Analysis of Case Study One

Question:

Discuss about the Citizenship and Sustainability in Globalization.

The following write up is my reflection on business ethics and sustainability. This will involve reflecting on two case studies and analysis from diagnostic ethical tools of analyzing personal decisions. The reflection contains self evaluation and the decisions that I would take when faced with different situation. Business ethics and sustainability subject have equipped me with several skills, knowledge, and change of attitudes when making decision in an organization. The subject has increased self awareness on making decisions that have impact on society, environment, and employees. I have been able to define the concepts of morality, ethics, and values. This has enabled understanding characteristics of moral standard and situation where n individual or an organization can be held accountable to their actions (Carroll, & Buchholtz, 2014). I have been also able to understand concepts of professionalism in relation to management. This has increased my knowledge and skills in making decisions that are ethical. It has also changed my attitude towards ethics, morals, and values when making decisions.

From this case study, I made several decision rating different individuals decisions from least objectionable of 1 to most objectionable of 6. First, I rated Ryan at 5. Ryan was at the centre of the actions that were in the case study. He made the decision to give bribe to Abdul in order to get a government deal. Ryan consulted his boss who advised not take the bribe but his close friend Angus give him encouraged him to get go ahead and give a bribe. The decision to give a give a bribe to customer in order to buy from a certain organization is an unethical. Ryan also did not take the advice of h9is boss and went ahead to bribe. Ryan was not honesty in his actions. Therefore, Ryan compromised the values and morals that are generally accepted. Secondly, I ranked Abdul at the most objectionable at 6. Abdul is the one whose decision to bribe started dragged other characters to the phenomenon. Abdul convinced Ryan that he would connect him to a government deal. He inquired a gold watch worth $10000 in return that led Ryan to lying so that he can get the deal through Abdul. Abdul actions were against the society norms because corruption is unacceptable in the society because it immoral. Thirdly, I ranked Charles at number 1 as the least objective. Charles was the Ryan’s boss and was against bribery to get preference from a customer. Charles advised Ryan not to give Abdul $ 10000 gold watch to get connection to a government deal. Therefore, Charles made an ethical decision and showed integrity in his position in the company (Groves, & LaRocca, 2011). Fourth, I ranked Angus at number 4. Angus encouraged Ryan to go ahead and buy the watch in order to secure the deal. Angus decision to encourage Ryan to undertake an immoral action was wrong. I ranked Angus at 4 because of the advice that encouraged Ryan to engage in unethical actions. On another account, I ranked Mr. Grey at number 3. Mr. Grey listened to Ryan and trusted his ability to repay the loan even with other pending credits. Mr. Grey was acted unprofessio0nal by allowing Ryan to take another loan without first repaying pending credit and failed to question the Ryan action to need funds urgently (Fisher, & Lovell, 2009). Therefore, I ranked Mr. Grey at the middle of the scale because he did might have acted on limited information on what Ryan was up to. Mr. Grey also acted unethical by supporting Ryan and Abdul plans financially. Lastly, I ranked Jane at number 2 in the scale. Jane reported Ryan to the Charles who took action to stop unethical behaviors. Jane did not face Ryan directly but when to report. The reason why I ranked Jane at number 2 to be least objective is because she took action to report to the manager.      

Analysis of Case Study Two

Ford used utlitarianism approach to make it decision one manufacturing and allowing Pinto car model to be sold. The approach was consequentialism and the management was interested in final results rather than the impact that the product will have to customers (Ford, & Richardson, 2013). The company focused on maintaining competition in the market. I strongly disagree with the decision that Ford made. The decision was unethical because it lacked fairness. The decision led to death of customers who used the vehicle. The decision was not made in good faith of the final user that led harming customers at the expense of the company getting more sales and becoming more competitive in the market. The top management of Ford, starting with the president, Lee Lacocca should take responsibility of Miss Gillespe death. The decision that the management made led to Miss Gillespe death by allowing selling of a vehicle that they had noticed that it had defects. If the vehicle had met the standards, I could not have exploded after being involved in a road accident that endangered the passengers and the driver in the car. The individual who allowed the progress of commercializing the vehicle were not honest and compromised the integrity of manufacturing vehicles (Woiceshyn, 2011). Therefore, the decisions undertake in the manufacturing and commercialization of Ford Pinto was unethical and caused threat to human life and the management should take responsibility about this accident.

