improved with the help of the business ethics. The organizations which have correct values and ethics prove to be profitable in the long term basis. The ethics of the business helps in safeguarding the interests of the employees in the organization and the society at large. About the case study The case study is about a person named Michael Vasquez who is working as the product manager in a technology start-up company. He loved his job and the risks and challenges related to it. However, on a certain afternoon his boss showed him some documents which he had obtained from the server of the companys competitor. The documents were confidential. Michaels boss tried to convince him by saying he had obtained these documents from a colleague and he had not breached any password. Michael is now in a dilemma whether to use these documents or not. He has do decide whether to use this information for his companys welfare or not (DesJardins and McCall 2014). Ethical issues in the case scenario The ethical issues related to this case study is, that the information that has been obtained by Michaels boss is totally confidential to the other organization. The usage of this information for the profit of Michaels company is not right at all. This can provide a lot of gain to the company, but the way in which this profit is gained, is unethical. This proves that the company does not have the potential to work on its own strengths. The company is using the confidential information of another company to generate their own profits (Hartman, DesJardins and MacDonald 2014). Actions to be taken by Michael based on two ethical theories The two ethical theories based on which Michael can take an action about the scenario are Utilitarianism and Justice. The theory of utilitarianism states that any actions taken by an individual is decided to be right or wrong on the basis of the consequences of these actions and the effects that they have on the bulk of people related to a business. Michael can use this approach to take his decision because with the help of this he can judge that whether the decision of using the confidential data of another company will have a negative impact on the reputation of his company and this in turn will affect the people working in the organization. The organization will be affected negatively because of fraud and the employees of the organization will also suffer (Hoffman, Frederick and Schwartz 2014). The theory of Justice states the importance of the fairness level of the treatments given to each and every individual in the organization and to its competitors as well. The action taken by Michaels boss is highly unfair for the organization whose private data has been stolen. In this manner the company is trying to gain from the weakness of others rather than its own strengths. Judging the beliefs of the boss to be ethical or unethical Michaels boss has collected data related to pricing strategies, plans related to products, partnership agreements and many other documents. These documents and the information contained in them are always confidential to a particular company. Michaels boss aims to earn profits and develop the company based on the strategies and plans developed by its closest competitor. This proves that the company itself does not have the ability to form its own strategies and plans to generate profits for themselves (Jennings 2014). This step may help them to earn profits. This is not entirely illegal according to law, but it is highly unethical. The reputation of the company is at stake, because the leakage of this information can lead to a lot of problems for the company. This will affect the lives of the employees related to this business. Although, any type of information is not provided in the companys policies and procedures regarding the problem faced by Michael regarding unethical use of the information, the decision of using this information for the company profits is unethical. The use of this information will give Michaels company an edge over its competitor, however, this step will not be right for the long term goals of the company (Lawrence and Weber 2014). Michaels judgement to blow the whistle A whistle blower refers to that person or employee of an organization who informs other in the organization about any immoral, unethical or illegal practice, so that he can get the help of the majority to bring a change in the practice. Whistle blowing can be of two types. One is internal whistle blowing and the other is external whistle blowing. Internal whistle blowing refers to the process where the whistle blower informs only the employees of the organization about the unethical practice, so that they can together stop themanagement from taking such an action. In situations where the internal whistle blowers are subjected to punishment, the next step that is taken is external whistle blowing (Miceli, Near and Dworkin 2013). In this process the whistle blowers inform the government agencies and other external agencies like the press about the unethical practice in the organization, so that suitable measures can be taken. In this case Michael should blow the whistle internally, so that the unethical step that is about to be taken can be stopped within the organization itself. In this manner, the unethical practice will be stopped and the reputation of the organization will be saved as well. Factors leading to whistle blowing Whistle blowing is effected by the ethics and morals of an individual. The whistle blowers are those employees of the organization who have the capability to think about the welfare of the organization and also its reputation rather than only focussing on its profit generation. The mental strength and motivation to speak up against the organizational practices helps the employees to become whistle blowers. Whistle blowing in an organization requires a lot of courage so that the difficulties related to this task can be overcome. All organizations do not have policies to provide the facilities to the employees to give their feedback. The organizations which are intolerant to the feedback provided by the employees or the internal reporting done by them, deems the whistle blowers to be negative in character (Miceli et al. 2012). They are assumed to be bad team players and also traitors to the organization. Whistle blowing often leads to many negative consequences for the employees. These include gaining negative reputation and job loss. Whistle blowers are an important part of an organization. The organizations which have suitable policies to receive the feedback from the employees and to encourage the whistle blowers prove to be much more successful. The organizations should encourage the whistle blowing activities, so that any type unethical or illegal practices can be stopped (Weiss 2014). Circumstances which lead to whistle blowing Whistle blowing is seen as a debatable practice. According to some people this practice is never justified as the employees have obligations and commitment towards the organization. However, the most basic obligation of an employee should be that he should harm any other individual or any organization (Michaelson et al. 2014). The circumstances in which whistle blowing is justified are as follows, When a policy or a product of a particular organization can harm the society or any other organization. The circumstances when the employee thinks that the harm that is caused to the other individuals related to the organization is against his own morals. The situation in which the immediate senior of the employee does not take any action on the unethical or illegal practices in the organization. When the employee has evidence regarding the unethical practices going on in the organization. The employee has reasons to accept the fact that the step taken by him will have implications or changes in the organization. This will motivate the employee to take the risk of reporting against the unethical practice and bring a change in the organization (Stanwick and Stanwick 2013). The whistle blower can take the decision of reporting about the unethical or illegal practices going on in the organization under these circumstances and bring a change in the organizational policies. Relevance of ethics to a business with reference to the case study Ethics play an important role in the business. The values and morals of an individual affects his ethical decisions in the organization. Every business should have a set of policies and ethics so that every employee of the organization at every level gets fair treatment. The organization should also take fair decisions with respect to other organizations who are its competitors (Wachs 2017). The unethical practices of an organization has a negative impact on the reputation of the organization. Unethical practices can help in achieving short term goals, however, there is a negative impact on the organization in the long term. In this case, Michaels boss is urging him to take an unethical step by asking him to use the confidential information that he has collected from his sources for the profit of his business (Waytz, Dungan and Young 2013). However, this can provide only short term profits to the business. In the long term, the leakage of this news will hurt the reputation of the organization and will destroy the trust of the employees as well as the stakeholders and consumers on the organization. Conclusion The report can be concluded by saying that business ethics is an integral part of the business. Unethical decisions or practices can only lead to the negative impacts in the long term. The whistle blowers play an important role in stopping the unethical practices that are taken by themanagement of the organization. In this case, Michael can act as the whistle blower of the organization and bring a change in the business policies. References Avakian, S. and Roberts, J., 2012. Whistleblowers in organisations: prophets at work?.Journal of Business Ethics,110(1), pp.71-84. Brenkert, G.G. and Beauchamp, T.L. eds., 2012.The Oxford handbook of business ethics. Oxford University Press. DesJardins, J.R. and McCall, J.J., 2014.Contemporary issues in business ethics. Cengage Learning. 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