In this case Jake Markos is the moral agent and is contemplating on whether or not he should embed spyware into the Diabetes Foundation website that allows his company, ALAC marketing, to collet email addresses and use them to market a product. Other moral agents presented in this case are Nathan Brook, Jake’s boss, Maia Herrick, Nathan’s assistant manager, and ALAC Marketing. In this case, ALAC is the least important moral agent because it possess vicarious moral sensitivity and responsiveness thus, if we examine the sensitivity and responsiveness of its individual employees we would understand ALAC’s position regarding Jake’s dilemma. This is also, in part, due to the fact that corporations employ highly organized holistic decision-making and although corporations are morally accountable it does not mean that individuals who are employed by the corporation are not also morally accountable.
The first question presented in the case is whether or not Jake should embed the spyware. If Jake decides to embed the spyware then he will be deceiving the Diabetes Foundation by making them believe that the survey does exactly what they want, when really it does more. Although, as stated in the book, the survey tool does not explicitly state that the donors’ anonymity will be protected, the ownership rights over confidential information of the Diabetes Foundation is protected by their right to informational privacy and since the survey is the property of the foundation so are the
Ethics is the guiding force in any respectable organization. With a moral compass, especially in the leadership of organization, a company can become compromised and fall into a quagmire of legal issues, a tarnished reputation, and devaluation of company stock if it is a publically traded company. In pursuit of examine my own ethical lens I will analyze the ethical traits of an admired leader, my own traits as exhibited in the Ethical Lens Inventory, and how I make a decision concerning a particular ethical dilemma.
The issue of ethical decision making has become more important in recent years for a variety of reasons. An understanding of ethical decision making in organizations is more significant to the development of organizational science. Managers engage in decision-making behavior affecting the lives and well-being of others. The individual responds to an ethical dilemma with cognitions determined by his or her cognitive moral development stage.
Company "privacy statements" and "End User License Agreements"(EULAs) also change the expectation of privacy in ways that may not be clear without extended reading [12]. In the case of a merger between DoubleClick and Abacus Direct, in which DoubleClick was acquiring Abacus Direct, what was considered a legal use of data for each company individually constituted a breach of privacy if combined [13]. As the expectation of privacy is based on public perception and understanding, continuing technological advancement and the precedents set by court rulings on cases involving privacy will alter these expectations in the
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,
The corporate world has an unfavorable view of itself by being selfish, evil, and against the average American. Companies market themselves and their products in certain ways that makes them and their products appealing to everyone and if not everyone then a certain group of people. Every company has a mission to follow and values to go by, but some companies lack ethics and morals. In this paper I am going to talk about one company that engages in ethical behavior and another that doesn’t.
A moral agent is the ability of an individual to make moral judgments based on certain actions whether they be right or wrong. For example, when Susan continues to feed Mr. Pence against his will causing him to toss and turn in his wheelchair, she is worsening his health to a new extent because when she does this she risks the aspiration of food into his lungs. Because of this, the doctors believe that there is no reason to allow her to continue to forcibly feed her husband. Next, is the course of action which is determining the best possible resolution which in this case would be for Susan to stop feeding her husband. The doctors are unsure of what to do and remain unanimous, but they do know that by her feeding him, she is risking his health each and every day she continues to do this.
It is important to highlight and explain how we intend deal with crucial issues of the anonymity and protection of our respondents. We aim to use the examples of best practices by ensuring confidentiality and protection. With regard to the anonymity, we intend to encrypt indefinable data (name, address, Email address, telephone no. etc.), using pseudonyms and acronyms, which cannot be directly or indirectly traced back to them. We also intend to put security codes for digital records or by limiting access to these data. Furthermore, we intend to ensure the confidentiality by ensuring whatever their responses (verbally or written) will be kept safe and will not be used against them or their
The case study that was analyzed is, “Unauthorized Disclosure: Hewlett-Packard’s secret Surveillance of Directors and Journalists,” by Anne T. Lawrence, Randal D. Harris, and Sally Baack. The ethical issues presented through the case deal with Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). HP is a major international company in the computer and technology market. The company describes itself as a “technology solutions provider to consumers, business and institutions globally.” Their credo is called “HP way”, which focuses on points such as trust and respect for individuals, high level of achievement and contribution, business conduct with uncompromising integrity, objectives through teamwork, and encouragement of flexibility and innovation (Newman). The problems faced by HP’s board of directors were a lack of accountability with HP’s credo. If the “HP way” was followed by them, these ethical issues would be avoided. It also promotes a bad example by the high-level of management of this globally powerful organization.
