Ethical Fading, White Collar Criminal - Report Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Activity 5 2 Activity 6 3 Activity 7 3 Activity 8 4 Activity 9 5 Activity 10 6 Activity 11 7 Activity 12 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction This report looks to present a discussion for the different weekly activities which has been carried out. The discussion has been provided based on different readings, videos and materials so that complete and correct information can be provided which will help to carry out the weekly discussion in a proper and sequential manner. Activity 5 Ethical fading is a situation where the person emotions take controls over the person and forces him to carry out activities which might have been otherwise avoided. It confronts to a situation where psychological needs dominates the process of thinking and forces people to take decisions which are unethical (Birkman & Peattie, 2008). This can also be looked from the view point of moral disengagement where the mind suddenly shuts off what is wrong and right and thereby looks to act in a manner through which unethical decisions are taken. I have witnessed a situation in my class where knowing that I was marking my friend as present in the class when he was absent. This was a situation I knew was incorrect but I acted because this would enable me to ask my friend to do so for me as I needed to visit a place for which I needed some holidays and the process would enable me to achieve it. The situation which I committed was one which I acted for my friend so that it serves in my better interest but I feel regretted for it now as it was unethical and when my turn came to demand the same from my friend he didn’t comply with it. This clearly shows a situation of ethical fading which leads towards realizing that something incorrect has been carried out which is unethical. Activity 6 People who are primed to think about the business profits would take decisions considering the short term gains which will be obtained and will not focus on the long term perspective and the impact it will have on a larger picture. This impacts the work life because the manner in which things are framed and communicated might make people act in a manner which would have been otherwise avoided and leads towards unethical ways. This complicates life and makes it difficult to arrive at a correct decision which is ethical. A situation which made me think and act in such a manner influenced my thought as one of the shops was giving discount of 50 + 50 percent. I was happy to purchase the same as I was getting a huge discount and ignored stuffs which were giving me a similar discount of 75%. This shows that framing creates different impressions and makes people take decisions differently. Politicians and advertisers use the process of framing to influence the behaviour of people by highlighting what they communicate so that the behaviour of people can be changed. This thereby helps politicians and advertisers to ensure that people act as they want and are able to get the desired result from people (Boatright, 2007). The process will also create an adverse impact in the workplace as people can be influenced to act differently. Playing with words and framing things might make people act in an unethical manner which might have been otherwise avoided thereby impacting the working culture to a large degree. Activity 7 A white collar criminal will be someone who will be doubted with suspicion and will always create questions regarding his integrity. A famous white collar criminal will be someone for me who acts in an unfair manner so that the gains are maximized for him and doesn’t looks to be ethical (DesJardins, 2008) White collar criminals are often described by the neighbour as a good person or a family person because of the fact that the different decisions which he has taken is because of the situational factor which has forced him to do so. Otherwise the neighbour knows the person well and would have not acted in an unethical manner but since the situation demands such a thing so such decisions have been taken. I have witnessed a situation in my class where knowing that I was marking my friend as present in the class when he was absent. This was a situation I knew was incorrect but I acted because this would enable me to ask my friend to do so for me as I needed to visit a place as my grandmother was ill and the situational factors were demanding me to act in that way. This thereby requires that while looking to judge other behaviour we need to get into the same boat and then consider how we might have acted which will thereby help us to understand the situation and highlight that not every decision which is taken in unethical. Activity 8 The different theories based on the different needs and requirements highlights things which are correct and which are incorrect. The different theories have been developed keeping in mind the different assumptions. While looking to ensure that the decisions which are taken are morally correct, should be one where it looks at the interest of the larger community instead of individuals (Cornelius, Todres, Jan Kuha-Jivraj, Woods & Wallace, 2008). This will help to ensure that the decisions which are taken will justify and fall in line with the different theories to a large degree. It is also true that every decision will not match the different needs of different theories and differences will arise but developing a framework and looking towards ensuring that different decisions which are taken looks towards the improvement of the larger section of the society will ensure better results. An important juncture here is that the decisions should not be guided by any motive but should be considered as one isolated situation where the different decisions need to be taken in such a manner that it benefits the most. This will thereby help to ensure that the different needs and requirements of the theories are achieved and at the same time the decisions which are taken looks at the larger community and aims towards maximizing the gains for all. Activity 9 Paid on performance has an impact on the future performances as the desire and greed to be compensated more and more leads even towards steps