SM0381 APPLIED BUSINESS ETHICS

Chia Liyi
PT-NTB BABM-15
W18047160
Word Count:
Part A – 915
Part B - 1736

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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... 2
Part A: Ethical Dilemma Essay ............................................................................... 3

1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 3

1.2 The Ethical Dilemma ............................................................................. 3
1.3 Ethical Solutions.................................................................................... 5

Part B: Portfolio of Evidence Contents .................................................................. 6

2.1 Appendix A – The Ethical Leadership Debate ....................................... 6

2.2 Appendix B – The Holiday Case – Borries’s Dilemma .......................... 9
2.3 Appendix C – Interpersonal and Team-work Skills .............................. 12

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Part A: Ethical Dilemma Essay

1.1 Introduction

At Pretty Good Interior, the code of conducts stated that all staff including
salesperson are entitled to only one hour of lunch time between 12-2pm on all
working days. Due to shortage of employees, no more than three employees
from each department can go out for lunch at the same time. Jerron is a
salesperson who obtain outstanding monthly sales results. His customers are
very reliant on his services and some of them only want to be served by him.
Being a salesperson, his daily schedules varies according to customer needs
and urgency. Hence, most of the time, Jerron will have to settle his lunch
outside of the designated timing especially on days that he has to conduct major
lunch presentation.

On several occasions, Jerron went out for lunch after 2pm despite not having
any customers to service. On some occasion, he will bring his whole team of
five for lunch after 2pm. Some customers were willing to wait for him till he
returns from lunch. Staff from other departments have been giving feedback to
Jerron’s manager, Kyler with regards to Jerron’s late lunch hour. They felt unfair
as he breaches 2 code of conduct by going for lunch outside of lunch hours and
bringing more than 2 staff out for lunch at a time. The staff fear that more will
follow suit Jerron’s example in the near future. Despite several warnings, he
continues to breach the code of conduct.

1.2 The Ethical Dilemma

As his manager, Kyler has the hardest decision to terminate his contract or not.

Using the six dimensions of Jone’s issue-contingent model, Kyler can

understand if the decision to terminate Jerron is an ethical one or not.

The magnitude of consequence suggests that the moral intensity is low as

termination of Jerron’s contract may cause great loss of sales to the company

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in terms of revenue and loss of customer. Especially with the current
competitive environment, much sales have been lost due to competitors.

For social consensus, the moral intensity is considered high as staff from other
department will no longer feel unfair of the flexibility that Jerron has and
company policies can be enforced. However, all the salesperson felt that it is
hard to restrict lunch time for salesperson as their timing are greatly dependable
on customers’ availability and urgency of service, hence, the moral intensity is
low.

Probability of Effect is high as terminating Jerron will set as an example for the
rest of the company that the code of conduct is not to be broken. Several
warnings have been given to Jerron and he continues to behave the same way.
Hence, retaining him may lead to more people following his footstep.

The temporal immediacy is low as the loss of sales and customers will reflect
immediate with Jerron’s termination. Customers may feel the drop in service
quality of other salesperson or may take time to be accustomed to the service
quality of the new salesperson. Some customer may be lost permanently on
the way.

The proximity is considered low as the harm will be brought to the whole
company and staff if the loss of sales is too several after the termination of
Jerron. The customer of Pretty Good interior maybe also affected by the change
in service quality

Moral intensity is low for concentration of effect as terminating Jerron will affect
the whole company due to loss of sales as compared to the ones breaching the
code of conduct.

Hence, with moral intensity being low in most of the dimensions, terminating
Jerron is deemed to be unethical.

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1.3 Ethical Solutions

In any circumstances, we should judge what is right and wrong according to

ethics. However, every action to resolve ethical issues will result in
consequences to the company.

