Business ethics law - Term Paper Example

Green Move Case Study Question A The zero pedals bikes from Green Move seem to expose itsusers to serious risks. As a concerned and ethical employee, the act of selling this product to the users without fixing the defect is not just at all. According to the principle of normative philosophy, one is supposed to assess whether their acts are just, fair and right. Therefore, before doing anything that might be beneficial to you, one must also consider if the act will benefit others also or infringes others’ rights. Therefore, according to the product defect information, as a new employee in this company, I’ll try my best to convince the management if they can fix the defect on the bikes by first discussing with them the dangers it exposes its users. I will ensure that I present both the budget for fixing the defect and the budget for not fixing the defect to the management. In case the management will not listen to my advice and just goes ahead with the production of the zero pedal bikes, my next step will be to seek the government intervention. Being that the production of the zero pedal bikes is not controlled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it has been very hard for the law enforcers to notice that this product has a defect. The NHTSA then needs to be informed about the defects in this product so that safety measures can be applied to control is production. Therefore, in case the management does not heed to my advice, I will move ahead, risk my job, as I ensure that the users of this product are safe. There are pressures though that applies as far as this action is concerned. For instance, just as my predecessor had lost his job while trying to advise the management to fix this defect, I too stand at a risk of losing my newly acquired job in case I try to do the same thing. In my case anyway, I better just lose my job than let the company get away with this. Another pressure is that the production of this product is not controlled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; therefore it will be hard for this body to begin controlling the production just now. To be able to do so, proper legislation must be put in place by the concerned bodies. This is a process that might take a longer time than expected, yet all this period the company will just continue with the production of the product. There is another pressure that comes up being that I’m just a junior and a new employee and I’ve been proposed to a good salary package; it will be very hard for me to even go before the senior management and state to them this issue. All these pressures apply but there is nothing as great as being concerned about the lives and safety of the society around me. Therefore, amidst all those pressures, I will still move on with my mission. In my efforts to solve this problem, I will use a critical thinking method where I will put down certain questions and evaluate if they uphold the moral values of the society. Some of the questions I’ll consider is whether the act of producing this product to the users is just? Whether the production benefits the company unjustly? I have to know the economic effects of this production, its benefits and harm it causes to others as well as whether rights are denied or exercised freely. To solve this problem, I will find a good approach to give the management. I will give them all the harms associated with the production of this product and how the rights of innocent citizens are infringed by exposing their lives to such dangers. By guiding the management through ethical reasoning, I’ll let them ask themselves if such an act is ethical to them. As the principle of eternal law states that we should act in a way that our creator would want us to act, with kindness and compassion towards others, I’ll let them to judge if allowing their customers to use this products complies with this principle. For the product to be put on the shelves of the sporting goods store, the store must be compensated. The compensation needs to be valued using the relevant determinants. This can be on commission basis or according to the period the product will be put in the stores. However, this act would be only just after fixing the defect in the product. Therefore, it is legal to pay the store to allow the zero pedal bikes to be put on its shelves, but it is not ethical to have the products on the shelves since they do not meet the standards for use by people. Even if the project is at the latency stage, the cost/benefit analysis needs to be applied by the Green Move Company so that they are able to determine clearly whether they need to go on with the production of this product or not. If the cost is more than the benefits, they need to stop and if the benefits are more than the cost, then they would proceed with the production. The only risk associated with this act is that, the company might realize that they need to incur extra costs to fix the defects, something that will lead to them making losses or staying out of the market. Question B Robert, being that he is in the US where the work conditions requirement differs from those in Bangladesh, will have nothing to do other than to continue with the contract. It is tricky though since the blogger is ready to expose the image of the company in the media which will create a risky situation for Green Move. However, being that the Robert cannot change the laws of another country (Bangladesh), he can inform the blogger that whatever is happening at the Solar Holdings in Bangladesh is much beyond an individual intervention. The only source of solution to this problem could be talking to the government of Bangladesh in order to change its laws to cover the requirements