Ethical Decision Making and Leadership as Portrayed in the End of the Line Film - Essay Example

? MANAGERIAL DECISION MAKING AND CHANGE of Managerial Decision Making and Change AReport on Ethical Decision Making and Leadership as Portrayed in the End of the Line Film Overview End of the Line is a documentary film directed by Rupert Murray that focuses on the implications of overfishing across the world. The film is portraying how fishing in modern times is leading to ocean ecosystems destruction. The film shows that the current consumption of fish in the world is very high thereby resulting to overfishing. It shows the fishing communities in the Mediterranean who are long- established being endangered. There is also evidence that the young fishermen in Senegal can no longer compete with the international fleets whose technology is more advanced, hence depriving them the ability to feed their families. Additionally, it reveals that Newfoundland is almost running out of cod despite its fish- rich waters attracting legions of migrants in the past. Apart from these parts of the globe, the film also reveals how overfishing has caused local disparities and corporate iniquities in China, Japan, Malta, and Gibraltar. The film not only examines the likely adverse consequences of overfishing to the climate, marine life, and human livelihoods, but also provides potential remedies to these consequences such as reducing the number of fishing fleets (Murray, 2010). According to Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] (2012, p. 5), the fishing industry is a significant contributor to the world economy, particularly with regard to human food consumption and provision of input factors in some industrial processes. Besides, the industry is a source of livelihood to over 600 million people across the world. Sutherland and Canwell (2011, p. 28) note, fishing industry has three major sectors. The first one is the commercial sector that involves individuals and enterprises that are associated with aquaculture resources and transformations of these resources into sale products. The second sector is recreational sector that is made up of individuals and enterprises that use fishing for purposes of sport or recreation. The third sector is the traditional sector that comprises individuals and enterprises that use or derive fisheries resources in accordance with their respective traditions (McGowan, 2003, p. 35). Unfortunately, as it can be seen from the movie, overfishing threatens all these sectors of fishing industry. Ethical Issues in Fishing Industry Fishing industry and the policies that govern it has a wide impact to the living conditions of significant number of people in the world. Fishing is a very crucial source of employment, social and economic benefits, food, and foundation of traditions and cultures (Barnett, 2006, p. 116). Despite the realization that fisheries resources can be depleted, these resources were treated as though they are inexhaustible. However, the recent increase in demand of fish and fish products across the world has brought to light the need to consider how fisheries resources are treated (Vasil'ev, 2011, p. 30). Most expert opinions and researches have indicated that fisheries resources cannot be sustainable in the long run (Kaiser & Forsberg, 2001, p. 191). Out of these facts, ethical issues in fisheries have arisen and they relate to ecosystem and human wellbeing. Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] (2005) has discussed the right to food, overfishing, ecosystem degradation, poverty as the main ethical issues facing fishing industry. i) Right to Food The first ethical issue in fisheries as noted by FAO is the right to food. FAO observes that fish is a major source of both nutrition and livelihood to millions of poorest people in the world (FAO, 2005, p. 9). Responding to wide spread and persistent hunger, the 1996 Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the World Food Summit Plan of Action reiterated the right of every person to sufficient food and the basic right to be free from hunger as stipulated in the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Srinivasan, Cheung, Watson, & Sumaila, 2010, p. 188). Unfortunately, the rapid increase of international fish trade is raising serious ethical concern particularly to the right to food to the poor people. International fish trade and overfishing in particular is diminishing the stock of fish hence reducing the poor people’s ability to meet the basic need to food. Bhardwaj, Maekawa and Niimura (2003, p. 499) argues that as the international fish trade continues to boom, the ability to obtain adequate food by the world’ poorest people who solely depend on fish as a major nutritional supplement declines. End of the Line film revealed this concern; for instance, young fishermen in Senegal were filmed competing with international fleets that are more technologically advanced hence making them unable to feed their families. The same situation was also witnessed in Malta and China. ii) Overfishing and Ecosystem Degradation The second ethical issue in fisheries is overfishing and ecosystem degradation. According to FAO (2005, p. 10), sustainable fisheries exists well in healthy ecosystems. Increasing pollution and unsustainable fisheries have threatened biodiversity which has resulted to the decline in fish stocks in addition to threatening life in the world’s oceans. Sandoe, Gamborg, Kadri