Ethical Reasoning CASE: __________________________________ RECOGNIZE THE ETHICAL ISSUE In a sentence or two, articulate the ethical dilemma: The ethical dilemma would be the high impact moments that the programming team, lead by myself, would target. This is a matter of financial gain for the cost of consumer privacy but also off of consumer suffering. Who or what groups might be harmed by your decision? Groups that could be harmed by this are consumers who may have depression, or are going through depression, as well as just everyday people who might have spending problems. The idea of this though is that targeting ads around high impact moments, specifically negative ones, can remind people of their situation or circumstance and lead to influencing negative thoughts as well as influencing people to buy things they don’t need as a temporary comfort. Does the scenario include issues beyond what is legal or efficient? Depending on the way they gather consumer data, it could be legal or illegal, but regardless, it is very efficient. Many people don’t necessarily align legal with right as many things that are legal aren’t always right, this is likely one of those circumstances. Briefly describe the complexity of the issue. The issue is that I, as a new manager, have to decide to listen to my boss and violate peoples personal boundaries in order to make a profit for my company, or to disobey my boss and face a firing, demotion or reprimand while the company finds someone else who is willing to do the job. GET THE FACTS What important facts do I know about the scenario? I know that we are intentionally targeting peoples best and worst moments in order to make a profit, we are new to our position, we would profit from doing this job, and our boss wants us to meet shareholder expectations. What important facts do I NOT know about the scenario? (What more would you like to find out before deciding.) What we don’t know is how our consumers would feel, what happens if we refuse to do the job, what effects our ads have on people, will we sell the data, who is privy to this data collected and how the team itself feels about the job. EVALUATE ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS 1. Apply the VIRTUE STANDARD of ethics Reflect on your core beliefs. What ideals do you hold dear (e.g. honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, truth, fairness, etc.)? I hold honesty, integrity, communication and trust very highly as core beliefs. Where did your core beliefs come? Honesty is from my teacher in high school who taught me to always be myself. Integrity is from my school which taught me to always do right. Communication is from my friends and family who remind me that I need to keep them informed if I want them involved. Trust is from everyone because I don’t want people to be unable to believe the words I say. How might they apply to this scenario? Are we warning consumers of this, is this action true to the mission statement that our company demonstrates to the public? Is this something that I want the people around me to know I would do? Would my family think less of me, or my friends? These core beliefs are ingrained in this scenario and apply heavily to every single decision I make. LOOKING AT THE ISSUE THROUGH TWO OTHER ETHICAL STANDARDS 2. Apply a second standard to the situation (Circle 1) Utilitarianism Rights Justice/Fairness Common Good What does this standard suggest regarding the issue? (both for and against) For making this decision, one could argue that it is just because it is legal. Another argument would be that we are researching public knowledge, so it can’t be an infringement of privacy. Against making this decision, one could argue that turning people into numbers for a profit is wrong. Another argument would be that it is not just to conduct research on people who don’t voluntarily give information or know that they are being researched. 3. Apply a third standard (Circle 1) Utilitarianism Rights Justice/Fairness Common Good What does this standard suggest regarding the issue? (both for and against) For making this decision, an argument could be made that if you don’t make the decision it will still happen whether you are In charge or someone else is so it would be unwise to risk your job over nothing. Another argument would be that people get what they want quicker and the company profits. Against making this decision, an argument could be made that we would lose money if they found out about this. Another argument is that there might be a more profitable approach to conducting market research with less risk to the company. MAKE A DECISION AND TEST IT How would you proceed in this scenario? Personally, I would gather my team of programmers and consult them on how they feel about the project. I would then ask both groups why. I would then brainstorm with the team and try to make alternative approaches to market research and try to mitigate privacy violations. I would then go to the VP and tell them the opinion of myself and the team, I would then give the alternate proposal. If the team wasn’t against it I would still brainstorm and propose to the boss. What objections do you foresee to your position? I would say that my boss could still make me do it if they didn’t support the alternative but the most I could do is voice myself and the teams opinion and then either get the change wanted or be forced to continue the original plan. The thing that matters to my boss is the profit, not the means, so it is likely that even if I refused further, they would still do it with someone else in charge. If your decision went viral to a large audience, what would they say? How would you defend your position? If my decision went viral, most likely, the company would profit and I would be promoted. I would defend my position by saying that although I didn’t entirely forsake doing the job, I have to make a living too and I did my best based on my morals and my needs. If my boss didn’t take my alternate suggestion then I would say that they were likely not going to accept any alternative to conducting market research. Were you able to stay true to and reconcile your final position with your personal virtues (beliefs/ideals)? I was. Acting on my values is important to me, and while I would say that I gave in slightly, I tried to give a realistic response to my questions because it is likely that if my team didn’t support the job and I didn’t either, and we came up with an alternative, our boss would support it. The goal is profit, and if you can make a profit and still not violate privacy, even better for the company.
