Business Ethics
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Business Ethics
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Part A
Discuss reasons why ethics are an essential part of an organization.
A firm that is devoted to procedures and policies that inspire ethical practices fosters a positive organizational culture. Ethics plays a vital role in an organization by integrating leadership and people, satisfying the basic human needs, creating credibility, securing the society, and improving decision-making in the organization (Bishop, 2013). Business ethics fosters a positive working environment that motivates the workers and builds on their loyalty to the organization.
Considerably, employees feel protected from non-equal opportunities, discrimination, as well as retribution of personal views. Ethics facilitates consumer confidence due to ethical practices that begin with honest and fair advertising techniques. Ethics contributes to open-door policies, which are essential in motivating the employees, attracting investors and consumers. For instance, ethical business practices build an organization’s reputation, which is critical in facilitating the organization’s growth.
Discuss the ethical concerns that have surfaced regarding information technology and property rights.
Inappropriate use of information technology has resulted in the red flag of ethical concerns. The current information technologies have created an ethical dilemma due to individuals’ profound activities on the internet. Information technology has led to privacy invasion and blackmail due to easy access to personal information (Quinn, 2017). Most of the personal information is secured through passwords and usernames, which have been easily hacked by cybercriminals. Therefore, they can aggregate information from multiple sources and use other people’s profiles to commit crimes. Copyrights breaches have become easy and unavoidable due to easy access to information on the internet. For instance, one can anonymously make perfect copies of digital music for their use without making payments to the music owner’s thus illegally downloaded albums.
Why is it essential that companies have a good understanding of the relationship between blame and moral responsibility?
Moral responsibility and blame are closely related. A company must acknowledge blame and moral responsibility to treat the employees well and protect the organization employees from fake blames that may damage the reputation of the organization. The organization needs to guarantee that there is no omission of any moral obligation to build the image of the company in society. Collective moral responsibility within an organization is essential in preventing blame games, thus enabling the employees to concentrate on their duties and responsibilities to achieve benefits as an organization and on individual levels. Considerably, blame game leads to modification of personal attitudes and views without seeing their impacts on the issue.
Part B
Describe three issues that make determining Utilitarianism difficult.
One of the issues with Utilitarianism is measuring utility. Utilitarianism has advocated for the greatest moral for the utmost number of individuals despite the approach of achieving the good (Hayry, 2013). However, it is difficult to compare or measure the value of the costs as well as the benefits accrued. For instance, measuring happiness is challenging. This is because happiness is personal, and as a result, it is open to understanding, depending on personal views. The founders of Utilitarianism argued that the pleasures of happiness are the same but are different in terms of quantity. However, there is a disagreement on the benefits and goods since it is difficult to measure the value of something while dealing with controversial views.
Another issue with Utilitarianism is the violation of standards of justice. Utilitarianism runs the contrary to individuals’ rights to benefit the majority without considering the negative effect on the minority (Hayry, 2013). For instance, when a person has committed a crime, they should be sentenced to death to restore peace and avoid such crimes from happening. However, it is wrong to punish an innocent person who has violated their rights and is unjust. However, Utilitarianism argues that the net gain should be happiness, which means action should be done if the happiness of many is increased.
Rule utilitarianism is another issue since it creates utility rules that fail to allow an exception. Rule utilitarianism argues that an action is right since it conforms to a rule that generates the utmost good and happiness. One of the objections to rule utilitarianism is that in some circumstances utility of break certain rules could be beneficial depending on the action.
Describe how an ethic of virtue can enhance the principles of Utilitarianism, rights, justice, and caring.
Virtue ethics is a tactic in normative ethics that focuses on virtues as well as the moral character as compared to other tactics such as deontology that pay attention to an individual’s roles, responsibilities, and duties (Annas, 2015). Considerably, the virtue of ethics enhances the utilitarianism principle since Utilitarianism focuses on the good for greatest people, while the virtue of ethics offers some direction and order for actions. The principles of rights protection and examine individual legal and moral rights. Virtue ethics looks at the moral right in a different perspective that will facilitate the happiness of the people. The principle of justice focuses on effective ways that ensure fair treatment of individuals. The Ethic of virtue enhances the human approach towards fairness across all forms of living, including the social lives as well as professional lives (Annas, 2015). The virtue of ethics facilitates moral justice that helps with moral problems and issues. The Ethic of virtue guides the moral agent to acknowledge and cultivate respect, relational interdependency, and caring relationships to care for self and others.
Discuss how the unconscious process uses past experiences to affect the moral decision-making process.
When faced with a challenging decision, it is often advocated to take a break from thinking about the resolution to have clarity, which facilitates improved decision making. Past experiences play a role in making current and future perceptions and decisions. Ideally, it is not a guarantee that the situations will be similar every time. However, Freud argued and explained that their subconscious influences individuals, although they remain unaware of the occurrences (Ham and van den Bos, 2010). The unconscious process is filled with memories, feelings, thoughts, and desires, as well as actions that have a great impact on the overall decisions.
