...Virgin Blue allegedly discriminated against two female employees by forcing them to take redundancies after confirming they were pregnant or returning from maternity leave (Marx 2011, p. 1). Subsequently, both employees have initiated legal action against Virgin Blue who ‘has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the claims’ (Marx 2011, p. 2). The article raises three ethical issues. Firstly, it addresses the expectation that businesses should not discriminate against employees on the basis of gender (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell 2009, p. 70). Secondly, it highlights that abusive or intimidating behaviour is not acceptable in the workplace (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell 2009, p. 64). Thirdly, it identifies the role that an effective ethics program can play in avoiding ethical and legal problems (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell 2009, p. 212). Businesses should not discriminate against employees on the basis of gender. Discrimination refers to ‘the making of a difference in particular cases, as in favour of or against a person or thing, especially when arising from prejudice based on race, ethnicity, sex, religion, age etc’ (Discrimination 2011). Virgin Blue allegedly discriminated against Leonie Vandeven by forcing her to take a redundancy package after she confirmed that she was pregnant (Marx 2011, p. 2). Vandeven was made redundant despite receiving a performance review, which rated her as ‘highly effective’ (Marx 2011, p. 2). Similarly, Kirsty Aitken was forced to take...
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...Stone Ohio University Legal & Ethical Environment of Business -MBA-560-VC November 20, 2013 Burns & McCallister Ethics & Global Business Being a successful global business is a balancing act. It is easy to assume that what works in America will work abroad. Nothing could be further from the truth. Multi-national companies need to be aware of the unique set of values, customers and traditions of the foreign countries they wish to do business in. Some areas of international business ethics are easier to define than others. For instance when it comes to working environments it is easy to say child labor performed in unsafe and hazardous environments coupled with unreasonable working hours is wrong as it goes against the ethical treatment of human beings but is discrimination against women in business management equally as wrong? Let’s explore this question in more detail. The Dilemma The company Burns & McCallister has come under scrutiny from a series of reports by both the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times regarding their policy on female executives managing accounts in certain nations. This has been surprising since Burns & McCallister is known for their equal treatment of women. Working Mother magazine lists Burns & McCallister as one of the top fifty firms in the United States for employment of working mothers and by Working Woman magazine as one of the top ten firms for women. However, the dilemma is that Burns & McCallister...
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...climb the corporate ladder. Each and every profession has a standard code of ethics and professional values. Likewise, each has their own set of codes within the corporation or company. A person choosing their profession should really consider their own values and ethics before pursuing a professional career in an area that would later be conflicting with ones self-conscience. Professional values are usually framed from our own personal values. The customs, beliefs, and ideas we hold dear are our values. Ethics are the things we think of as right and wrong. A person who has high values and ethic should reconsider the job offer if they feel the corporation is dishonest Professional Values and Ethics Sexual Harassment “Professional values are the principles that guide your decisions and actions in your career.” According to Chrissy Scivicque, there are some universal values that should be and usually are held and practiced in all of them and they are: “first, do no harm; keep it simple; honesty is the best policy; we’re all in this together and stay balanced.” Professional ethics concerns the moral issues that arise because of the specialist knowledge that professionals attain, and how the use of this knowledge should be governed when providing a service to the public. Professional values and ethics are usually a standard in many corporations. As time changes professional values and ethics also change with new State and Federal Regulations applying to every corporation...
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...Organizing Your Writing Sekou Konate Walden University Abstract Scholars discussed the issues of leadership, ethics, power and decision making. A review of the literature related to those topics to clearly make management moving and adapted to the context of organizational change by stating the theme to link the topic as a block. Title of the Paper in Full Goes Here Many authors described the change in their scholar works. This literature discussed the ethical, leadership, power and decision making regarding the organizational change. The purpose of my essay will be to demonstrate my ability to organize these different point of view in literature, synthesize different categories and then formulate the common themes among these articles The proposed solution for these different authors converged to make a pertinent social change regarding the leadership, the ethics, power, and the decision making in organizations. Those four topics related to management will be developed in different viewpoints in the same order as enumerated above. Leadership The author described the reflective change in individuals leading a societal project. Smith laid out a framework for leader undergoing an organization change. The author described the executive and management behavior regarding the implementation of principals to become a leader. According to Smith (2001), one of the main causes of successful organization’s failure is the lack of reflection. The author went on to suggest...
