Business Ethics and Discipline

1. Describe moral and ethical issues faced by managers.

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There are several issues that managers come across since morality and ethics concept is a broad spectrum. Because Managers deal with day to day business activities carried out by employees, moral issues take place when proper ethical policies of the organization are not defined. Problems with employees arise such as lack of employee involvement in the business may be because of lack of will, interest or loyalty. This attitude is unethical because one is neglecting his or her duty and loosing the trust of his manager on him.

Other ethical issues encountered are concerned with the manager himself when there has to be recruitment, performance appraisals, and terminations etc. Managers must ensure that there is no discrimination in the hiring process by doing favoritism or using nepotism and the candidates go through a proper screening tests and interviews. This is the responsibility of the HR department. Moreover when performance evaluations are done, managers have pressure to honestly evaluate the employees and do not take friendships into the process for making decisions.

When it comes to terminations, managers are fully responsible to terminate according the company’s policies and not due to any hate, grudge or dislike against any employee or staff as this would be an immoral thing to do. Mainly ethical issues occur in large organizations where there is a diverse work population. Thus Managers of each department are obliged to respect different cultures and backgrounds. Also is their duty to make sure that no employee becomes a victim of stereotype or prejudice.

Other areas where ethical issues arise is the marketing department. If the organization is misleading its customers by over exaggerating distorting facts in advertising its products then it is being unethical. Also company’s should not misuse customers’ information for their own benefit this would indeed destroy their trust on you. Besides ethics in the departments managers must ethically deal with the society that they shouldn’t make any decisions that would harm the natural environment or that endangers people’s life.

2. Explain how the relationship between social issues and ethically responsible management practices relates to your topic.

Business ethics holds the company responsible for the society as well which is termed as corporate social responsibility. For a business to survive in the long run. It has to follow the code of ethics. Thus management practices play vital role in dealing with social issues of the company. An organization is to be ethically responsible towards its stakeholders, employees, customers, suppliers, retailers and so on. One management action towards its employees could be offering employee advisory program (EAP) to help them share problems regarding family, work or financial issues.

This would enhance employee productivity. Another management practice could be towards your suppliers and customers. A company could maintain a positive public image by putting customers’ interest first to attract them. By offering various training programs to promote ethics management could increase the corporate health of the organization. (Enotes.com,n.d.)

Coming back to the social issues and its relationship with management practices is that an organization has an obligation of social responsibility. It gives the company reputation and brand recognition. The business shouldn’t only be profit oriented rather it should take on the decisions for the society as well. For this employees need to be engaged for an implementation of a healthier workplace and a successful CSR. Corporate social responsibility helps businesses to understand the impact on social environment and the economy as whole. Business decisions must be made with keeping environment sustainable i.e. impact on natural environment( Lloyd ,2009).

3. Provide an example of an ethical dilemma related to your topic. What legal aspects did management face during this dilemma? What legalities governed or should have governed the decision?

Exxon Mobile went through an ethical dilemma 20 years ago which is known as Exxon Valdez incident. In March, 1989, this supertanker was used to transport crude oil in the Alaskan coast called Prince William Sound. The problem was that it was carried out by a captain with a drinking problem with his driving license being revoked thrice. The port pilot ignored that the captain was drunk and gave him the charge. Unfortunately, he speeded the tanker.

Later turn over the charge to some port pilot who did not have authorization to do according to the rules. This led to huge holes in the ship making crude oil spread in the sea. In approximately 8 hours almost 11million gallons was deserted into the sea. The victims of the oil spill were living creatures in the sea. Also about 200 birds died. Although there were no human killing, millions of sea creatures died. Due to this fishing was banned for quite some time which caused immense loss to the fishermen. Oil industries lost the trust of many people in Alaska.

The toughest for Exxon was its public relations and how it handled the situation (Carmichael n.d.).The legal consequences were that Exxon was liable to spend more than 2 billion dollars. The legal settlement made between the United States and Alaska was 900 million dollars over 10 years. Criminal charges were 250 million dollars. 25 million dollars were given the strong oppositions from Alaskans. To overcome such mess Exxon mobile started public relations campaign with their earth science experts to level down the negative impact upon the corporation over the years.

The legal actions taken for Exxon were correct as it affected Alaskan for a longer period of time. Therefore it is important for oil industries to be assured of the earth science related problems. As we know that production, distribution, transportation, and refining of oil is necessary it must be kept in mind the challenge of keeping the environment clean as well(Articles base 2007).

References

Articles base. (2007) An Analysis of the Exxon Valdez Incident. Retrieved on July 29.from http://www.articlesbase.com/corporate-articles/an-analysis-of-the-exxon-valdez-incident-228957.html

Enotes.com (n.d.) Business Ethics. Retrieved July 29 from http://www.enotes.com/business-finance-encyclopedia/ethics-management

Evan Carmichael (n.d.) Business Ethics - Problems in Natural Environment - The Exxon Valdez Incident. Retrieved on July 29. from http://www.evancarmichael.com/Management/1055/Business-Ethics--Problems-in-Natural-Environment--The-Exxon-Valdez-Incident.html

Lloyd, T.(2009). An Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility: Good Corporate Citizens Consider Social and Environmental Impacts. Retrieved July 29 from http://social-corporate responsibility.suite101.com/article.cfm/an_overview_of_corporate_social_responsiblity

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