Part C
Discuss John Locke’s idea that everyone would be political equals and free of constraints in a state of nature and how those rights affect American institutions.
For Locke, the state of nature exists where all men are free to control and order their actions and dispose of their possessions according to their perceptions within the law’s boundaries. John Locke’s idea on the state of nature argues that there are no greater and legitimate authorities that can solve an individual’s problem. This explains the moral responsibilities of individuals that fail to agree with the legal decisions. Locke argues that this would lead to a state of political equality and would be free from constraints. These rights would end the separation of humanity, and as a result, all that would be required is to be responsible for life without being regulated by the government.
According to Adam Smith, how does free-market competition provide greater benefits than government interference?
Concerning Adam Smith, the free market establishes a state of equilibrium. Adam Smith argues that free markets offer more benefits as compared to government regulations. Considerably, a free market facilitates freedom where people can engage with reduced restrictions. Free markets open up competition both locally and internationally. The market economy is controlled by the law of supply and demand rather than the government regulations on labor and production (Allen, Doherty, Weigelt and Mansfield, 2013). Adam Smith also argues that a free market economy leads to greater innovation and productivity since people can regulate themselves through competition, supply, and demand.
Discuss Karl Marx’s view on how capitalist economies alienate workers.
According to Karl Marx, the capitalist economy leads to conflicts among the workers due to competition for higher wages. Considerably, in the capitalist society, the employees are alienated from their humanity since the capitalist has the control of intellectual and manual workers as well as their labor benefits. Relatively, the worker is generated from the acts of production through the wage compulsion as well as the imposed production. For instance, the worker can oppose the age compulsion at the expense of their survival. The capitalist society brings about a repetitive nature and highly mechanized that alienate the worker from the process. This lowers the sense of human nature since the capitalist economy has compromised the innate potential of workers.
Part D
How do price and quantity move to equilibrium in a perfectly competitive market?
Perfect market competition is whereby the price of products or services is determined by the supply and demand but not external forces such as competition. The law of supply positions that there is a positive link between the supply and price. The increase in supply occurs with a rise in the price while a decrease occurs with the fall in price. Ideally, the law of demand and supply are two counter-facing forces with interdependent relationships designed to show the market’s ideal quantity and price (Allen, Doherty, Weigelt, and Mansfield, 2013). In a perfectly competitive market, the quantity and price move to equilibrium at a point where the quantity demanded and the quantity supplied are equal. An equilibrium point is established where the two forces are equal.
Discuss how a monopoly places restrictions on the negative rights that a perfectly free market respects?
A monopoly market is characterized by high entry barriers, price discrimination, and a single seller (Baldwin and Scott, 2013). A monopoly has a single market seller who is the price maker. This has negative rights on the liberty of the buyer and seller in a free market. A monopoly market deprives the buyers and sellers the market power single as a single firm has dominated the market. A perfectly free market offers efficient means of distributing services and products without any restraints or restrictions. A monopoly market has restrictions on the rights of buyers and sellers, making the production and distribution of products and services insufficient.
Discuss the regulation view of oligopoly power.
The oligopoly market is the form of a market where only a few firms are allowed to deal with differentiated and homogenous products (Baldwin and Scott, 2013). The behavior of one of the firms impacts the operations of other firms. This brings about regulation in the operations of the oligopoly market. The oligopoly market brings about price regulation, where the firms are the quantity setters. This is because the oligopoly market firms decide the quantity to be produced and the prices to be set. Additionally, direct supervision and regulation have been conducted by the government to control the firms’ production and competition.
References
Allen, W. B., Doherty, N. A., Weigelt, K., & Mansfield, E. (2013). Managerial economics: Theory, applications, and cases. WW Norton.
Annas, J. (2015). Applying virtue to ethics. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 32(1), 1-14.
Baldwin, W., & Scott, J. (2013). Market structure and technological change (Vol. 1). Taylor & Francis.
Bishop, W. H. (2013). The role of ethics in 21st-century organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(3), 635-637.
Ham, J., & van den Bos, K. (2010). On unconscious morality: The effects of unconscious thinking on moral decision making. Social Cognition, 28(1), 74-83.
Hayry, M. (2013). Liberal utilitarianism and applied ethics. Routledge.
Quinn, M. J. (2017). Ethics for the information age. Pearson.
HOMEWORK
Assignment Instructions
Module 4 Writing Assignment (M1-4)
You will soon find yourself fulfilling roles in organizations where the ability to think ethically about issues will make you much more valuable to employers. In this activity you will refer to the materials in your text and lectures to respond to the questions.
Part A
The questions in Part A refer to the material discussed in Module 1 of this course. Respond to the following.
