Presented to
Prof. Abhay Singh
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BRENDA THAIKKATTIL
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DHANASHRI DALVI
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EUREKA BORGES
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JENNIFFER MONTEIRO
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Lavina Sequeira
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Sonali Murzello
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Business ethics is defined as what is right and wrong, good
and bad and harmful and beneficial regarding the decisions
and actions in and around organizational activities.
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Ethical dilemmas are situations in which none of the
available alternatives seems ethically acceptable.
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The ethical obligations of a multinational corporation
toward employment conditions, human rights, corruption,
environmental pollution, and the use of power are not
always clear cut.
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In today’s business, the workforce comprises of people who
are diverse in their nationality, religion, caste, race, age,
education and even socioeconomic status.
They are all expected to work together as a team towards
the success of the organization.
Dilemmas are bound to rise in issues such as downsizing
the staff, pollution control, toxic waste disposal, utilization
of resources, changes in law and technology, issues related
to discrimination, employee rights and even on product
quality.
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The most common ethical issues in business involve:
 employment practices
 human rights
 environmental regulations
 corruption
 the moral obligation of multinational companies
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BANK TELLER:
You have worked as a bank teller for several months when
one of the other tellers who has become a good friend tells
you that her daughter is extremely ill and that she must have
an operation to survive. She also tells you that she has no
insurance and the operation will cost $10,000. Sometime
later you ask her about her daughter and she tells you she is
just fine now. She then confides in you that she took
$10,000.00 from a dormant account at the bank to pay for
the operation. She assures you that she has already started
paying it back and will continue to do so until it is all
returned.
What do you do?
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TEACHER
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You have a student who is from a single parent family. The
student must work to attend college. However, the job is
interfering with the student’s performance and several
assignments have not been turned in. You have determined
that a “D” is all the student can make when a counselor
informs you that the student need a “C” to qualify for an
academic scholarship.’
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What do you do?
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JOURNALISM
Your newspaper has published a report on a national study,
which concluded that bottled water has virtually no health
advantages over the tap water in more cities,including
yours. The study included comments from local health store
owners and water distributors challenging the study. The
AquaPure Bottled Water Company,advertising account
worth over $75,000. a year, has threatened to pull its
account with your newspaper unless you run another story
of equal prominence, focusing on the benefits of bottled
water.
What do you do?
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Raj Singh has been working with the Dubai branch of XYZ
Bank.
Performing extremely well, he is given a substantial raise
with a promotion to Qatar where the company has set up a
new branch.
On joining, he realises his immediate superior is a
Pakistani- Mr. Feroze Miandad
Feroze is a hard core Pakistani who harbors negativity and
hatred against all Indians
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On realizing Raj is an Indian, Feroze inflicts unnecessary
discrimination and harassment on Raj by making him work
long hours, passing remarks on Raj’s lineage etc.
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Although they are supposed to collaborate and work as a
team, Feroze does not consider Raj’s opinions or ideas.
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Feroze also takes credit rightly due to Raj.
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Raj’s appraisal is shortly due to be done by Feroze.
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Should he complain against Feroze to the higher authority?
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Should he confront Feroze and have a discussion on the
issue?
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Should he stick around for the high pay?
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Should he quit his “ dream” job?
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Raj should primarily have a discussion on the concerned
issue with Feroze
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If Feroze shows signs of unrelenting and unyielding
behaviour, then Raj should complain to the higher authority
because Raj’s basic right of ‘dignity at workplace’ is being
violated.
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Ford Motor Co. is one of the company which gives benefits to
the partners of homosexual employees
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Homosexual relationships are a taboo in many countries like
Afghanistan, Bhutan, Iran, Maldives, Qatar, Sri Lanka etc.
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Also homosexuality is looked down upon in some communities.
For ex. Traditionally Christianity banned such relationships.
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Now suppose a person (say Dawit) from such a country or
community, works for Ford Motor Co.(in US)
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According to him he cannot use a product ( eg the facilities or e
mail system) by a company that provided benefits to partners of
homosexual employees or work for people with the same belief,
because his community and his country both do not support such
relationships.
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This person refuses to co operate with the policies of the
company and cuts himself off from the team, creating a major
obstacle to the product development.
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Here the ethical dilemma is whether to stick to your own beliefs
and continue to not support the organization or to leave your
beliefs behind you to work amicably with the organization
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The other scenario would be if a homosexual
person is employed by an organization which has
branches in the above mentioned countries.
Here the dilemma would be whether to forego
your job or your partner.
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Accept the laws of other country and the company
and work amicably with the organization.
Leave the job for your beliefs. This will not only
affect your employment but the organization will
also lose a good employee.
Accept other human beings as they are in order to
live peacefully in a society. This is the best solution
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Shelina is a Muslim girl born and brought up in India.
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Having completed her PhD in Psychology, she intends to join a
university in Belgium as a professor.
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Shelina has now received an offer letter from Universiteit
Antwerpen, Antwerp (university in Belgium) as a professor in
the department of Psychology.
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The home affairs committee of Belgium's parliament has
unanimously voted to ban face-covering Islamic veils that
prevent the wearer from being fully identified.
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Shelina who belongs to a conservative Muslim background is in
a split mind.
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This has been a dream job for her and so she cannot let go of it.
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On the other hand she believes in the preaching of Islam and
would not compromise on her freedom to dress up the way she
wants (i.e. she wouldn’t give up wearing burkha).
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She is now in a serious ethical dilemma as to whether or not to
take up the job.
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Whether to compromise on her beliefs or the job
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Give up her personal beliefs and take up the job.
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Take up a similar job in a country where no such laws
prevail.
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Stick to her beliefs and work in the home country.
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Bharat was transferred to U.S by his company, initially he was
apprehensive as to how he would face the huge culture difference.
