Qualitative Methods in Business Ethics †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Qualitative Methods in Business Ethics. Answer: Ethical dilemma-3 Putting myself in the position of the product manager of the confectionery company, I would have been surprised with the manufacturing or production process of the toys by the Thai manufacturer. I would have also thought it to be necessary to visit the manufacturing unit of the toy company with whom I would be planning to make a deal or contract. I would have been startled and surprised by finding that the manufacturing process of the company is carried on in the absence of any specific infrastructure of the company. It is really astonishing that the workforce who basically comprises of families reaches out at the gate of the company at 6 am to receive the raw materials that are required to make the toys. The large boxes containing the raw materials are taken to their respective homes where to entire family is engaged in making the toys. That would definitely surprise me at the level of effective and efficient operational process of the company without any particular operational infr astructure (Akrivou Bradbury-Huang, 2015). If I would have been in the position of the product manager of the company, my immediate decision would have been to make the deal by materializing the paper work related to the contract. The toy manufacturing company of Thailand could make such quality products by such limited workforce without the actual infrastructure, and then in the presence of a better infrastructure, the company would be able to produce a wide range of products. I would have made the deal and would have ordered for the first phase of products to be sent to my company. A universal code of Ethics is very much essential to be applicable in this case as there could have been rules and regulations regarding the not exploitation or employment of child workforce in any kind of organization. The code of Ethics is very much possible in his case which would be very much effective in streamlining the operations and involvement of children. Who Cares Whose Shares? The main ethical issues that come into play, in this case, is my dilemma of keeping the news confidential regarding the content of ltheal components in one of the best selling herbicides of PCC and the sharing of the news with the close friend with whom the relationship is based on trust. If I would inform my friend Freddie about the research findings that are ultimately going to be revealed in some days, then my friend would start to sell his shares and would also insist his friends his friends to sell them. This way I would be breaching the confidentiality of the meeting that was vested in me and if I do not reveal the facts to Freddie, then the trust that my friend has on me would be spoiled (Castro, 2016). The main stakeholders, in this case, would be my friend, Freddie, his friends, me and all those people who have invested in the shares of PCC. Once, an individual invests in the shares, he becomes a very important aspect for the company. If Freddie and his friends and the other shareholders come to know about the ltheal content which is going to be released in the news shortly, would lead to selling of the shares which would decrease the market value of the company (Crane Matten, 2016). I would ultimately decide to keep the information to myself and maintain the confidentiality of the company as I find that the news regarding the ltheal content would be released to the public anyway. Thus, when one is being asked to maintain the confidentiality of the aspects that are discussed in the work environment, one should abide by it. Thus, I would not share the news with my friend, Freddie and let him know the news with time. There is a difference of ethics between acting myself on the information which I was provided and passing the information to Freddie. According to the ethics of the company, I should not be revealing the information to anybody. While in other hand, there is an ethical difference between my Freddie acting on the information and passing the information to his clients as if he passes the information to his clients without any specific publication of news regarding the facts, then that would not be appropriate and acceptable by the clients to act on. The decision that is vested primarily on regarding whtheer to pass the information to my friend Freddie would determine everything (Cumming, Hou Lee, 2016). The involvement of Code of Ethics is very much required to be implemented here as it would help in making a strict decision of whtheer to reveal the facts to the friend or maintain the confidentiality. It is very much possible to frame the Code of Ethics in the regarding maintaining the disclosure of facts and internal information of the company. Off Your Face on Facebook The main ethical issues, in this case, are associated with the appointment of two candidates and making a decision regarding the suitability and preferences of which candidate to be chosen. The first candidate is very sociable and appears to have very reliable with good social skills due to which she can manage various relations between the clinics, approving authorities and coordinate activities between various departments. She happens to be very qualified also (Ferrell Fraedrich, 2015). The second candidate better than the first candidate and happens to have work experience but appears to have a habit of consuming alcohol and illegal drugs in heavy quantity. The second candidate also happens to post some inappropriate picture on the social sites. The ethical dilemma arises as the qualification of the later candidate is better but is not socially suitable for the profile. The main ethical arguments, in this case, are regarding the appropriation of using or considering the social sites as a measure for the analysis of the suitability of recruitment of candidate. Social sites act as a window of the manner a candidate is leading or managing her social and public life (Hansen, et al., 2015). Thus, judging the candidate on the basis of the social sites profiles is appropriate or assessing a candidate by the work performance and credibility that he or she carries theoughout his or her career has to be decided by the potential employers. Yes, maintaining my profile at the social sites would be now important for me as the employers are assessing the candidates theough various social sites which are relevant nowadays. Efforts will always be given in maintaining an impressive public profile on different social sites. As the manager of the human resource of the company, I would make the decision regarding the assessment of the public profile on the social sites. As the profile that the vacancy is associated with the department of product approval in the pharmacy company, it would not be appropriate to hire such a candidate who has a history of consuming