Business Ethics and Ethical Standards

Overview

In this project, I will exhibit my expertise in Business Ethics with an emphasis on ethical standards. Throughout the project, I will display my knowledge of the competencies I have acquired from the course material that was provided.

Task A. Take on the role of the ethics officer in the scenario and address the following:

1. Describe three rights and responsibilities of employees based on the scenario.
2. Evaluate two ethical responsibilities of the employer within the context of the employer/employee relationship described in the scenario.
3. Develop one ethical business dilemma that can be used to demonstrate employee understanding of the company's ethical standards.
4. Evaluate the dilemma from part A3 from a utilitarian and relativistic perspective.
5. Describe two common ethical decisions that reflect corporate ethics and responsibilities that employees can face while working in a corporate setting. Note: These should be different from the ethical business dilemma in part A3.
6. Explain why each ethical decision in part A5 presents an ethical dilemma and how an individual might justify unethical behavior (e.g., common excuses).

Rights and Responsibility

Rights A 15 min break every 2 hours, with the 4th hour being a 45 min lunch break. A clean and safe work environment Receive paycheck on time with the proper amount Responsibility Report to work on time Report to work free from intoxication including but not limited to alcohol and illegal substances Produce excellent quality work in a timely manner Ethical Responsibility Employers have the ethical responsibility to provide reasonable accommodations to employees with physical and mental impairments. Example, providing a stool or chair to an employee with leg, knee, or ankle problems. Employers have the ethical responsibility to provide employees with all tools needed to effectively and efficiently conduct work and work-related task. This includes providing tools that will aid in the employee not having to do excessive physical labor, as long as it is conducive to the workflow process and produces the same work quality or better. Example, providing employees with a nail gun, vs a nail and hammer.

Ethical Dilemma

As a company, we are to take extra precaution when it comes to the disposal of client and company personal information. Failing to do so can be detrimental to the client, business and the community. For instance, let's say an employee failed to shred and properly place a document with client personal information in the locked reciprocal and instead place in the wastebasket, so many things can go wrong. Let's say this document makes it to the dumpster, criminals are patiently awaiting this mistake. They will go through the dumpster at night, find the documents with personal information and sale to the personal information to another party or use the personal information to ruin a clients credit. This falls back on our company if the information is traced back to our company, as a company we may never recover for such a travesty.

The community, current clients and any potential clients will lose trust in our business and it could very well shut the business down. We have an obligation and duty to make sure our clients information, as well as our own, are properly accounted for and disposed of properly. Utilitarian point of view The utilitarian point of view would be to create the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals, sometimes despite the consequences. In this ethical dilemma, taking a utilitarian approach would not vail or warrant undesirable consequences. The proper shredding of client, company documents are a win-win for everyone involved. Relativistic point of view The relativistic point of view would suggest that there are no right or wrong answers. In this situation, the right thing to do is clear. The consequences of not doing the right thing far outweigh the consequences for doing the right thing. Two common ethical dilemmas (A5,6)

Throughout the timeless years of history, harassment and sexual misconduct have gone unreported. In the corporate sector, there may be many unparalleled reason as to why harassment and sexual misconduct may go unreported. Some may feel ashamed or embarrassed, they may feel like no one will believe them, they may feel like they will lose their job, they also may feel guilty or even feel like it's not a big deal. Whatever the reason may be, it is bound to come up sometime at work, with an employee or a co worker. Often times employees are faces with the dilemmas of taking something from the office with no plans to return the item back to work. Some employees may feel like the company owes them a stapler or a ream of paper or even an electronic device. They may also feel like the employer will not miss the item, and has the means to buy plenty more. Sometimes an employee may never be faced with this dilemma, however they witness a coworker taking something and it never goes reported. 

Cite this page