and Millar (2009, p. 2870) explains that fish stocks decline has numerous adverse effects such as disruption of traditional and cultural ways of life, depletion of food supply from the ocean, and economic loss especially to the fishers. FAO statistics shows that nearly 50% of the world’s fisheries resources have been exploited fully, about 25% are likely to support high rates of exploitation, and 25% have been overexploited (FAO, 2005, P. 11). From the End of the Line Film, it was clear that modern technology and need to overfish in order to satisfy the world’s high fish demands has led to ecosystem degradation thus threatening the sustainability of fisheries resources. iii) Poverty Additionally, poverty is considered as a major ethical issue in fisheries because it constitutes a vital source of livelihoods for significant section of the world population. The ethical issue of poverty in fisheries arise considering the fact that 95% of the world’s fishers are from developing countries where economic structures are weak and most people still grappling with the challenge of poverty (Goldberg, 2006, 419). Therefore, any practices or policies that interfere with this economic activity has huge implications as far as poverty is concerned since fishing families will be deprived their main source of livelihood thus aggravating poverty. This issue is well captured in the End of the Line film where the economic disparities of local communities and international companies undertaking fishing in large scale are highlighted. The case in point was where the Senegal fishermen were no longer able to compete with international fleets and were contemplating to move to Europe. Ultimately, such situations aggravate the problem of poverty for fishing families while the international fisheries corporations are enriching themselves (Clover, 2008, p. 42). Utilitarianism Theory The theory behind decision making in relation to the ethical issues raised in the End of the Line film is utilitarianism. Mill (2002, p. 13) that this theory maintains that the moral standards of individuals or corporations should always aim at promoting the best and most appropriate long- term interests of everyone concerned or affected by that act(s). The theory is based on the principle that actions should provide the greater ratio of good to people. In addition, the theory puts emphasis on the interests of the whole society rather than individual interests; in case of conflict of interest between individual entities and the society, the society’s interest is paramount, and as such the individual interests should be subjugated (Smart and William, 1999, p. 56). According to Martin (2008, p. 228), there are two types of utilitarianism; rule utilitarianism and act utilitarianism. Rule utilitarianism entails how past experiences guides person’s or society’s present actions towards achieving the good. On the other hand, act utilitarianism determines how a society’s current situation determines their act towards good or wrong. Justification The theory of utilitarianism is justified to be used in decision making in relation to the ethical issues raised in the film. The theory can be used to examine the activities in the fishing industries and if they are promoting the best long- term interests of all. It will also examine the activities in regard to whether they are promoting the interest of the entire society or the interest of the individual persons and corporations (Renouard, 2011, p. 85). Also, it is crucial in determining whether the activities in the fishing industry are influenced by the society’s or individuals current situations or their past experiences. When the theory is applied to the film, it is evidently clear that overfishing does not promote the best long- term interests of everyone. It can also be seen that overfishing is promoting the interest of individual corporations and persons rather than that of the society; overfishing results to increased fish companies’ profits but at the same time degrade ecosystem, diminish the right to food of the world’s poorest, and contribute to increased poverty level especially in developing countries (Mill, 2010). Implications of Managing in the Industry on the Ethical Issues The implications of the main ethical issues in fisheries that have arisen from the film in managing the fishing industry are immense and challenging. As noted, there are three main ethical issues in fisheries arising namely; overfishing and degradation of ecosystem, the right to food, and poverty. In the light of these issues, managing of fishing industry should be guided by the need to address them subsequently leading to more benefits from the industry than harm. The film shows that overfishing diminishes the fish stocks across the world and threatening ocean’s life as well. Therefore, managing this industry should aim at addressing the issue of overfishing and degradation of ecosystem; for example, management should reduce the purchase of fish in their respective companies in order to prompt the fishing corporations to undercut fishing because demand has declined (Roy, Arnason, & Schrank, 2009, p. 676). Apart from that, the management can look for alternative ways of meeting their customers’ demand for fish and fish products such as developing fish ponds. On managing fishing industry in the light of the right to food as an ethical issue in fisheries, it is important to ensure that the source of nutrition