illegal drugs and alcohol (Helin, 2013). Such kind of information would be spreading very fast in the work environment where the doubts regarding the trust in the product approval will arise as it would be handled by the particular candidate. It would not be suitable for the management to hire such a candidate in the drugs and pharmaceutical company as people the whole work environment would start having discussions regarding the social issues which will affect the environment of work in the company (Lashley, 2016). The implementation of the Code of Ethics is very much applicable in this case which would have helped in making clear criteria for the selection of the candidates. The possibilities of devising Code of Ethics in the recruitment criteria are very wide. Organic Food The case study deals with the prevalent scenario of the trend of premium organic food and the analysis of the market for organic food industry. The trend of organic food is flooding the market with varieties of organic labelled vegetables, fruit, meats and eggs. Consumers in most of the countries in the world are demanding to have food products of organic standards. This has propelled certain individuals and organizations as a whole in propelling the business towards unethical attitude towards gaining profit by initiating the manufacturing and supplying food products with fake logos, seals and certification claims of dealing with organic food supplies. The food organizations are not considering the ethical standards that should be maintained in respect of the chemicals used for the production and the ethical ingredients. The governments of many countries have been overlooking the actual organic standards that are supposed to be maintained by various food manufacturing and supply orga nizations. Right from the genetic modification of the seeds to the supply of fully overgrown food product, all the countries need to maintain the authentic organic standards of food. In this case, it needs to mandate the application of a set of Universal Code of Ethics that would actually regulate the manufacturing and supply process of the real and authentic food materials all across the world. The application of universal Code of Ethics is very much important in this case as the concern is regarding the food which has to be in-taken by all the human population of the world. In order to create a healthy world, it is the most important aspect that the human population needs to be healthy and active along with maintaining the sustainability of the world environment. In order to materialize the health and sustainability of human population as well as the world environment respectively, it is very much crucial to devise the Universal Code of Ethics for organic food manufacturing as soon as possible. Uzbek cotton: The main actors in the cotton industries are the farmers and the government of the countries that produce the cotton along with all the countries of which cotton is exported. The main players in the export and import of cotton in the world are Uzbekistan, UK, India, Australia, Brazil, Russia and Bangladesh. The process or stages of farming is the prime stage for obvious reasons in the manufacturing of cotton (Quarshie, SalmiLeuschner, 2016). The yarn is produced where the mixing of cotton with other fibers is either done or avoided as required. After mixing of the cotton, the bales are formed. These bales are then collected and categorized for domestic use and exports to different countries. Approaches that were adopted by the Western brands to deal with the violation of human rights in the supply chain of cotton by Uzbek is the policy of banning the import of cotton from Uzbek which involved brands like Tesco, Asda, Swedish chain HM, Marks Spencer, Levi's and Gap. The boycott was announced as there were child labour and exploitation of the children as manual labours who were used to work in the cotton fields during the harvest of cotton and closing the educational institutional which put their education to a halt. These children were belonging to the age below 16 years (Reinecke, Arnold Palazzo, 2016). Thus, the western brands in the Western countries had denied accepting any import of cotton by Uzbek till the child labour is not ceased. This approach was not successful to the major extent as most of the rates of child labour did not decrease in Uzbekistan in-spite of the fact that the exports to the Western countries did reduce to a large scale. The major importers of Uzbek cotton are the countries in Asia and Russia and the expansion of the markets for export of Uzbek cotton spread to South Korea, China, and Bangladesh. Thus, the supply to the foreign countries was carried on and the demand for Uzbek cotton did not lessen which did not result in the complete eradication of child labour in the harvest of cotton (Sybille David, 2016). Thus, it cannot be said that the approach of a boycott by the Western brands regarding the imports of Uzbek cotton was successful as the prime intention of the approach was to stop the exploitation of the children and stop child labour. According to me, the Western countries have significantly contributed their ethical duties and responsibilities regarding the stopping of child labour by approaching the ban strategy. The alternative that these countries can work on togtheer is by appealing to the International Human Rights Organization to take immediate action regarding the issue. If I was a part of a group that as working for the eradication of the child and forced labour I would have approached the International Human Rights Organization and brought the matter into consideration initially. In the local part, I would have tried to spread awareness among the parents and authorities regarding the importance of education and ill effects of child labour both the present and future of the children as well as the society as a whole (Wymer Rundle-Thiele, 2016). The universal Code of Ethics in this context would be very much effective as all the countries would be bind to a particular set of business practice which would also include the policies regarding the restrictions regarding the employment and exploitation of child labour. The scope and possibilities for the implementation of the universal Code of Ethics is vast. References Akrivou, K. and Bradbury-Huang, H., 2015. Educating integrated catalysts: Transforming business schools toward ethics and sustainability.Academy of Management Learning Education,14(2), pp.222-240. Castro, R.B., 2016. Business Ethics and Sustainability. Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016.Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press. Cumming, D., Hou, W. and Lee, E., 2016. Business Ethics and Finance in Greater China: Synthesis and Future Directions in Sustainability, CSR, and Fraud.Journal of Business Ethics,138(4), pp.601-626. 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