of job conditions. The interest of Green Move is at stake here since Solar Holdings do not have any problems with their working conditions since their laws allow them to have such conditions. However, since the blogger wants to expose the image of Green Move since it has strategic alliance with the Solar Holdings, the Green Move stands at a risk of losing its customers because of that. When considering the standard working conditions and wages in Bangladesh, Robert should consider the laid down rules and regulations controlling these issues in Bangladesh. These rates are different everywhere, therefore, Robert should not compare them with the rates in the USA. To try fight for the increase of these wages or improvement of such conditions, it is the workers in Bangladesh who should unionize and use their unions to bargain for such issues. Otherwise Robert has no powers at all to force the Solar Holdings to raise the workers’ wages or to improve the working conditions. The blogger might not know the differences in the laws in the two countries. Therefore, he might move ahead and post a blog which will paint the image of Green Move as a company that do not pay proper wages and do not provide proper working conditions for the workers. It might appear like the company exploits the foreigners they do business with. Hence, to some extent, it would be rather good for the Green Move to terminate its agreement with the Bangladesh Company. Question C If the bid is opened to anyone, then Viktor has no hindrance in putting a bid for the property. However, Viktor needs to be assured that the bidding process will be free of malpractices such as corruption. By taking two envelopes for bidding, Viktor is being pushed to involve in corruption where he is advised to ‘’scratch the back of the government’’ so that his back can also be scratched by the government. This is not a just act by at all by anyone since it is neither legal nor ethical. Considering that there will be some other bids all together, the one who shall use two envelopes might be considered given that they have given out a ‘’facilitation’’ envelope to the government. The biding process should be carried out freely and openly. No one is supposed to influence this process by giving out two envelopes to different authorities. The act of bribing the government to favor you in obtaining a property is not ethical since it harms others and infringes their rights. The ethical consideration here is that, does the act of using two envelopes to benefit everyone or some are harmed? Does it uphold the moral values of the society? Does it uphold ones personal goals, personal norms or personal beliefs? Green Move can expand its operations in Russia, but only if the expansion process is legal. There are lots of opportunities to be exploited in Russia for this company. The property in Russia is well lit and spacious. The company also has a good financial base. These make it easy for the company to expand its operations in Russia but only by following the right channel of acquiring property in Russia. Question D In case Viktor has paid for the facility in Russia and included the ‘’facilitation’’ envelope, then this act must have been necessitated by the corrupt and untrustworthy government of Russia. In any case, the government would have used the ‘’facilitation’’ envelope as evidence against Robert and arrest him for corruption. There is also an act of dishonesty by organizations in case the special fee of $5,000 is paid to the sports store, there is the act of dishonesty amongst the employees in an organization that facilitate unethical practices in such organizations. By Robert not doing anything about the working conditions of the Solar Group, this shows he’s less concerned about these people and just exploits them to make his company make more profits. Therefore, these would show how organizations lack proper codes of ethics. In case Green Move involves in such ethical breaches, it risks its operation be stopped by the government. The company might be sued for not providing good working conditions and proper rates to its workers. It might also be sued for involving in corrupt dealings in order to acquire property both in the country and beyond. The company risks losing its license of operation and that will mean that they get out of the market. The board of directors of the Green Move, therefore has a part to play in fixing the company’s issues. In the short run, the company needs to fix the defects of the zero pedal bikes since they pose risks to their users. They also need to assist their partners in Bangladesh to improve their working conditions. In the long run, the company needs to revert its production of zero pedal bikes with defects and produce those with no defects. The company also needs to go through the right channel to acquire facilities for expansion in the future. However, in case the company’s foul acts are realized by the government, the government can put turf measures to be met by the company including monitoring its production of the zero pedal products. The government can also sue the company for breaching the ethical codes and further actions like freezing the company might follow if the courts find the company guilty of the acts. The government has a role to make sure that all the companies follow the ethical codes of conduct laid by it. Therefore, any company that does not keep good working conditions for the workers and do not give good wages should be closed down. The government can force the company to compensate all the workers who have been underpaid for the period they have worked for the company. The government also has the ability to withdraw the license of operation from the company in question. Read More