Ethical Principles on Articles in the Netherlands - Case Study Example

Name Tutor Course Date Ethical Principles on Articles in Netherlands Introduction The principles of ethics are mainly concerned with the mode of operations of a company in relation of the values that are upheld. The values that are upheld by an organization are what determine the ethical principles (Ingham, 8). Management and employees of an organization also contribute to the values of the company. This is because the actions of the employees are as a result of the organizational culture. In the general society, the ethical principles are also important. The values of an individual in the society define the ethical principles of the society. This depends on the action that the society takes against an individual who commits a certain action that is related to the principles of ethics. The principles of ethics also contribute to the wellbeing of the employees and clients in an organizational set up. The same is also applicable in the society. This is because the actions of the leaders in the society can contribute to negative or positive impacts on the society. The maters related to the ethical principles are thus important when it comes to the shaping of the society. The concept of good and evil is also applicable in the principles of ethics. Several principles have been outlined for the purpose of determining the ethical principles within the society. The paper thus discusses the ethical principles in relation to six case studies from Netherlands. Evaluation and Assessment Article 1 Summary of the article Sharon who is the minister for economic affairs ordered an investigation in the Dutch meat sector. This was due to scandals that had rocked the sector. The members of the public had lounged complaints which prompted investigation to be carried out. There were fears that about fifty million kilograms of meat had been contaminated. The contamination is risky in terms of affecting the health of the consumers. There were also fears that the meat may have been mixed with horse flesh. A company named Oss was responsible for the sale of the meat to various local and international companies. However, the minister confirmed that the meat did not pose any health risk. Most of the meat had also been recalled by the inspectorate department and was no longer in the market. Ethical Principles Dignity The principle of dignity emphasizes the important of respecting the human live and also engaging in actions that promotes human development. Human health is one of the most important aspects of human development. Selling the contaminated meat to the members of public undermines the health of the people. Although the minister also confirmed that the horse meat is not harmful, mixing the flesh with that of the horse lowers the human dignity in terms of health. The company that was responsible for the distribution of the contaminated meat was not ethical. This is because it is supposed to ensure that all the tests have been done before the meat is sold to the public. Citizenship Citizenship is about the wellbeing of the other citizens and taking responsibility to ensure that the people live a good life. Sharon acted responsibly as a citizen of the country by ordering investigation into the scandal. The actions taken were also for the purpose of ensuring that the citizens do not consume the contaminated meat which has negative impacts on the health of the people. The actions of the minister was thus in the spirit of citizenship. The removal of the meat from the market ensured that the people did not consume the contaminated meat. Article 2 Summary of the article Bullying has become an issue of concern in the schools. This is after two of the students committed suicide due to bullying related issues. The issue of bullying are supposed to be tacked by the schools and inspects are supposed to come in when the schools fails to combat bullying. The report on bullying drew major lessons from the death of the two teenagers and hence the need for an urgent solution. There are suggestions that the teachers should be given more training with regards to the issues of bullying. The ministry of education is also experimenting on various techniques that are used to combat bullying. This is for the purpose of determining the best anti-bullying techniques. Ethical principles Citizenship The death of the two students is an indication of the failure of the teachers as well as the education officials from upholding the citizenship principles. This is because the parents always trust the teachers and hence leaving their children under their care. The teachers are supposed to ensure that they attend to the needs of the students and ensure that they are not bullied. Schools are supposed to come up with the policies that prevent the bullying of the students. The government should also support the schools in their quest to ensure that the proper legislations are in place to equip the teachers with the knowledge of combating bullying. The deaths of the students are thus the responsibility of the teachers and the government. Fiduciary This principle is about trust among the people in responsibility. The parents trust that the teachers are supposed to take care of their children. However, the teachers betrayed this trust by not following up on the issues affecting the students. Had the teachers been keen enough, they would have realized that the students had problems. The teachers thus broke the trust that the parents had placed on them. It is for this reason that the teachers are supposed to be more responsible as the lives of the students has been entrusted on them. The government also broke the trust of the parents as it failed to put in place adequate legislation to deal with the bullying menace in schools. Article 3 Summary of the article The article is about a farmer named Jasper who was being accused of murdering a sixteen year old girl named Vaatsra. The accused is undergoing trial and he was arrested after being identified through a DNA test carried out in his neighborhood. The suspect later admitted to have murdered the girl after raping her. He confessed that he saw the girl riding a bike and some thought forced him to rape the girl at a knife point. The accused also confessed to have slashed the victim three times on the throat after raping her. The trial is however still on going. Ethical principles Dignity The accused showed lack of dignity through his evil actions. Raping an underage girl is an indication that the accused did not respect the human dignity at all. Murdering her using a crude weapon is also indication of the cruelty of the accused. His action therefore amounts to criminal activities and lack of respect for the human life. Although the accused later confessed of the crime, the damage had already been done and he only confessed after he was cornered through the positive identified by the DNA test. Murder and rape are actions that undermine the woman dignity as well as the human dignity. Citizenship This principle requires the citizens to be responsible and to act in a manner that is acceptable in the society. The principle of citizenship encourages the citizens to uphold the rule of law. However, Jasper who is the accused committed a crime. Murder and rape is a crime in the society. The citizenship principles also require the citizens to ensure that they eradicate criminal activities in the society. Reliability The police however acted in a reliable manner. The principle of reliability entails honoring the commitments made. The police are committed to fighting crime and bringing perpetrators to justice. The action of the police in carrying out the DNA tests among the 6500 people is an indication of the lengths that the police can go in fighting crime and hence its reliability. Article 4 Summary of the article The minister of education noted that the students are not given adequate information regarding their courses. This has contributed to the unemployment rates in the country. Most of the students undergo courses that are not marketable. For instance, the animals care courses and the retail courses which have high levels of unemployment. On the other hand, the minister noted that in other sectors like the information technology has less number of students undertaking the courses. However, the current minister of education has emphasized that the courses that are not marketable will be reduced. The government is also set to invent millions for the purpose of combating unemployment among the youth. Ethical principles Fairness The principle of fairness is about ensuring that the stakeholders are treated fairly. The students in the colleges have a right to be given the right information regarding the employment prospects of the courses that they undertake. Most of the students end up being jobless as