Discuss about the Business Ethics for Moral Science.
Ethics refers as the moral science (Weiss 2014). It is all about dealing with principles of morality and social values. Business ethics helps to categorize what is good or what is bad for that particular business. According to De Cremer & Vandekerckhove (2016), the culture of the organization is concerned set standards for determining the difference between favorable or unfavorable decision-making. In short, this form of professional ethics or applied ethics that evaluates principles of ethics and moral or ethical issues occurs in a business environment.
Business ethics is important in the world of business. This is a moral guide the way a business behaves. Acting ethically tends to helps managers to take the right decision in favor of the business (Chell et al. 2016). Generally it has seen that decisions taken by organization internally may be made by groups or individuals but decisions made by them often influenced by organizational culture. The decision to behave ethically is, thus, important to think the right course of actions. Ethical behavior brings considerable benefits to businesses which are as follows:
On the contrary, unethical business practices or a lack of CSR responsibility may damage the reputation of the firm and make it less interested to stakeholders. The business reputation from the surrounding community, individual investors, and other businesses is vital in examining whether a company is a worthwhile investment. Therefore, an ethical action of the company is directly related to profitability in both long and short term.
A strong business ethics is responsible for the successful operation of the business (DesJardins & McCall 2014). Building on a foundation of ethical behavior helps to create long lasting positive effects for a company. The theme of the ethical behavior is completely ignored by the given beach restaurant owner in the case study. Lucy, one of the employees of that restaurant, was told to wear jeans during the working hour when she was hired. Later, the owner of the company, Don, decided to promote new campaigns to enhance restaurant business specifically in the winter months. Under this new policy, Don has taken decision regarding the uniforms of their employees. On an unethical business practice, Don has chosen revealing uniforms for the waiters to attract more attractions from the restaurant’s male customers. However, Lucy objects this new rule specified by the management and concluded that the beach restaurant company wants to receive unwanted attention from customers since this uniform change.
This is completely an unethical business practices and can be considered as the issue of sexual harassment. According to the utilitarianism ethical approach, decision should be taken based on what is good for the greatest number of people. Being the owner of the organization, Don has taken decision considering the business profitability without considering fundamental ethics of the business. The principles of the business should protect their prime stakeholders and an ethical business shall be taken decision assessing the favorability of all members who are associated with the company internally and externally. In this given case study, Lucy, being the primary stakeholder of the company, protested against the specific rule is completely valid and rational. Decision of generating more profit by harassing own employees is completely a wrong and unethical business approach made by the restaurant owner in the given case study. Don has taken decision which is based on morally weak principles. Furthermore there is a gap of principles that is guiding negative philosophy in case of the decision he make.
In case of the sound business ethics, it is indeed a challenge of doing the right thing all the time. There are two aspects of the ethics: firstly, it involves the ability to discern favorable from the unfavorable and secondly, the commitment to do what is good, right and proper. In the given case study, the topic of unethical practice of the restaurant business can be critically identified as unethical for breaching under the legislation of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. In this context, Lucy has the proper ground to claim changes against Don and the Sand trap under this act that protects individual from discrimination on the ground of sex. Concisely, the given case study deals with an unethical decision making approaches made against the female employees, which raises issues of sexual harassment. The decision taken by the restaurant owner is intentional and raised verbal harassment issue. Due to increased awareness of legislation allowing appeals to protect employees from the instances of sexual discrimination, Lucy has a ground to protest for sexual assault and sexual discrimination against the restaurant business owner, Don and the sand trap.
According to Arnold et al. (2015), business ethics is the moral discipline that is essential to operate business ethically. However, there is no special set of ethical principles applies only to the world of business. Following the organizational code of conduct, the businessperson has committed towards maintaining them during the course of their action. These applied ethics has made directly influence on organizational decision-making. To implement properly, business ethics seek to understand the social issues that arises from the institutions, business practices, and decision-making and their relationship to generalized human values. However, DesJardins & McCall (2014) have argued this, that there is no central authority for the analysis of the ethics. Furthermore, ethics does not follow any universal rule or standards. According to Floyd et al. (2013), the term “ETHICS” can be dissected into several components in order to evaluate that aspects are working in the organization and what needs to be improved. The given case study has missed the aspects of the core elements of ethics while taking decision for the benefits of the organization such as proper tone, honesty, integrity and corporate social responsibility.
