Case Study

15 men were selected and placed into 5 different groups of similar personalities; one from each group became guards and the rest prisoners thus resulting in two groups of similar psychological profiles. Physiological data and questionnaires were collected daily as a means of monitoring any change in psychological state. On day one participants were informed of the possibility of a promotion, this prevented the prisoners identifying as a group as the reward of personal gain was much higher (Bbcprisonstudy.org, 2014). Having said that, once the decision was made the prisoners conformed to their role and united as a group and formed an alliance against the guards. Although the prisoners formed a group the guards failed to conform to their roles as they considered how they may be viewed by people in the outside world, this caused internal conflict and drove them further apart. The experiment was ended prematurely on the 9th day as the guards began to experience

Mark volunteered to help with the community arts festival; he was supporting the not-for-profit organization as he had in the past. However, he did not know his good intentions as a volunteer would cost him his job as an assistant manager. The retail store’s phone number was printed in the festival advertising in error and ticket requests overloaded the phone lines, causing loss of business and annoyed the store manager. As a result, Mark was seen as the cause of the problems and terminated.

That nature of cooperation is applicable to various environments. In most cases, suspects may tend to apply the technique to avoid convictions. Convictions in this case would be the consequences of lies. Those who perfect the act of lying may be an exception using this criterion (Lloyd-Hudges

Life is all about making decisions. Every day we are faced with situations that lead us to making decisions. At times those decisions might be wrong, sometimes right. When facing a dilemma it’s easy to make a decision, but it’s even more difficult to make a right and ethical decision. Any person can make a decision, but they won’t always make the right decision. Decision making gets tougher when it comes to making the right and ethical decision, especially when it comes to the business world because your decision will no longer affect you, but it would also affect others. Therefore, you must always be aware of your decisions making. Due to unethical decisions,

For the purpose of this discussion, I will discuss situations like the prisoner dilemma, in which rational self-interested people all do worse by independently pursuing self-interest. The prisoner’s dilemma refers to a conflict in doing what is best for one’s own interest over what is in the best interest of the group; therefore, doing what is needed to receive the least amount of jail time for oneself. In the end, each of the prisoners does better by failing to cooperate, but not as good if they had just cooperated with their agreement between each other and stayed silent. This type of dilemma happens throughout all of society between individuals, groups, companies, and countries.

In the matrix, Alice and Bob are playing a game that is played separately and confidential, and are given the choice the cooperate with the police or defect. The prisoner’s dilemma demands that personal interest is more appealing. No matter what the other person says in the interrogation room, both players are better off confessing rather than saying silent. But the problem here is, if both Alice and Bob confess then they will be faced with a much harsher sentence than if either Alice or Bob cooperate or defect. As Scheve writes, “game theorists have determined that confessing is always the answer for both parties in this case. The reason for this is that each party must assume that the

In June 2011, I was home in California for a few weeks before returning to Washington for my senior year of college. While I was home for only a short time, I was thankful I was able to see my friend John*. John was a man living with schizophrenia, and while he had family in the area he lived on the streets, coming and going around several different cities. Because of this it was never a guarantee I would run into him, but you could usually find him if you knew where to look. I first met John in 2008 outside a local grocery store, one of the places he would often hang out. We struck up a conversation, and eventually a friendship. We would talk on the good days, and on the hard days when he was agitated I would simply keep him company for a

The business world is where most people work during their lives to make a living for themselves. Those same businesses run on a thin line of being ethical or crossing that line and ending up splayed on the front page of the next day’s news. During the first two chapters of Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases, it is discussed that business may allow themselves to slip into being unethical, and pay the price for a greater reward. Ron Carucci, a writer for Forbes.com states in his article, “Will Your Ethics Hold Up Under Pressure”, that “Helping businesses to perform just a little better, just a little more ethically, is arguably the most important project humanity can undertake.” Having ethics in business does aid a company in

Like player one, player two would benefit most if he or she chose the strategy of defection. Similar to the situation in question a, the maximum and minimum reward of defection outweighs the benefits of cooperation. If player two, like player one, were to choose cooperation, and element of trust must be present if the goal was to yield the maximum three points. It is human nature to be cautious and therefore, without any communication or social bond, there is no reason to trust the other player. Ultimately, a strategy of defection is the most practical and rewarding approach to pursue.

Game Trees, as mentioned earlier, are very useful in determining what outcomes are most likely to occur, in other words, the most rational and logical decision. For example, Poundstone describes a dilemma between a thief trying to sell a priceless item and a questionable man with few scruples. The scenario is a perfect example of the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” and can be analyzed using a Game Tree. The most logical decision for both parties is to cheat, or choose Traitor. Yet this decision undermines the common good of mutual cooperation which benefits both parties. Logic then is what blocks the best outcome, simply because the most rational decision is to cheat and defect. The trend in such situations, much like a business transaction or in policy

Game Trees, as mentioned earlier, are very useful in determining what outcomes are most likely to occur, in other words, the most rational and logical decision. For example, Poundstone describes a dilemma between a thief trying to sell a priceless item and a questionable man with few scruples. The scenario is a perfect example of the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” and can be analyzed using a Game Tree. The most logical decision for both parties is to cheat, or select Traitor. Yet this decision undermines the “common good” of mutual cooperation which benefits both parties. Logic is what blocks the best outcome, simply due to the fact that rationality dictates a prime strategy of cheating and defection. The trend in such situations, similar to a business

Many businesses, such as Company Q, are faced with ethical decisions every day. And many of these ethical situations can conflict with the overall profit margin of a company. In three distinct area Company Q has made ethical choices, electing to put the company first, and its customers and community second. In our scenario Company Q has made three ethical decisions that have directly affected the company, employees with the company, the community in which Company Q does business, and to the needy people that count on companies such as Company Q.

This concept has shown prominence through every stage of business evolution and has still remained as an essential factor that every business in the modern generation strives to achieve. Profit not only shows a company’s efficient performance, but it also dictates how the company will be accepted within a society. This is supported by Friedman (1962, pp.23), as he mentions that ethical compromises can be made to achieve greater goals. Since the most fundamental goal of every business organisation is to earn profits and succeed amongst their competitors, it can be agreed that companies would be willing to sacrifice a certain amount of ethical decision making. The opportunity cost in this case is preferable for the people that would want to give up a portion of their ethical mindset to earn a larger profit share for their own selfish career oriented desires. (Lincoln, Pressley, & Little, 1982, pp.476).

Ethics basically deals with what is right versus what is wrong. As human beings we face the task of making ethical decisions every day. Some decisions are easier than others to make; however, it is important to make the right decision because every decision has consequences good or bad. The bible tells us in Proverbs 21:2-3 that, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts. To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice” (NIV). Our individual ethical beliefs affects how we behave and treat one another. When we are in a setting in which decisions are made by more than one person, our individual ethical beliefs and greed can have a big impact on the decisions that we make as a group. According to Rae, “Ethics are important because they give direction to people and societies who have some sense that they cannot flourish without being moral” (2009). In this paper I will discuss the importance of ethics in the following fields: business, medicine, and politics. While these three fields have some common ground, they also have separate ethical guidelines. In recent years the business field has been hit the hardest with new ethical guidelines.

In business we must evaluate decisions along ethical lines and we must recognize that, for the long-term benefit of society, we cannot always make these decisions based simply upon a profit motive. The following case exemplifies the complexities inherent in business decisions. The case examined addresses whether it is worth doing something ethically questionable for the sake of a justified end.