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...ethical to use women as a marketing instrument? Mass media plays a great part in our lives. Television, newspapers, magazines surround us everywhere every day of our lives. All of them are stuck with different kinds of ads. But how often do we pay attention to the real sense of those ads and the ways the advertisers try to sell various products to us? There have been growing concerns about and critics toward the usage of women as a sexual object in marketing practices. However, firms are still using women as an instrument to attract consumers. This paper examines some business ethics theories to determine whether firms’ use of women as a marketing instrument is ethical or not. The deductions from the business ethics theories suggest that it is unethical to abuse women in marketing practices. In today’s business world, women are used as an object to attract consumers’ attention to the products that firms sell. They are exploited as a marketing instrument in a wide range of firms’ activities. Women appear as a sexual object in any kind of advertisement or as an attractive material standing nearby a product. Sometimes firms use sexual saleswomen to facilitate the sale or to attract consumers’ attention to the firm or product. Particularly, it is very common to use sexually attractive women in advertisements regardless of the product is related to sexuality. The use of sexual women images in advertisements...
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...Business Ethics across Cultures Raul Torres XMGT 216 Daniel Anderson 1/8/2012 America has not always had the same working conditions and ethical guidelines it has today. We know from history that in the early 1920’s American industries had a very different outtake on what was ethical on tolerable. During those times there were no child labor laws so children were allowed to work in order to be able to provide another source of income for the family. In today’s society we have laws and guidelines that an employer needs to follow in order to be able keep the business from being fined or closed on. Going back to the 1920’s there were no safety guidelines set so if the main provider of the family became injured then the oldest son would have to fill in, in order to keep the family with an income. Employers did not have to follow certain hours in which kids were going to be working such as in today’s society. Aside from children working long hours with no protection women did not work at all outside the house. With no women working outside of their home then we can say that there were no laws on sexual harassment against women. This was something that America was dealing with when they were trying to establish great ethics in our country. Other countries have dealt with much more than sexual harassment and child labor. The first article being reviewed for the Business Ethics across Cultures article review was about issues with Wal-Mart and China. Nearly every...
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...Ethics Final ETH/316 10/06/2013 In Ethics 316 we discussed what it means to not only be ethical but what it means to be socially responsible. In the next few pages we will be looking more in depth week by week on what ethical theories are, what it means to be socially responsible, and how something could be ethical but not legal. Ethical Theories During our first week we looked at Ethical Theories which included deontological ethics, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics. To go through and brake down each one individually would take way to long, so instead we will be looking more into Utilitarianism. To be able to discuss Utilitarianism we first need to understand what it is. According to Michael Boylan Basic Ethics, Second Edition (2009), “Utilitarianism is a theory that suggests that an action is morally right when that action produces more total utility for the group than any other alternative. Sometimes this has been shortened to the slogan, “The greatest good for the greatest number.” All ethics play some part in what we consider right and wrong, but Utilitarianism also looks at cause and effect. We see cause and effect in our everyday lives with the decisions we make even at a subconscious level. In business we look at what will benefit not only the business but ourselves and compare it to the outcome to determine if it will benefit what we are trying to achieve. A basic way to look at it would be “If I work hard and show them I am capable of not only...
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...Assignment 3: Legal and Ethical Considerations in Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property Major Dr. Lynn MacBeth Law and Ethics in the Business Environment September 8, 2013 Ethical issues related to marketing and advertising, intellectual property, and regulation of product safety. “Advertising ministers to the spiritual side of trade…it is a great power…part of the greater work of the regeneration and redemption of mankind” (Halbert, 2012). This is a very powerful statement and is completely true as the only way to get ahead in this world as it pertains to business is to be able to advertise and market one’s products efficiently, effectively, and ethically. One ethical issue related to marketing would be the whole idea of false advertising that is present by companies that market and advertise their products. This is an ethical issue because false advertising is misleading to consumers. Consumers trust certain companies and the products they put into the marketplace. An ethical issue that relates to intellectual property would be one that is present amongst many educational institutions all over the world, which would be plagiarism. Plagiarism is the use of someone else’s work as your own without giving proper allocation and praise to the original author. Copyright infringement would be another ethical issue that deals with the stealing of the original authors of works of art, music, and other original masterpieces. There are two essential...