they are not given enough information regarding their courses. This is a failure of the colleges in terms of giving the students the right information. This amounts to misleading the students and hence ruining their lives as the courses subjects them to unemployment. The colleges are thus unfair to the students. Responsiveness This principle is about the access to information for the purpose of resolving the problems faced by individuals. The colleges do not provide the students wit information and hence exposing them to unemployment. This is an indication that the colleges are not concerned about the plight facing the students. However, the ministers are responsive to the plight facing the students. This is because the minister of education is advocating that the students should be provided with information regarding their courses and is even suggesting that some of the courses should be scrapped. Article 5 Summary of the article Citizenship tests were introduced in Dutch ten years ago. It requires the foreigners to undergo the test in order to be naturalized. However, according to a researcher who wrote a thesis according to the issues, it affects the integration process. Before the test was introduced, 29000 people became citizens of the country. However, after the test the number halved. This is due to the expensive nature of the tests. The test disadvantages the vulnerable groups like the refugees, the illiterate and the elderly. The high cost of the test therefore acts as a barrier for the naturalization of the vulnerable groups, Ethical principles Fairness The principle of fairness has been breached by the authorities. This is because the cost of carrying out the test is high. This is unfair to the vulnerable groups that cannot afford the tests so as to become the citizens. It is for this reason that the authorities are unfair in terms of limiting the number of people who want to become citizens. The high cost of the tests also gives undue advantage to those who can afford the high cost of the test while impacting negatively on the vulnerable groups. This has also contributed to the problems faced by the immigrants in the country. Citizenship The principle of citizenship has been violated by the authorities. This is because the foreigners are subjected to expensive that most of them cannot afford. This is despite their compliance with the rule of law. The principles also violets the freedom of human right. Despite the immigrants and foreigners obedience to the law, they still have to undergo the tests which make it difficult for them to gain citizenship. Article 6 Summary of the article The builders are facing a difficult time since most of the companies are sacking them. They are being replaced by cheap labor from foreigners. Some of the have even told the union that the companies had approached them with different terms which were cheaper. Those in permanent employment are also being sacked and replaced by the cheap labor. According to the union which interviewed about 1,500 builders, it was established that 53% of those employed are freelancers. The unemployment rate is currently at 50,000 builders and it is set to rise to 70,000 builders in future according to the union. Parliament is however going to discuss the unemployment problem facing the industry. Ethical principles Fiduciary principle This principle is about trust and loyalty. The companies involves did not act in the best interest of the employees. This is through sacking them and replacing them with cheaper labor. This is an indication that the companies do not value the efforts and loyalty of the employees. This issue led to the higher rates of unemployment in the industry. It is thus evident that the actions of the employers led to an economic and social problem in the country Reliability The actions of the company proved that the companies cannot be relied upon. This is because the companies ended up sacking the employees despite the fact that it had offered them permanent employment. It is thus evident that the companies cannot be relied upon in terms of honoring their contract. The companies cannot be relied upon in terms of solving the unemployment issues in the sector. Dignity This principle is about respecting the other people and enhancing the human development. The companies instead hindered the human development by sacking the employees. Hiring cheap labor is also lowering the human dignity. This is because the companies also took advantage of the foreigners who were desperate and hence hired them cheaply. Lessons learned Several lessons were learned from the case study on the principles of ethics. One of the major lessons learned is that the ethical problems may be caused by individuals as well as institutions. The failure of an individual from observing the principles of ethics always results to problems in the society. Some of the problems and evils in the society are due to the failure of the individuals to observe the principles of ethics. Rape and murder are examples of evil in the society that is caused by poor ethics. The failure of institutions to observe the principles of ethics also results to evil in the society. Thos ends up affecting the individuals and the society. The individuals may be greatly affected and their future may as well be affected due to the failures of the institutions. The oppressions of the citizens can also result from the failure of the government to put in place measures to ensure that the ethical principles are upheld. On the other hand, the ethical principles can make changes in the society when the authorities maintain the ethical principles. The ethical principles also affect the business operations when they are not maintained. It is thus important for the individuals, institutions and the government to ensure that the ethical principles are maintained (Greenhough, 44). Recommendations In order to improve the ethics education in the UAE, it is important to ensure that all the stakeholders are involved in the process of promoting the ethical principles. The principles of ethics should be taught in schools from the beginning to ensure that the children understand the importance of being ethical in their operations. This should be reinforced by the society which should also play an active role in teaching the ethical principles. The religious societies should also emphasize on the importance of ethical principles. Companies and business organizations must ensure that the employees are trained on the ethical principles and their important. The government should also ensure that its officials make proper decisions that have positive impacts on the ethical values. This will play an important role in improving the ethical standards in the society. On the other hand, it is important t to ensure that stern action is taken against those who violate the principles of ethics. The government should also be made responsible when it violets the principles of ethics through its officials. Conclusion In conclusion, it is evident that the different case studies had different ethical implications. However, it is evident that the lack of upholding the ethical principles has led to different outcomes for the individuals and the companies involved. In cases where the ethical principles were upheld, the results were good. However, where the ethical principles were breached, the results were negative for the concerned parties. It is thus important to note that the ethical principles play an important role in ensuring that the society in terms of ensure g harmony and good relationship among the people. The impact of breaching one of the ethical principles has severe consequences for the people concerned. It is also evident that the ethical issues are what determine the status of the society. The government institutions should also ensure that the ethical principles are not breached so as to avoid impacting negatively on the lives of the citizens. Works Cited Ingham, Janis C., "Ethical Principles Associated with the Publication of Research in ASHA's Scholarly Journals: Importance and Adequacy of Coverage." Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 54.1 (2011). Greenhough, Beth. "From ethical principles to response-able practice." Environment and planning. D, Society and space 28.1 (2010): 43. 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However, the minister confirmed that the meat did not pose any health risk. Most of the meat had also been recalled by the inspectorate department and was no longer in the market. Ethical Principles Dignity The principle of dignity emphasizes the important of respecting the human live and also engaging in actions that promotes human development. Human health is one of the most important aspects of human development. Selling the contaminated meat to the members of public undermines the health of the people.