The Moral Competency Inventory (MCI) helped analyze my morals in terms of beliefs and goals (DesJardins, 2011). I scored highest in taking responsibility of my decisions and accepting mistakes that I make. This is followed by telling truth, taking responsibility for serving others, and taking care about other people. Last in top three of the highest in the moral competencies worksheet were acting consistently with my values, beliefs and principles, keeping promises, standing for what is right, and letting other people go their mistakes. On the other side ranking from the lowest competences was the ability to let one go of own mistakes. The second lowest moral competencies are acting consistently to my principles, beliefs, and values, standing up for what is right, keeping promise, and letting other go mistakes. The third lowest moral competencies were ability embrace responsibility for servicing others, telling truth, and actively caring for others. My total MCI score mean was 83 that show that on average I have high moral competency. This means that I act in many ways consistently to my beliefs and goals (Rossouw et al., 2010).

Evaluation of Personal Decisions Using Diagnostic Ethical Tools

The personal values exercise helped me classify my personal values and how they relate in decision making (Crane, & Matten, 2016). From the Values Questionnaire Scoring Sheet, I scored highest in theoretical and economics at 94 and 87 respectively. This was followed by political at 83. Aesthetics ranked last at 45 followed by spiritual at 54. Social was at the middle with 59 unit score. The highest score in theoretical values showed my great emphases to know and discover truth. It also shows my love for understanding and relying on factual when discussing or making a certain decision. The economic value that ranked second in the personal values score showed my desire for successful wealth creation for my family and me. It also shows the pride that accord to material possession. For instance, I accord a lot of respect to materially successful people and organizations. Political values were ranked third that explains my desire for power as a leader. This also explains my desire influencer other people. The aesthetic value ranked the lowest shows my little interest in arts and literature. I hardly acknowledge beauty or harmony in arts or nature. The social and spiritual values were ranked at the middle showing my little emphasis to relationships and concerns for other people and little belief in supernatural world.

Conclusion

From the reflection on business ethics and sustainability and myself evaluation, I have been able to understand my morals and values that guide my decision. I was able to know that I have a high moral competence and my decisions align with my beliefs and goal. I was also able to understand my personal values that are highly influenced by theoretical, economical, and political values. I have also been able to recognize areas that I need improvement especially in social values and caring for others. The subject has widened my view to issues of ethical and sustainable decisions in organizations and the need to act professionally and be ready to take responsibility for decisions that I make.

References

Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Nelson Education.

Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.

DesJardins, J. R. (2011). An introduction to business ethics. McGraw-Hill.

Fisher, C., & Lovell, A. (2009). Business ethics and values: Individual, corporate and international perspectives. Pearson education.

Ford, R. C., & Richardson, W. D. (2013). Ethical decision making: A review of the empirical literature. In Citation classics from the Journal of Business Ethics (pp. 19-44). Springer Netherlands.

Groves, K. S., & LaRocca, M. A. (2011). An empirical study of leader ethical values, transformational and transactional leadership, and follower attitudes toward corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Ethics, 103(4), 511-528.

Rossouw, D., Van Vuuren, L., Ghani, A. H. A., & Adam, M. Z. A. (2010). Business ethics. Oxford University Press Southern Africa.

Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. John Wiley & Sons.

Woiceshyn, J. (2011). A model for ethical decision making in business: Reasoning, intuition, and rational moral principles. Journal of business Ethics, 104(3), 311-323.