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... | |MD. Zahid Hossen |111 0104 030 | |Mehedi Hasan |121 0212 030 | |Mohammed Irfan |121 0823 030 | |Nujhat Nakiba Khushbu |123 0279 030 | School of Business and Economics North South University Date of Submission: 13/10/2015 Letter of Transmittal October 13th, 2015 Dr. Muslima Zahan Assistant Professor Strategic Management (MGT 489) School of Business North South University Subject: Submission of the case analysis on “Human resource strategy and productivity at Wal-Mart” Madam, We would like to thank you for assigning us with this course-work for the course of strategic management. This case study has given us the opportunity to combine our theoretical knowledge with a practical scenario. We worked as a team and tried solve the case as you taught and described in the class. We would like to thank you for giving us the opportunity to solving the case, and work with a strong and reliable team. We believe that the knowledge and experience that we have acquired...
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...Workplace Submitted on: 3th January 2016 Submitted on: 3th January 2016 Chew Yoong Sen MBS 151068 Semester 1, Session 2015/2016 MBSA 1533: Business Ethics, Responsibiliy and Sustainability Lecturer: Dr. Abul Quasem Al-Amin Chew Yoong Sen MBS 151068 Semester 1, Session 2015/2016 MBSA 1533: Business Ethics, Responsibiliy and Sustainability Lecturer: Dr. Abul Quasem Al-Amin Table of Contents Papers Table II Abstract 1 Issue 1 Problem Statement 2 Analysis 3 Recommendation 6 Conclusion 8 References 9 Papers Table No. | Title | Journal Name | Year | Authors | 1 | Sexual Harassment In The Workplace: Selected Court Cases And New Legal Provisions In Malaysia | Asian Social Science | 2015 | Kamal Halili Hassan;Yee Zing Lee | 2 | Ethical Leadership: The Effect On Employees | International Journal Of Business And Management | 2015 | Atiya Alshammari;Naser N. AlmutairiShebaib Fahad Thuwaini | 3 | Sexual Harassment In The Workplace: An Overview Over The International Law And Current Law And Practice In Malaysia | International Journal Of Humanities And Social Science | 2013 | Dr. Muzaffar Syah Mallow | 4 | Impact Of Ethical Leadership On Employee Job Performance | International Journal Of Business And Social Science | 2012 | Shukurat Moronke Bello | 5 | Factors Influencing Sexual Harassment In The Malaysian Workplace | Asian Academy Of Management Journal, | 2007 | Mohd Nazari Ismail; Lee...
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...Global Business Cultural Analysis: United Arab Emirates Busi 604 International Business December 13, 2013 Abstract Over the past forty years, the United Arab Emirates has been developing their then newly formed country. They have taken advantage of the wealth that was created originally from their supply of oil and gas and have transformed themselves into a modernized society that has diversified their assets into various business ventures. The explosive growth of this organization has attracted people from all over the world and expatriates now make up ninety percent of the overall population. While there have been many companies that found themselves to be attracted to the business opportunities there, there are several questions that need to be answered to understand their culture and to ultimately determine the attractiveness of doing business in the United Arab Emirates: 1. What are the major elements and dimensions of culture in the United Arab Emirates? 2. How are these elements and dimensions integrated by locals conducting business in the United Arab Emirates? 3. How do both of the above items compare with US culture and business? 4. What are the implications for US businesses that wish to conduct business in the United Arab Emirates? This global business cultural analysis on the United Arab Emirates will focus on these four questions and we will take an in depth look...