Although the minister also confirmed that the horse meat is not harmful, mixing the flesh with that of the horse lowers the human dignity in terms of health. The company that was responsible for the distribution of the contaminated meat was not ethical. This is because it is supposed to ensure that all the tests have been done before the meat is sold to the public. Citizenship Citizenship is about the wellbeing of the other citizens and taking responsibility to ensure that the people live a good life.

Sharon acted responsibly as a citizen of the country by ordering investigation into the scandal. The actions taken were also for the purpose of ensuring that the citizens do not consume the contaminated meat which has negative impacts on the health of the people. The actions of the minister was thus in the spirit of citizenship. The removal of the meat from the market ensured that the people did not consume the contaminated meat. Article 2 Summary of the article Bullying has become an issue of concern in the schools.

This is after two of the students committed suicide due to bullying related issues. The issue of bullying are supposed to be tacked by the schools and inspects are supposed to come in when the schools fails to combat bullying. The report on bullying drew major lessons from the death of the two teenagers and hence the need for an urgent solution. There are suggestions that the teachers should be given more training with regards to the issues of bullying. The ministry of education is also experimenting on various techniques that are used to combat bullying.

This is for the purpose of determining the best anti-bullying techniques. Ethical principles Citizenship The death of the two students is an indication of the failure of the teachers as well as the education officials from upholding the citizenship principles. This is because the parents always trust the teachers and hence leaving their children under their care. The teachers are supposed to ensure that they attend to the needs of the students and ensure that they are not bullied. Schools are supposed to come up with the policies that prevent the bullying of the students.

The government should also support the schools in their quest to ensure that the proper legislations are in place to equip the teachers with the knowledge of combating bullying. The deaths of the students are thus the responsibility of the teachers and the government. Fiduciary This principle is about trust among the people in responsibility. The parents trust that the teachers are supposed to take care of their children. However, the teachers betrayed this trust by not following up on the issues affecting the students.

Had the teachers been keen enough, they would have realized that the students had problems. The teachers thus broke the trust that the parents had placed on them. It is for this reason that the teachers are supposed to be more responsible as the lives of the students has been entrusted on them. The government also broke the trust of the parents as it failed to put in place adequate legislation to deal with the bullying menace in schools. Article 3 Summary of the article The article is about a farmer named Jasper who was being accused of murdering a sixteen year old girl named Vaatsra.

The accused is undergoing trial and he was arrested after being identified through a DNA test carried out in his neighborhood. The suspect later admitted to have murdered the girl after raping her.

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