The assumption that ‘it’s easy to be ethical’ assumes that individuals automatically know that they are facing an ethical dilemma and that they should simply choose to do the right thing. But decision makers may not always recognize that they are facing a moral issue. Rarely do decisions come with waving red flags. Dennis Gioia was recall coordinator at Ford Motor
Ethical decisions are often complicated, involving numerous questions and consequences to consider. Ralph B. Potter’s “Potter Box”, is a tool to help make these choices, and includes four sections: definition, values, principles, and loyalties. Defining the situation, listing your values, laying out ethical principles, and distinguishing loyalties can help guide actions. Therefore here, using a case study regarding the recent YouTube advertising scandal as a guide, the four specific parts that make up the Potter Box well be explored, to showcase how this tool can help lead people in making ethical decisions.
By Kohlberg’s (1969) stages of cognitive moral development (SoCMD) cited in Crane and Matten (2010, p.154) Gabriel Resources, just like most businesses, operate at a conventional level which implies that employees are searching for guidance from superiors through various cues (Treviňo and Nelson 2007 cited in Crane and Matten, p.153) which further emphasizes the fact that the decision relies on the superiors of the organisation. Taking this into account, the author considers
In the moment when you have to make a decision is important to take into account moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation and moral character. The moral sensitivity means to recognise the moral issue and it is important because we should know how our behaviour can affect other and it can help us to identify the possible consequences of each action. In the Enron’s case, it seems that he created a huge magnitude of the damages after Kenneth and his executives took decisions, and they were even conscious about the damages that they could generate because of this, a real example can be when a lot of people lost big fortunes and savings and they could not get their pensions. This is a clear example of moral intensity which involves: the magnitude of the consequences social consensus, probability of effect, temporal immediacy, proximity, concentration of
Management constitute amongst major components of a company, organization or a business. As such, management oversees employees interactions with their supervisors and also control of people within a particular organization. Also, it includes critical and ethical decision-making process so as to address various ethical dilemmas experienced by employees while undertaking their respective assigned duties within the company. Ethical dilemmas are hereby to stay as issues usually arise now and then and place a variety of options that bear different repercussions. Therefore, it calls for ethical and critical decision-making skills so as to make the most appropriate option that bears more benefits in comparison to other options presented. While making ethical decisions, it 's substantially important to play heed to a certain ethical decision-making theory. This would enable an individual making the decision to ripe best possible consequences rather than living to regret. Moreover, ethical decision making is typically important in business as making a wrong decision may result not only in huge losses but also poor relationship amongst colleagues and miserable life for employee(s) working in a particular company or business in question.
I assert that for a moral system to be necessary and applicable, there must exist a moral agent who possesses both the desire and the ability to choose. By denoting certain actions or ways of being as better, a moral system implies that there are also other potential actions and ways of being that are worse. The individual must choose between them. Without this element of choice, an action has no moral qualification. For example, a computer acts, but it does not choose its action. Consequently, while a computer can be judged better or worse in its ability to carry out an action, it cannot be judged responsible for the action. Rather, the person who uses or creates the computer is in fact responsible, for it is that person who chooses for it to act in a particular way. In a moral system, choice, responsibility, and the viability of judgment are linked inextricably.
Individual factors helps to understand the reason for some people perceive specific action to be unethical whiles others do not. However, the decision-making cannot simply be explained in terms of these individual factors, because after all several people seems to have ‘multiple ethical selves’ (Trevino and Nelson 2007:180) – that is, they make different decisions in different situations. Situational factors accepted to be the most important.