Business Ethics and Social Responsibility within Jameson Company - Term Paper Example

College Introduction Business ethics are professional ethics that are applied in a business environment. These ethics are used to guide the business stakeholders during the business activities. These ethics are used to examine the business moral behaviors of the business stakeholders in order to ensure that these individuals behave morally in their organizations (Smith, 2009). Business ethics have normative dimensions. This means that there are some norms in which these ethics must adhere to. Every organization has to follow some business conducts in order to create a friendly environment between the organization and its customers. This report will deal with the business ethics and social responsibility within Jameson Company. Jameston Company is a company that manufactures and sells drugs. It majors on selling drugs used to cure a range of disorders. These disorders include depressions, erectile dysfunctions and other deficit disorders. This company claims to value business ethics and social responsibility. This is not the case because there are many ethical issues that have risen in this company since it was established in 1957. Some of the business ethical issues include health and safety issue, gender discrimination issue, sexual harassment and marketing issues. This report will emphasize on this business ethical this issue issues in the Jameston Company and the possible solutions to these problems. Ethical issues 1. Health and safety issue There are many ethical issues that have risen in Jameston Company. These issues are caused by the individuals who are working on this company. One of the issues is the health and safety issue. This appears to be a very dangerous issue and must be looked at seriously. This issue is caused by the senior management level who neglects the dangers of the antidepressant drug, “Trizon”, which is marketed by the company. This drug has been considered as the safest drug to be used as an antidepressant. Is has been believed as the best drug for depression. There are hidden facts about this drug. There are many researches that have conducted on this drug and the results show that, it is very dangerous to human health. The research h shows that Trizon increases the cases of suicide attempts on the patients who use it. This drug has been known to cause a lot of problems to both patients that use them and their surrounding environment. The company knows the dangers of this drug but they still market it. This issue can be ethical to the company since they want to market the product but are unethical to the other parties that are affected by the product (Painter-Morland & Werhane, 2008). Jameston Company’s supervisor, Mr. Stanton, is aware of the health and safety issues that the Trizon poses to the users. Dr. Sara Doyle tells him about the results from the research that was conducted. She tells him about the dangers of the drugs on the users but his only concern is the existence of the company. He wants the company to continue making profits by selling Trizon. Dr. Sara is aware of the risks and she wants the risks to be avoided. On the other hand, Mr. Stanton neglects the dangers of the drugs because he wants the company to exist. Mr. Stanton actions are wrong. This is because, every drug that is produced should be able support the lives of the users. It should not harm their health. Initially, the drug is believed to treat depression. The expectations that people have on Trizon is to treat depression and other disorders. The outcome is unexpected. The drug has led to increased suicide attempts by the users. Mr. Stanton is aware of these dangers but he is concerned with company existence and profits. He is concerned with the business needs only. Mr. Stanton’s decision is unethical on one hand and ethical on the other hand. His decision can be considered unethical based on the normative theory of utilitarianism. This theory states that, an action is right if it causes less pain on the people being acted upon (Moon, 2001). Therefore, Mr. Stanton’s idea is unethical because the drug has been known to harm its users. The drug increases the rate at which suicides attempts are reported on the patients who uses Trizon. The company is responsible for this harm and it is doing nothing to prevent it. This harm is not fair to the victims because they buy drugs to treat depressions but the drugs worsen their health conditions. The motives of the company is to ensure that the company continues existing and with no decrease in the profits that they make. This is justifiable because no company wishes to close down due to some unethical issues that some people claim on them. The company should continue existing without any closure. Mr. Stanton does not see anything wrong that is done by the company. This can be supported by the normative theory of individual relativism. This theory claims that individuals have different standards of right and wrong (Smith, 2009). From Mr. Stanton’s opinion, he sees that it is right for the company to continue producing the drugs. No one can judge his decision because individuals have different ways of determining what is right and wrong. Mr. Stanton values company existence more than the people who are affected by drugs. This issue can be solved by ensuring that the company produces dugs that do not cause any harm on the users. The products should be able to treat diseases that the customers are suffering from without causing any other side effects. Jameston Company must ensure that Trizon treats the mentioned disorders without causing any side effects on the patients that uses the drug. 2. Racial and gender discrimination In Jameston Company, gender and racial discrimination is identified. This is noticed through the way Dirckam treats Diane. Dirckam is a Mexican while Diane is an American who is posted to work in Mexico. Dirckam is her boss in the management department. The relationship between them is not good due to way Dirckam treats her. She is racially discriminated by the Mexicans because she is an American. These Mexicans do not recognize her authority in the department. Her boss, Mr. Dirckam, worsens the situation by patronizing her and calling her names. When she reports the matter to him, he defends himself saying that he is just playing with her. This issue falls under racial and gender discrimination. Diane is racially abused by the Mexicans because she is an American. On the other hand, this discrimination can be considered gender discrimination because of the way she is treated by the Mexican including her immediate boss. Because of the fact that she is a woman, her authority is