Business Law and Ethics - Case Study Example

Business Law and Ethics Why a Business should be ethically concerned? There are several reasons, which enforce the ethical concerns for any business. If any organization is not following business ethics then it will not take much time to reach the legal edges or boundaries and working on legal boundaries is always dangerous for the organizations. Another reason for ethical concerns is that the unethical behavior may disappoint customers and many other stakeholders. In this way, public will not accept such organizations because in this era of technology, nothing can be hide and due to media everything is exposed to the public. Therefore, the business cannot survive in the negligence of stakeholders and the public (The Importance of Ethical Culture, 2). Another important reason for being an ethical organization is that investors may feel comfort while investing their funds in the business. When we talk about strong and weak ethical cultures then there are very much clear symptoms, which portray the nature of ethical concerns in the business. These symptoms are actually the strategies of the top management who want to make a good image of their organization in the business. Contrary to them, there are certain other managers, who are not concerned about the public image of their organization and they just focus on the massive production. Mangers may plan to avoid any kind of professional scandals or controversies, which may highlight them in the market. These mangers always try to fulfill the legal requirements of the business so that they may enjoy a Government support on their back in the severe conditions or circumstances. These managers always try to opt choices or preferences, which are generally considered good in the society so that it may add up to their public image. These are some of the strategies of the managers to make a strong ethical culture. 2. Importance of Trust in Business Ethical Culture: When we talk about business ethics then the element of trust is one of the main and we can say important ingredient or constituent. Trust provides a strong base for maintaining the business relationships. During the daily operations, any business have to deal with the clients, suppliers, customers, employees, shareholders and many other stakeholders. In all of these business relationships, trust plays an important role. If any business may deceive any of the stakeholders then the whole perception or the image of the organization in the market may get damage (Khan 2). 3. Ford Pinto Case Analysis a) According to my opinion, when the mangers at the Ford Company knew the danger of the faulty fuel tanks in their newly designed products, then it is very much unethical to do any cost-benefit analysis. It seems that Ford wants to do a cost and benefit analysis in the replacement of many people who are anxious to buy the first Fort Pinto car. b) In this situation of Ford Pinto Case analysis, the cost and benefit analysis play the same role as we say the rule of profit maximization. The rule of profit maximization says the taking care of profits irrespective of anything else is similar that we may do a cost analysis when we are aware of the fact that there are human lives involved in the situation. c) The managers should do a detailed analysis on the design and features of the product before taking any final decision. If the product safety may fall short behind the ethical boundary then it will be difficult for the business to cover up the losses in the form of bad image of the company in the market. 4. Pinto Case Study: a) The ethical issue in the Ford Pinto case study is the faulty fuel tanks in the newly launched product and the top management is fully aware of the faults. The top most ethical conflict was the rejection of the Incharge of Ford Pinto to adopt any additional cost of giving the safety measures in the product. The most affected stakeholders of this unethical act are the customers who are willing to buy the newly launched Ford Pinto. Including them, many other stakeholders are also affected by this decision of Ford. b) If I would be in the situation then I may try to apply that additional $11 cost for saving the lives of the potential users of Ford. Because in case of second option, the Ford Company may get a better image of a responsible company in the market that they are paying attention to the repairing issues of the cars but the cost will be higher as compare to $11 in the initial investment. 5. Observation of Unethical Conduct at the Work: According to my opinion, there are many factors, which may force me to whistle about the unethical issues for any business. For example if any business is not at all concerned about their relationships with the stakeholders then it means that they are not ethical or social. They just focus on the mass production. Many businesses do not focus on the environment friendly operations; this is an alarming situation for the business as unethical act. Not only customers but the employees are also very important for the organization and if the mangers are not taking care of the employees then they are not at all ethical from business point of view. 6. Green Company Ethics Case: The operations of the Green Company are highly involved with the environment sustainability. The operations of the company should be designed in such a way that they may not harm the environment in any way. There can be many ways to reduce the activities or the actions, which are directly affecting the natural environment. All the employees should be aware of the fact that their operations are continuously disturbing the natural atmosphere and thus there is need of modification in the operational strategies. Therefore, they may change their concerns towards the environment sustainability. 7. Dilemma of Friend: If I put this situation on the ethical check then on an honest note, I may get three answers that it is illegal; it is not at all balanced because of the copied work. Moreover, I may feel a little guilt of involving in an illegal work. Because of these three checks, I should say that the situation or my friend is not at all doing an ethical activity. He is cheating his teacher by presenting a copied work. 8. Adoption Case: The additional cash payment is not at all justified from the business point of view, because they have announced that the adoption fee is $15000. Then there is no need to pay any extra amount but the final pick up of the baby infant is conditioned with the payment of additional $2500, which is not ethical from my point of view. On the other hand if we think about the benefits to the poor Hispanic baby infants who may get a new home to live and a family to live with, then the additional payment may seem justified. If I were in place of Libda then I may proceed with the adoption process and ignore the burden of additional payment. Works cited ‘The Importance of Ethical Culture’, Supplemental Research Brief, (September 12, 2009), National Business Ethics Survey, Khan, Ayesha. ‘The Impact of Ethical Organizational Culture on The Performance of The Organization’, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, Volume 3, Issue 9, (January 10, 2012), page 976 – 986 Read More