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...Legal and Ethical Environment of Business Thomas Matthew October 9, 2013 American InterContinental University Eric Baime * Analyze and explain the state of our legal system in terms of ethics. The basis of our legal system was and is to protect the wealth of a very few by imposing laws on the less fortunate class of society. Tribal leaders and kings that were capable of forming armies to their benefit developed this system years ago. They formed this cartel and enforced their rules upon a society who lacked the power to contest the laws imposed on them. This system has evolved in our society in the form of a government who utilize the police and military to dictate the lives of the public. They inform the public that these laws exist to protect the interests of the people within the society. If these laws were actually created for the overall good of humanity then indeed they would be ethical but in reality people in power abuse these laws for their benefit. The laws within our legal system do consist of some ethical components and are considered either valid or invalid. Since our legal system was created by the wealthy they essentially do have opposing ethical views. The conflicting viewpoints exist in the legal system because the laws strip freedom and justice from one person in order to provide it to another. This implies that unethical laws are present giving power to more and limiting it to some. The legal system consists of laws that prohibit ethical...
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...Role of Ethics and Social Responsibilities in Management. Ethics can be defined as a process of evaluating actions according to moral principal of values(A.Alhemoud). Throughout the centuries people were trying to choose between profit and moral. Perhaps, some of them obtain both, but every time it could have roused ethical issues. Those issues concern fairness, justice, rightness or wrongness; as a result it can only be resolved according to ethical standards. Setting the ethical standards for the way of doing business in corporation is primarily task of management. Corporations have to maintain the same standards as an individual person and, in addition, corporations, as organizational units, have their own social responsibilities toward customers, employees and society. However, any business should keep it's original purpose of functioning - making profit. Balancing the traditional standards of profitability and burden of social responsibilities is not an easy task. In recent years it has been a trend of setting standards of corporate ethics according to high degree of morale. To be able to keep the ethical standards management must follow the law. However, there are some complications in enforcing it. The law affects and is affected by social forces and prevailing ethical standards. "Although the law can codify societies ethical ____________________________________________________________ ____________ Alhemoud, Ali " Management Ethics is Smart Business." values...
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...BUS560 Module 2: Organizational Ethics BUS560 Module 2: Organizational Ethics Check Your Understanding 1. Consider the functional departments reviewed in chapter 3. Which department do you think faces the greatest number of ethical challenges? Why? It would seem that the finance or bookkeeping department of any company faces the greatest number of ethical challenges because the opportunity to manipulate the accounting and misrepresent or otherwise take money from the company is ‘ever-present.’ However, there are opportunities for unethical behavior in all areas of a business – and in all businesses in the economy. 2. Provide three examples of unethical behavior that you have observed at the company you work or (or worked for in the past). What were the outcomes of this behavior? While small businesses may be the backbone of the American economy – they can also be places where unethical behavior occurs without oversight or consequence. Limited resources sometimes make it appear to be standard or unavoidable to engage in unethical practices. The following unethical behaviors in small businesses are cancerous and they encourage ethical breaches in various (perhaps unintended) areas of any business. The first week I was employed for a small business that was a contractor for a project with another company, my fellow workers encouraged me to ‘fudge’ my timesheet – indicating that it was a common practice among employees. It was indicated to me that the boss was a...
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...Small business social responsibility: Expanding core CSR theory Laura J. Spence Abstract This paper seeks to expand business and society research in a number of ways. Its primary purpose is to redraw two core CSR theories (stakeholder theory and Carroll’s CSR pyramid), enhancing their relevance for small business. This is done by the application of the ethic of care, informed by the value of feminist perspectives and the extant empirical research on small business social responsibility. It is proposed that the expanded versions of core theory have wider relevance, value and implications beyond the small firm context. The theorization of small business social responsibility enables engagement with the mainstream of CSR research as well as making a contribution to small business studies in scholarly, policy and practice terms. Key words: corporate social responsibility, ethic of care, feminist ethics, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), small business, Carroll’s pyramid, stakeholder theory. Correspondence: Laura J. Spence, PhD. Professor of Business Ethics. Director, Centre for Research into Sustainability, School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK. Laura.Spence@rhul.ac.uk Acknowledgements: With sincere thanks to the special issue editors and reviewers, Kate Grosser and Dirk Matten for their insightful comments in the development of this paper. Introduction Small business social responsibility - whether it be a software...
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