not recognized by the Mexicans as it is in their culture not to recognize women who are in authority. This discrimination harms Diane because she feels that her presence is not recognized and patronized. The Mexicans and her boss are responsible for this harm. This harm is not justifiable because everyone has the right to work anywhere despite the race, country origin and gender. This issue can be brightened by normative theory of cultural relativism (Frederick, 2009). This theory claims that different cultures have different standards of right and wrong. Therefore, it might be right for Mexican not to recognize women who are in authority. Dirckam does not see anything wrong with that because the clients were happy. The business is running well therefore, there is no need of discussing how Diane authority is not recognized. Whatever Dirckam is doing to Diane is for the benefit to the company. This applies the theory of ethical egoism. Dirckam patronizes Diane for the interest of the company. Although what dirckam is doing benefits the company, he should also consider how Diane is feeling. This will ensure that both parties, Diane and the company, have the fair part of what is done. Dirckam values the client satisfactions than the situation that Diane fall into due to discrimination. This is issue can be solved by ensuring that employees are treated equally without discriminating anyone because of gender or race. This can also be reduced by employing people from diverse cultures and regions. Employees also should be taught to obey the law and know the consequences if found discriminating others. 3. Sexual harassment Sexual harassment is another wrong doing that noticed in Jameston Company. This can be identified from the way Dirckam wants ladies to dress. He wants the receptionists to wear colorful dresses which are also sexy. These clothes are demeaning but Dirckam considers them as a way to attract clients. Dirckam suggestion is wrong because women in every organization should be respected and not to be used as objects for client attraction. Women harassment should not be used as an excuse to market the company’s products. These cases should be reported as soon as possible in order to prevent more harm in the company. These cases should be reported to the relevant authorities and the doers should be disciplined accordingly. The receptionists are affected by the sexual harassment from Dirckam. He wants them to wear demeaning dresses in order to please company’s clients. This harm is extreme because women receptionists feel like they have been used as objects for attraction without their dignities being taken into consideration. Dirckam is responsible for this decision. This decision is not fair for the receptionists because they feel sexually harassed. Through the theory utilitarianism, this action not ethical because any action that does should bring pleasure to those who are affected by the action. The action should not cause any harm to the people in the receiving end. Dirckam’s ideas do not cause any pleasure to the receptionists. Dirckam encourages this type of dressing because he is only interested with attracting more client to the company without the considering the effect it will cause to the receptionists. His idea can be justified by theory of egoism (Frederick, 2009) whereby, he is interested with benefits that the company will achieve through the idea. He does not consider how the other parties, receptionist; feel after the decision has been made effective. In this issue, Dirckam values the compliments from the clients than the humiliation that the receptionists going through due the action. Sexual harassment can be eliminated by disciplining those who encourage this activity. A sexual harassment policy should be adopted and all employees should adhere to the policy. Employees and the top managers should be trained on this topic (Roleff, 2006). 4. Unethical marketing research Jameston marketing is not ethical. This is witnessed through the way the products are advertised. The market research of this company is not ethical. The research itself does not give the real results. The data is not real because it is collected from the psychiatrists and physicians who prescribe the drug, Trizon. These research participants cooperate with the company’s research. This means that the data collected is from people suffering from depression and are already using Trizon. This action is wrong because market research should not be doctored. The data should be from honest people who are independent. Using the data from the Trizon users will not yield the required research market results. The results from the market research are not the real ones. Customers are the one who will be harmed by the statistics on the market research. The marketing team is responsible for the harm. The harm is justifiable because the company has to market its products. In order to achieve this, it has use statistics that support the product. This obeys the theory of egoism where one is ensuring that the action he or she does must satisfy his or her own interests. The research team values the company’s marketing strategy. The company must market itself well in the competitive market (Roleff, 2006). This issue can be solved by ensuring the company uses the real data from unknown respondents. Trizon users should not be used to collect marketing research data. 5. Puffery This is another marketing issue that arises in Jameston Company. Puffery involves the use of subjective views instead of the objective ones. These terms should not be taken literary. This marketing is wrong because it does not give the reality explanation an activity. In Jameston Company’s product marketing, Binaton, puffery has been when a boy in the advert models a car in one second. This is justifiable because marketing should ensure the target audience attracted. The marketing team is motivated by the desire of ensuring that the company gets the highest number of customers. This is justifiable because they have to achieve company’s interests. This satisfies egoism theory. This can be avoided by ensuring that reasonable adverts are used when marketing a product. Conclusion Jameston Company has many issues on business ethics. These issues come up due the interests of the company to ensure that it succeeds. Some of these issues include sexual harassment, marketing issues, health and safety issues and gender and racial discrimination. These issues can be solved by ensuring that the policies are put in place. These policies should control the way the company runs. Employees should also be trained on matters regarding these ethical issues. 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