To incorporate all these into the business’s code of the conduct, the practitioner needs to undergo with different ethical theories and ethical business approaches into their workplace. The principle of justice is quite apt for those decision makers when ethics are in play (Hoffman et al. 2014). Apart from that there are common ethical theory includes deontology”, “Utilitarianism”, “rights” and “virtue. To improve the ethical decision-making, it is important to understand how the organization has approached the task. There are significant ethical theories, which can be used to make the business more ethical (Hartman et al. 2014). Under ethical fundamentalism, individuals look to central authority to guide them in ethical decision-making. In the case study, the restaurant owner is the central authority who took the decision regarding the “revealing cloths” authoritatively. The significant characteristics of this approach are the reliance upon a “central repository of wisdom”. In the case of the ethical relativism approach, the organization considers different cultures regarding the morality of a particular issue or action. This approach is quite realistic because different culture is working under the same place. The identified ethical issue in the case study suggests that the thinking of the businessperson from his employees is quite different. This is one of the causes for ethical discrimination takes place. Based on the right approach, the belief of each person has the fundamental human rights that should be protected and respected. In the given case study, the “right approach” is missing because the company does not protect the human rights properly. Lastly, the “Justice ethical approach” is also respects individual rights fundamentally and considers the personal obligations within the organization.
Ethical theories provide part of the decision-making foundation when ethics play the large role in several business practices (Sheng, 2012). These theories represent the viewpoints from which individuals seek guidance as they make decisions (Floyd et al. 2013). There are four broad categories of ethical theory include “deontology”, “Utilitarianism”, “rights” and “virtues” (Shaw & Barry, 2015). According to the ethics of “deontology”, people should adhere to their obligations and duties whenever individual is engaged in “decision making when ethics are in play”. It means that the owner of the restaurant should have been consistent on upholding one’s duty which is considered ethically correct. On the other hand, the theory of utilitarianism deals with the decision making which is best suited in the eyes of large number of people. The individualism theory deals with the promotion of the personal self interest which is for the good of the others. The theory of right approach states that the fundamental rights of the individual person should be protected and respected for preventing possible contingencies relating to unethical issues. The beach restaurant need to ensure that then it is able to maintain the ethical standard based on the appropriate approach in the workplace. The last theory deals with the theory of justice approach. According to this theory, all the people need to be treated fairly when the management is involved in making a decision. The ethical theory of Virtue judges the character of individuals apart from the action rather than by an action that may deviate from his/her normal behavior (Albee, 2014). It take the account of individual’s “reputations”, “morals” and “motivation” whenever irregular behavior that is considered unethical (Broad, 2014). Therefore, behavioral misconduct in the restaurant business shall be protected if the owner would practice the virtue ethical theory at his workplace. Some of the recommendation process based on the above-discussed theories involves the consideration of several theories. Some of the alternative theories of the recommended for the purpose of the prevention of unethical issues in the business practice involve:
In the very first instance, Don could have considered to retain the original dress code of the waiter and prevent the raising of the ethical issues. This would have prevented the restaurant to get highlighted for the bringing in ethical issues in the first place
The business could have also looked forward in developing of several other promotional strategies which would enabled the employees from retain the ethical practices being formulation in the business process. The sales increment and customer attraction can be done through the facilitation of several other activities than changing the dress code of the employees Some of the recommendation made for the purpose of improvement in the business process which will prevent the exploitation of the workers includes:
Making arrangements for different types of the recreational activities such as musical performance, dance performance or jugglery show near the restaurant area may able to draw the attention of several number of customers these improvement in the existing system will ensure that the restaurant is able to increase higher sales in the products. This action follows the principle of the utilitarianism theory (Barrow, 2015).
Don can make improvement in the existing line of the products and improve the sales and distribution activity with a mobile vehicle around the beach area to promote about the new product and draw the attention of the potential customers in the beach area.
The owner can bring in several changes in the promotional activities of the products by offering more discounts and giving free order on purchase of specific items from the restaurant. In this way, the restaurant can maintain the ethical issues in the restaurant without exploiting the workers of the restaurant area. (Higgins 2014
In case the owners of the restaurant are, forcing on the dress code issue Lucy can take legal actions against the owners of the restaurants and bring forward this issue of ethical conduct in the eyes of the law. This will enable the prevention of such activities in the future. Lucy has every right to bring forth the issue in the eyes of the law since the original dress code specified at the time of the joining of the service has been changed and moreover the given dress code is against the theory of justice approach (Mainiero & Jones, 2013).
The waiters can note only take actions against the owners of the restaurant but also the customer of the beach restaurant, as they are also equally responsible to raise ethical issues in the business.
The restaurant should further take note that by introducing the changes in the dress code the restaurant has brought in various issue related to the discrimination based on the gender issues. The male employees are treated in a different way than the female employees; this lays a negative image on the ethical constraint of the restaurant. This also shows how the restaurant is exploiting the scope of the ethical boundaries in the organization. This issue can be considered to be raised in the eyes of the law so that the law governing authority can consider this case as a verbal harassment and ensure that such cases are avoided at all cost in the future. (Mathew & Bismark, 2015)
According to the various theoretical aspects mentioned in the report each of the employees have the right to expect an appropriate dress code in the work place. This will ensure that the employees will be able to comfortable with the dress code and the same time ensure that the employees of the organization are able to achieve the highest level of freedom while working in a workplace. It is importance to provide that the freedom given for the employees. At first, the employees are provided with adequate freedom regarding the dress code of the restaurant this will ensure that the restaurant will be able to maintain the business ethics and will be able to maintain a good image in the eye of the law.