which are unethical and incorrect. This thereby makes the situation worse and impacts the long term future potential thereby creating doubts and making compensation to be the only force which drives to get the desired results. Grading system is another mechanism which is aimed at incentivizing students and makes students focus on getting higher grades instead of learning and increasing understanding. Students intentions are diverted only towards grades and they are willing to take any steps to get the required grades thereby limiting their learning The gaming system is a rational situation which has been created and at times might seem unethical. This can be controlled by the person who creates the situation and the person who exploits it as it will require an effort from both the person to ensure that things are correct. A line between gaming and cheating can be drawn by ensuing that the person who takes steps to achieve the desire result doesn’t look at using unethical ways and the decisions which have been taken serves for the longer interest of the community. Activity 10 It is true that the first dishonest act is the most important one and needs to be prevented as if it is not controlled then it will make the person commit the same or different acts again and again and will reduce the fear of being punished and provide the courage to act in a similar manner again and again. A situation where I can visualize myself being on the slippery phenomenon was when I had marked my fried to mark me present while I was refraining from the class. Mt friend refused to act and thereby prevented me from getting into those activities as it would have otherwise resulted in doing the same thing again and again and would have finally impacted my grades. A situation where cutting small corners resulted in big trouble can be seen from the financial crisis where not looking into the credit ratings of different household for loans resulted in defaults and finally led towards bankruptcy. The small mistakes which were intentionally led towards big losses and impacted the entire present situation Yes it is true that on a slippery slope people tend to commit mistakes as people forget the long term implications of the decisions and instead focuses on the short term gains which they will receive from it People can look at reducing the chances of committing mistakes on slippery slope by looking at situations independently and taking decisions so that the long term future and prospect doesn’t suffer and the gains are increased in the future. Activity 11 It is correct that people hate losses twice as much as they enjoy gains and is a situation which is consistent with me. This has happened to me when I was peeping in my friends journal which I shouldn’t have done and when I was caught I said that I was doing nothing. It is also correct that time pressure makes people adopt unethical ways and I might also react and take the same steps as to save my reputation and to ensure that I don’t get into any trouble or lose my job I will be tempted to act in a similar manner. A situation which I can see was when I was as peeping in my friends journal which I shouldn’t have done and when I was caught I said that I was doing nothing. I was doing so as it would have given me an idea of what needs to be done in the journal and would have helped and simplified the things for me and would have thereby ensured better results and would have reduced my losses as it would ensure that the journal would have been completed properly and would have given me pass grades. Such decisions can be minimized and unethical behaviour can be controlled by looking at taking decisions keeping in mind the long term implications. In addition to it the mind has to be developed and framed in such a manner that it refrains from such activities. Activity 12 Some abilities which a moral agent should demonstrate are (1) ability to visualize things by placing yourself in their own feet; (2) ability to understand the situation and take decisions which benefits the community; (3) dealing with people as you would like them to deal with you; (4) developing different ethical standards and norms and looking to abide with it and ensuring that the standards are ethically strong and correct. It is important for a subject to be of moral worth as it will thereby tempt people to take ethical decisions. A subject of moral worth is something which can be discussed and people based on it will be able to arrive at decisions which are correct. Further a subject of moral worth doesn’t harm anyone and thereby can be used to ensure that ethical standards and behaviour is developed (Brown, Giampetro-Meyer & Williamson, 2004) A subject of moral worth is something which can be discussed and people based on it will be able to arrive at decisions which are correct. Further a subject of moral worth doesn’t harm anyone and thereby can be used to ensure that ethical standards and behaviour is developed. On the other hand something being included in moral community is the ethical norms which has been developed and need to be followed so that better decisions are arrived and thereby leads towards the creating of something which is correct. Conclusion The report thereby presents different discussion and forums by answering the different questions based on different learning’s. This thereby helps to ensure that the field of learning is applied to real life situations and provides an opportunity to look at things from different dimensions. References Birkman, J., & Peattie, K. (2008). Consumer ethics research: Reframing the debate about consumption for good. Journal of Business Ethics and Organizational Studies, 13(1), 22-31. Boatright, J. R. (2007). Ethics and the conduct of business (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson: Prentice Hall. Brown, M., Giampetro-Meyer, A. & Williamson, C. (2004). Practical business ethics for the busy manager. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Cornelius, N., Todres, M., Jan Kuha-Jivraj, S., Woods, A., & Wallace, J. (2008). Corporate social responsibility and the social enterprise. Journal of Business Ethics, 81(2), 355-370. DesJardins, J. (2008) An introduction to business ethics (3rd ed). New York: McGraw Hill. Read More