However his supervisor made him feel at ease an helped him settle
down.
As years passed Bharat developed a good bond with his supervisor but
off late he realized John was not performing well.
In spite of meeting his deadlines. Their team was suffering due to
John’s non deliverance.
John soon started leaving from work early saying he had to nurse his
sick wife, however later Bharat learned that John would have 2 – 3
martinis during lunch and was totally inebriated to return to work. In
due course of time several such instances of negligence towards work
was noticed.
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Should he confront the higher manager about John’s
situation who has been like a mentor to him.
Continue to overlook John’s negligence towards his work
presuming it is not his duty.
Ignoring the problems would violate his pursuit for
excellence.
Speaking to John about the same could result in offending
him.
Cover up for John which would mean he would encourage
his actions and John would never take accountability for his
negligence.
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Speak to John about the situation, ask him if everything is
fine.
Instead of directly approaching the top authority wait to see
if any changes are noticed in John.
If no changes are noticed wait for the top managers to
confront about the deteriorating performance.
Explain the situation in an explicit manner.
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Reena has been recently transferred to the U.S.
Within a course of few days she notices that her Superior
Ross has been constantly misbehaving with her colleague
Eve an African American employee.
Passing lewd comments in the cafeteria, brushing of
shoulders in the hallway, and various such gestures.
On Reena asking Eve to report the issue, she explained that
Ross is highly influential and has the potential to fire her.
Further she needed the job to support her family as she was
the sole breadwinner of her family.
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Ignore the issue as she was not the victim in this situation.
Report to the higher authority, which could result in her
losing her job as well as Ross was a highly influential man
whose brother in law was the Managing director of the
company.
Ross could convince Eve to remain silent on the issue by
promising her monetary benefits.
There was no guarantee that the issue would be pursued by
the higher authorities.
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Speak to the Human resource Department about the
situation.
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Incase of wrongful termination, File a case against the
company.
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Ignoring the issue could result in something disastrous in
the future.
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Speaking up is the optimal solution as what is happening to
Eve today may happen to some other employee as well.
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‘As a partner in a firm of surveyors, you have successfully
won a tender for some work in a country where bribes are
considered a normal part of doing business. In your own
country, bribes are illegal (or, at the very least, not accepted
practice). Will you use bribes to get the project completed
successfully?’
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As part of gifts
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Importance of the project
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On Monday morning, George, the Vice President of
Operations in a large engineering company in Toronto, was
considering if he could legally fire the project manager
standing in front of him. The project manager and project
team had just returned from an American job site early,
without having accomplished any of their objectives.
George had sent the team of five down to their automotive
client in New Jersey on Friday night to perform a one-week
software and electrical installation.
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Instead, here the team was, on Monday morning, back in
Toronto standing in the VP's office, complaining about their
rights. They were unmindful of the financial impact of their
actions to the organization and the major inconvenience to
the client. They had essentially abandoned the project,
because they had refused to undergo drug testing
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The US customer had been a client for the past five years
Three years ago, the automotive company began phasing in mandatory
drug testing with their employees and all outside contractors.
In Canada, employees have the right to refuse requests for drug testing
A third party performs the testing and this has led to a concern that such
companies are not currently restricted from gathering the information,
generating statistics and selling it.
Although the drug testing companies provide a list of what they are
screening for, there are no guarantees that they are not testing for other
things, such as AIDS and other diseases, or pregnancy.
For those people with health conditions, their information may be sold to
such organizations as pharmaceutical companies, who can then target these
people.
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The team members approached the PM saying that they were against
taking the test. They had done research on the internet about drug testing
policies and found out about the ambiguity of the use of the data gathered
and the suggested ineffectiveness of mandatory testing.
Clean employees were subjected to the embarrassment of taking the test.
There was also the chance of error in the large volumes of samples being
tested, which could blacklist a person unfairly.
The project manager had no company policy to fall back on and had not
received any coaching or training to deal with an issue such as this.
In the end, of the team of five, two agreed to the testing but took the option
of taking the test through their Canadian doctor. Another employee was
found who was willing to take the test and join the team. The scaled down
project team was able to complete the work, although it required longer
hours and additional effort on their part.
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Company’s Policy: company's experience is that
organizations should not wait for an event like this to occur.
They should become fully aware of the policies of their
clients; especially those may impact their business
interactions.
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Awareness and assurance to the employees
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Entrepreneurial managers have to rely on their individual
judgment while resolving all these different dilemmas
related to business.
before making any decision, one needs to be aware of the
ethical issues concerned with the business.
There are two different ways of resolving ethical dilemmas
in business.
While one approach concentrates on analyzing the practical
consequences of the decision, another approach
concentrates on the action.
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Ethical resolution of conflicts requires discussion, analysis,
problem solving and decision making.
In order to resolve ethical dilemmas, managers need to have
interpersonal communication and negotiation skills, conflict
resolution skills and critical thinking.
Before making any decision, one has to analyze all the
positive and negative consequences that are connected with
the issue.
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Political, economic, legal, and cultural differences can
give rise to ethical issues and dilemmas in international
business, and necessitates ethical strategies.
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Moral philosophers argue that with power comes the
responsibility to give back, to be an agent of world
benefit
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Organizations are collections of individuals; ultimately
it is up to us to look at our own personal ethics and to
help create the organizations and the world in which we
want to work, live, and prosper
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Before making any decision, one needs to be aware of the
ethical issues concerned with the business.
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Ethical resolution of conflicts requires discussion, analysis,
problem solving and decision making.
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In order to resolve ethical dilemmas, managers need to
have interpersonal communication and negotiation skills,
conflict resolution skills and critical thinking.
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Before making any decision, one has to analyze all the
positive and negative consequences that are connected with
the issue.
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Thank You
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