Current Ethical Issue in Business
Big Ben or Big Brother is an article that discusses a major aspect of today's ethical issues in the business world. This ethical issue has to do with invasion of privacy. Each year, the national members and affiliated organizations of Privacy International present the "Big Brother" awards to the government and private sector organizations which have done the most to threaten personal privacy in their countries. "Big Brother" awards are presented to the government agencies, companies and initiatives which have done most to invade personal privacy (Privacy International, n. d.). There are numerous amounts of countries that participate in the ceremonies for these awards, England being one of them.
In this
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Hours later he was battered to death. The cameras had not prevented his murder--but they did accelerate the killers' arrest (p.29). According to this author, "Britain has no laws on privacy also the British have a sometimes unhealthy belief in the state's wisdom" (p.29). Due to the reduction in crime, the city of Newham and the state of Britain have overwhelming support for extending the camera's gaze and the country thinks that "Big Brother is their best friend, for now" (p.29). This article is best described by the Utilitarianism theory, which is a goal-based ethical theory that is concerned more with the outcome rather than the intent. The politicians have-based their ideas on the "ultimate good, is the good of the overall society which may indeed require some individual sacrifice" (Adams, 2005 p.2) this sacrifice being privacy. If invading privacy will reduce crime, then the reduction in crime is worth all the criticism. "For the politicians, cost effective solutions have become more important than any hand-writing over privacy" (Underhill, 2000, p.29). The theory also undermines this article in reference to "the tyranny of the majority, in which the majority enjoys life while the minority suffers (Adams, 2005 p.2), because everyone's privacy is being invaded; the criminals as well as the law-abiding citizens. Everyone is treated the same. Is it right for the government to watch a person's every move? People might as well be in prison with
closing the stores they could have done community outreach or service projects to help lower the rate of crime. They could have led the establishment of a neighborhood crime watch. They could have set up a mentorship program for teens at risk. There are a multitude of programs they could have implemented, some could probably have been used as a tax write off. If all of these efforts failed then I understand closing the stores. If they had to close the stores they should have made every effort to be sure that the displaced employees were able to find a job in another store or assisted them in being placed in another job. They also need to make every attempt to keep the building they were using occupied or cleaned up until it is occupied. How do these actions contribute to being socially responsible? It shows they care about their community, that even though they may have to shut down a store, they still
In the brainwashed society of Oceania in 1984, by George Orwell, led by a totalitarian government in the name of a leader known as Big Brother, citizens are placed under constant surveillance from the government, preventing them from having individuality and freedom of thought. Although written in a fictional setting, the book strikes analogous similarities to the United States in today’s world. Due to a growth in surveillance, personal information and privacy are being intervened, however, not violated. While technological advances are increasing and crimes such as hacking and terrorism are becoming more prominent in society, government surveillance is becoming largely needed to ensure the protection
Orwell’s prediction of digital surveillance is one of the biggest issues that is discussed today as the increased amount of surveillance in countries, which creates a lack of privacy for the citizens. One scholar of George Orwell says, “Orwell say way ahead of his time that surveillance was a constant threat. When you’ve lost your privacy to a government that says it’s only thinking of your safety, you’ve lost something previous” (qtd. in Gelt 2). The novel starts out with the very well known quote of “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU,” (2). The concept of Big Brother is that the government is constantly watching over the people to make sure there is no attack on the Party and/or the Party’s interests. Big Brother uses resources such as surveillance helicopters (13) to peer into the rooms of the apartments
Therefore, Market West accepted the corporation stock as partial debt. Hooper and Yoder agreed to add Brian Bradley who worked for Market West as the third director. Hooper colluded with Bradley and violated a fiduciary duty to Yoder by issuing 95 shares of stock to himself, 5 shares to Bradley, and none to Yoder. Furthermore, Hooper got paid $141,000 salary from the business without Yoder knowing. More importantly, Hooper and Bradly voted to force Yoder to leave the corporation. After Yoder found out that Hooper broke their agreement, violated Yoder’s rights and duties, acted dishonestly, and made unethical decisions, Yoder sued Hooper and Beautiful Daydreams in the District Court. Under the common law, with these facts, the court supported Yoder and ordered Hooper to give back one-half of the salary plus one-half of the shares of stock to Yoder.