The greatest burden carries by the stakeholders is Lucy and the various type of the other waiters existing in the restaurant. This shows that the waiters in the restaurant are getting affecting and the effects are only detrimental to the exiting employees of the restaurant but also to the restaurant as a whole. The restaurant needs to make sure such incidences of ethical conduct are not repeated in the future and it is able to maintain proper business conduct. The various types if the policies framed by the restaurant will also enable the restaurant owner to maintain a good image in the eyes of the law and it will further ensure that the approach related to individualism is followed.
Dealing with the moral issues, On the other hand, is often perplexing. The restaurant owner should think ethically by using Character-Based Decision-Making Model. This model is apt for individuals who are facing ethical dilemmas. Additionally, Ethical Plus decision –making model outlines the thinking processes and standards that can be used to arrive at a chosen course of action in a structured and systematic manner. By following the Plus Standards, the owner of the restaurant will consider four key factors including code of restaurant business, fulfillment of legal requirements, uncompromising self-values and selection of the most appropriate course of action.
Balancing the need of the different stakeholders
The restaurant need to make decision focusing on the welfare of all the stakeholders such as Lucy, Don, Other waiters and customers are benefitted from. In order to do this the restaurant needs to take several procedures such as:
Conclusion:
Based on the above discussion this can be concluded that ethical business practice must be sound while taking decisions. A strong code of conduct is certainly outline the mission and vision of the company with considering some rules, regulations that bound to be followed by each members of the organization. In the given case study, the unethical business approaches takes place and the company does not follow any core values and the standards. Evidence indicates that rules of the business have been changed with the changing business needs. The code of the ethics and standards serve as the ethical benchmark, which cannot be changed. Based on the recommendation, the restaurant company should consider the human rights of the primary stakeholders by following “utilitarianism” approach where decision shall be made based on benefits of highest numbers of people.
As far as the fulfilling business needs, the owner of the restaurant should strategically develop other promotional strategies to make the new business idea a successful one. Concentrating only on dress code is indeed not an ethical approach because female employees find it negative business policies, which eventually reduce the business reputation in the end. On the other hand, the company may be marked as bad working culture during the growth phase of the business. Furthermore, it is recommended that the company should treat equality during their business practices. The policies and rules of the company must protect female employees from virtual harassment and social discrimination. Therefore, the business owner must take all their decisions maintaining social ethics and moral principles.
References:
Albee, E., (2014). A history of English utilitarianism (Vol. 1). Routledge.
Arnold, D. G., Goodpaster, K. E., & Weaver, G. R. (2015). Past Trends and Future Directions in Business Ethics and Corporate Responsibility Scholarship. Business Ethics Quarterly, 25(04), v-xv.
Barrow, R., (2015). Utilitarianism: A contemporary statement. Routledge.
Broad, C. D. (2014). Five types of ethical theory (Vol. 2). Routledge.
Chell, E., Spence, L. J., Perrini, F., & Harris, J. D. (2016). Social entrepreneurship and business ethics: does social equal ethical?. Journal of Business Ethics, 133(4), 619-625.
De Cremer, D., & Vandekerckhove, W. (2016). Managing unethical behavior in organizations: The need for a behavioral business ethics approach.Journal of Management & Organization.
DesJardins, J. R., & McCall, J. J. (2014). Contemporary issues in business ethics. Cengage Learning.
Floyd, L. A., Xu, F., Atkins, R., & Caldwell, C. (2013). Ethical outcomes and business ethics: Toward improving business ethics education. Journal of business ethics
Hartman, L. P., DesJardins, J. R., & MacDonald, C. (2014). Business ethics: Decision making for personal integrity and social responsibility. McGraw-Hill.
Hoffman, W. M., Frederick, R. E., & Schwartz, M. S. (Eds.). (2014).Business ethics: Readings and cases in corporate morality. John Wiley & Sons.
Higgins, J.A., (2014). Celebration meets caution: long acting reversible contraception (LARC)’s boons, potential busts, and the benefits of a reproductive justice approach. Contraception
Mainiero, L.A. & Jones, K.J., (2013). Workplace romance 2.0: Developing a communication ethics model to address potential sexual harassment from inappropriate social media contacts between coworkers. Journal of business ethics
Mathews, B. & Bismark, M.M., (2015). Sexual harassment in the medical profession: legal and ethical responsibilities. Med J Aust
Sheng, C. L. (2012). A new approach to utilitarianism: A unified utilitarian theory and its application to distributive justice (Vol. 5). Springer Science & Business Media.
Shaw, W. H., & Barry, V. (2015). Moral issues in business. Cengage Learning.
Weiss, J.W., (2014). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download