Discuss reasons why ethics are an important part of an organization.
Discuss the ethical concerns that have surfaced regarding information technology and property rights.
Why is it important that companies have a good understanding of the relationship between blame and moral responsibility?
Part B
The questions in Part B refer to the material discussed in Module 2 of this course. Respond to the following.
Describe three issues that make determining utilitarianism difficult.
Describe how an ethic of virtue can enhance the principles of utilitarianism, rights, justice, and caring.
Discuss how the unconscious process uses past experiences to effect the moral decision-making process.
Part C
The questions in Part C refer to the material discussed in Module 3 of this course. Respond to the following.
Discuss John Locke’s idea that, in a state of nature, everyone would be political equals and free of constraints, and how those rights affect American institutions.
According to Adam Smith, how does free market competition provide greater benefits than government interference?
Discuss Karl Marx’s view on how capitalist economies alienate workers.
Part D
The questions in Part D refer to the material discussed in Module 4 of this course. Respond to the following.
How do price and quantity move to equilibrium in a perfectly competitive market?
Discuss how a monopoly places restrictions on the negative rights that a perfectly free market respects?
Discuss the regulation view of oligopoly power.
Length/Formatting Instructions
| Length | 4 pages |
| Font | 12 point , Calibri Font, no more than 1″ margins |
| Program/File Type | Submit in Word |
| Referencing system | APA referencing system is necessary in assignments, especially material copied from the Internet.
For examples of correct citations, visit the following links: |
| File Name | LastName_FirstName_C06_M4Assignment |
Module 4 Writing Assignment – Grading Rubric
Your work will be evaluated on the following criteria:
| CATEGORY | Exemplary | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory | Unacceptable |
| Part A-Moral Reasoning and Decision Making (20 points) | 20 points Student provides a clear, logical description of moral reasoning and moral decision making. |
14 points Student provides a mostly clear, logical description of moral reasoning and moral decision making. |
7 points Student provides a weak or unclear, logical description of moral reasoning and moral decision making. |
0 points Response does not meet any of the specified criteria. |
| Part B-Utilitarian View (20 points) | 20 points Student provides a clear, logical discussion of the utilitarian view of moral rights. |
14 points Student provides a mostly clear, logical discussion of the utilitarian view of moral rights. |
7 points Student provides a weak or unclear discussion of the utilitarian view of moral rights. |
0 points Response does not meet any of the specified criteria. |
| Part C-Free Markets (20 points) | 20 points Student provides a clear, logical discussion of free markets. |
14 points Student provides a mostly clear, logical discussion of free markets. |
7 points Student provides a weak or unclear discussion of free markets. |
0 points Response does not meet any of the specified criteria. |
| Part D-Market Competition (20 points) | 20 points Student provides a clear, logical discussion of market competition. |
14 points Student provides a mostly clear, logical discussion of market competition. |
7 points Student provides a weak or unclear, logical discussion of market competition. |
0 points Response does not meet any of the specified criteria. |
| Mechanics – Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling (5 Points) | 5 points Student makes no errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that distract the reader from the content. |
4 points Student makes 1-2 errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that distract the reader from the content. |
2 points Student makes 3-4 errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that distract the reader from the content. |
0 points Student makes more than 4 errors in grammar, punctuation, or spelling that distract the reader from the content. |
| Writing Style – Organization, Transitions, Tone (5 Points) | 5 points The assignment is written with excellent organization, thoughtful transitions, and the appropriate tone. |
4 points This writing assignment is adequately organized, but has some errors in the transitions or the tone. |
2 points This writing assignment is poorly organized, or it contains ineffective transitions and/or inappropriate tone. |
0 points This writing assignment displays little to no organization or transitions, and/or does not use the appropriate tone. |
| APA Format – Margins, Font, Spacing, Headings and cover page. (5 Points) | 5 points The margins, font, spacing, headings, and cover page are all formatted properly. |
4 points There are 1-2 errors in the formatting of the margins, font, spacing, headings, or cover page. |
2 points There are 3-4 errors in the formatting of the margins, font, spacing, headings, or cover page. |
0 points There are more than 4 errors in the formatting of the margins, font, spacing, headings, or cover page. |
| APA Format – Citations and References (5 Points) | 5 points All sources used for quotes and facts are credible and cited, and the references and in-text citations are all properly formatted. Each reference has an in-text citation and in-text citation has a reference. |
4 points All sources used for quotes and facts are credible and cited, but slight errors are present in the format of the in-text citations or references. Or there may be one in-text citation or reference missing. |
2 points Some sources used for quotes and facts are either not credible or there are significant errors in the in-text citations and/or references. Or there are multiple missing in-text citations or references. |
0 points The sources used for quotes and facts are not credible and/or not cited. The in-text citations and/or references are not present. |