to millions of the world’s poorest people is not interfered with. Management in the industry should have a mechanism that ensures that reliance on fish from developing countries is reduced drastically to avoid depriving the population there of their main source of nutrition (Smith, 2005, p. 309). Just like it was the case with overfishing issue, undercutting demand for fish is the most critical approach to addressing this ethical issue. Development of alternatives particularly in developed countries of how to meet customers’ fish demand should be given utmost priority. Organizations dealing with fish and fish products should find a way of supplementing their demand for fish; the most appropriate way to achieve this is through construction of their own fish ponds. FAO (2005) advises that the strategies should not be focused on meeting the demand only; the management can find ways of helping those in need of food especially in developing countries through their corporate social responsibility. Management of large companies dealing in fish business can allocate certain amount of their revenues towards such initiatives targeting regions where fish is harvested and fish also happens to be the main source of nutrition (Kaiser, & Forsberg, 2001, p. 191). It is no doubt that poverty is a main ethical issue in fisheries especially in reference to developing countries where majority of fishers come from and dependence of fishing as a source of livelihood is high. FAO survey shows that fishers are concentrated in developing countries where nearly 95% of fishers in the world live (FAO, 2012). Due to inappropriate and unethical fishing policies and practices, most of these fishers have been deprived of their main source of income which eventually contributes to poverty. The fact that most of these fishers are small- scale further complicates the situation because they cannot match the fishing capabilities of international fleets employing advanced technology in fishing (Clover, 2008, p. 28). It is therefore critical that managing of fishing industry should have a broader consideration to this issue. As seen in the film, international companies are making huge profits at the expense of the fishers. Management of fishing industry should seek to reverse this trend, although it may not achieve the reversal entirely, small- scale fishers should be rewarded handsomely as well. It can achieve this by providing funding to these fishers or by buying directly from the small- scale fishers (Smith, 2005, p. 308). This will go a long way in ensuring that the fishers’ main source of income is sustained. Leadership and Vision Leadership and vision are very critical aspects of management. They play important role in facilitating achievement of goals and objectives in any business entity. Nanus (2002, p. 20) argues that the success and failure of any entity largely depends on leadership and vision; successful entities are usually characterized by effective leadership and vision. It is important to note that leadership and vision are inextricably linked (Integral Leadership Review, 2009, p. 3). End of the Line film has brought to light pertinent ethical issues that relate to the fishing industry. It is important that these issues are not ignored but rather given the attention they deserve. Any attempt to ignore them will be detrimental in the long- run. The film which was based on informed information and expertise knowledge predicted that if the issues in the fishing industry are not addressed, the world will see the end of seafood by 2048. Therefore, leadership and vision is needed for success of the industry in the future especially in the face of ethical issues that have arisen from the film. The leadership in the fishing industry should have vision so as to see the present situation in the industry and formulate ways of addressing the issues and challenges that are inhibiting the growth and continued existence of the industry (Gilbert, 2010, p. 6). Additionally, the industry requires leadership and vision in order to mobilize resources towards addressing these issues. The film prompts attention to ethical issues with strong emphasis on overfishing. In order to address the issues arising from holistically and preventing it reoccurrence, it is important that political, social, and economic perspectives be considered. Leadership and vision will be critical will be vital in bringing together all concerned persons in the aforementioned spheres. This is because resolving the challenges brought about by overfishing requires the efforts and commitment political, social, and economic players (Montana and Charnov 2008, p. 19). Future Proposals In the light of the ethical issues discussed, this report makes the following future proposals in regard to leadership and vision for the fishing industry based on the ethical issues raised. One, it is important that awareness should be raised on the dangers of overfishing across the world. Two, all players in the fishing industry should make a commitment towards ethical fishing practices that does not promote overfishing. Three, alternative means (alternative to fishing in ocean and sea) of meeting high fish demand should be adopted. Four, limit on quantity of fishing at a single fishing session should be placed. Lastly, punitive measures should be put in place for those who violate ethical fishing policies and practices. 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