George Orwell wrote 1984, a novel suggested by the year 1984, the world could fall un-der the rule of a totalitarian regime that would monitor its’ citizens every move. Our “surveil-lance Society” threatens civil liberties in a way that mirrors Orwell’s fears. The recent profusion of surveillance techniques constitutes a threat to civil liberties.
To further validate my point, George Orwell wrote a book called 1984, which presents the reader with the concept of “Big Brother”. The book introduces “Big Brother” as a symbol of what government surveillance is like. Orwell, expresses his views on privacy by creating the concept of Big Brother which takes government surveillance to another level; in a negative sense. In the book, Big Brother is able to
Big Brother is watching (Orwell). The truth is that anyone reading this paper from the internet has the right to know that someone thousands of miles away could very well be watching (Orwell). On top of this shocking fact, a victim would never even know they were being watched. George Orwell knew what he was talking about when he wrote of a society in which all things are monitored by the government and an individual's right to privacy is breached for the sake of peace and safety. Some might even say America is such a society today. The citizens in the USA believe that their government is doing all in its power to protect them, but when do national security measures such as spying and monitoring become
2. Ethical Issues in Business. It seems that every day in the news we are hearing of new company that has acted at least unethically and possibly illegally in the operation and financial reporting of their company's business dealings. There are many ethical issues in business. One major issue that we see is over and under reporting net income. Companies like to show that every quarter the net income of the business has an increase or profit. In order to show this they adopt unethical or illegal means in the operation and financial reporting. One such method is the indiscriminate use of stock options for employees that enable companies to take employment costs off balance sheet and inflate earnings. With the recent ethical issues we have
To take away a man’s right to privacy is to take away his right to live. In the totalitarian government of the novel 1984 by George Orwell and the article “Personal privacy up for grabs” by C. Mitchell Shaw, there lies a sense of knowledge that constant watch does not signify safety or true freedom. Rather, both written pieces focus on the belief that a man without the freedom to act in private without observation is not a man at all--his existence is erased in the process. By analyzing the article “Personal privacy up for grabs” and the novel 1984 we can further grasp the importance and impact of the loss of privacy in society. The intimacies and secrets of life that we ourselves should have the right to determine whom to
Under the rule of Big Brother, it is no secret that “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell
an action can't be right if the people who are made happy by it are outnumbered by the people who are made unhappy by it.
A phrase very often seen throughout the book is ‘BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING’. Through the repetition of the statement, the audience is shown its importance and relevance in the civilization that Winston lives in. Posters are found just about everywhere in Oceania bearing this slogan. Big Brother’s reach extends through the thought police, the control over the disappearance of certain citizens, Telescreens, and the different ministries present in their society. Big Brother is the most prominent influence in this novel, controlling just about everything. This overseeing force of government sounds strikingly familiar to the government of today’s world. Everyday there are new inventions surfacing that sacrifice privacy in exchange for a safer environment. Similar to the Telescreens used by the thought police to watch citizens, facial recognition hardware is used in stores, airports, and by police worldwide to
Ethics and moral obligations are issues we all encounter at one time or another. In the professional setting, all people should act in a manner that would uphold the good of society. To be ethical, one has to determine their obligations, moral ideas, and moral philosophy (Boatright, p. 19, 2009). The case analysis involving Jacob Franklin was a perfect example of how an individual can face the dilemma of doing what is right or wrong. Businesses have their own code of ethics, and the employees within the business have to determine whether or not they will follow the company’s code of conduct. I will discuss several ethical issues in the case analysis including; failure to report information, remaining silent regarding faulty equipment,
From a recent increase in crime rates surveillance in public entities have increased. Many individuals argue that public surveillance is an invasion of privacy and feel uncomfortable with their every move being watched. Others believe without public surveillance, crime rates would be increased. In a country of over 300 million people surveillance is widely used to identify criminals. Since public surveillance reduces crime by 20 percent and protects over 300 million lives, it is not an abuse of power; in fact it balances the use of power.
Ethics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the principles correlated to human behavior concerning the rightness and wrongness of specific conduct, and to the good and bad that influences and ends those actions (Ditonary.com, 2011). In other words, ethics is the choice people effect in regards to a decision they need to achieve. Without ethics directing the choice an individual makes, moral preferences of what should or should not be done becomes irrelevant. While ethical decisions are made every day there are two different regions in which these choices are made.