Undertaking Kantian Ethics (Thorpe, 2006) will state that terminating Jerron’s
contract will be the right thing to do. According to Maxim 2 Human Dignity,
morality in Humanity’s rational capacity often establish various unbreakable
moral laws. Therefore, Jerron should not go against the code of conduct set out
by the company. Since violating rules and code of conduct set by the company
is critical. Kyler, the manager should seek help from other executives from the
company to come up with possible ways to end this dilemma. References from
other managers will help save time spent in making ethical decisions.

However, in this scenario, a consequential normative ethics theory of

Utilitarianism (Jaroslav, 2014) should be considered in this case as justification
of wrong and right is required. As Jerron is a great source of revenue for the
company, retaining him will be a greater good for the whole company as the
company will continue to have great revenue from the sales he brings in and
staff of other departments benefit though the stability of the company.
Furthermore, the advantage of retaining Jerron outweighs the disadvantage,
Kyler should retain Jerron despite it is not the right thing to do which reflects
Stage 5 legalistic social contract of moral development (Kohlberg, 1969).

As the benefits of retaining Jerron is greater that the cost, the company should
consider coming to a consensus with the top management to allow salesperson
reasonably flexible lunch timing to cater customer request for services. Staff
from other department should be also briefed about the changes to allow them
to understand the need for the change.

Therefore, if the above solutions are made possible, the company can decide
to retain Jerron as their employee instead of terminating him.

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Part B: Portfolio of Evidence Contents

2.1 Appendix A – The Ethical Leadership Debate

This is a reflective statement of the debate” The Business School believes that
ethical leadership is impossible in a shareholder focused economy”. This
comprises the different views of the debaters and whether they agree to the
statement.

2.1.1 Mike Gustavsson

Mike strongly disagrees with the statement as he a retire lecturer who have
taught ethics for many years. He believes on the alignment of act and rule of
Utilitarianism as he participates in the protest to enforce the rule that ethical
leadership should exist through top down approach to uphold morality. He
displayed stage 5 of the moral development (Kohlberg, 1969) as he believes
that rights of the minorities have to be justified the minority which is supported
by Maxim . He may also characterise at stage 3 of “Good boy good girl” as he
conforms to social expectations as a lecturer. Mike is consistent in his teachings
to her daughter and himself which is in line with Kant’s maxim 1 (Thorpe, 2006)
while with maxim 2, human dignity has been displayed by his act to protest for
ethical rights at his daughter’s office. To achieve sustainability in organisation,
Mike encourages the use of triple bottom line (Arowoshegbe & Emmanuel, 2016)
of putting people needs before profit. Hence, corporate governance is a way of
life instead of a code.

2.1.2 Jan Edwards

Jan strongly disagrees with the statement. As a CEO and founder she is
identified as a dominant stakeholder (Jones, Wicks, & Freeman, 2017) as she
is able to manage between the well being of the society and trust of the
investors. She upholds the shareholder theory as she believes by helping
businesses in 3rd World country grow is right and that she is duty bound to
encourage her organization to think the same. She displayed Utilitarianism
through aligning her act of contributing more than thousand hours to charity

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with rule of working profits alongside with performing charity work. She is
consistent in involving her staff in programs in Guatemala, treats everyone
equal by teaching and developing small businesses in Guatemala, advocating
new grads with her universalism grace on give back to the society, displaying
all three Maxims of the Kant’s Theory (Thorpe, 2006). All these actions put her
in stage 5 of the moral development as she creates visionary changes while
abiding to the laws of Guatemala.

2.1.3 Mei-Hua Felung

She also rejects the motion statement as she finds herself ethical at her job as
she adhered to the government rules. She is merely doing her job as an
accountant to help company save money. Hence, this will put her at stage 4 of
moral development (Thorpe, 2006) as she follow strict rules and does not over
promise or support obligations. With Utilitarianism, she acts according to the
corporate code of conduct and bound by her profession.

2.1.4 Deshi Chen

Deshi strongly agree to the motion. After experiencing the working environment
of western companies in China for a short period of time, he believes that
leadership is all about getting things done and no ethics is required which
shows that he is egoistically following the social norm of earning profit only. He
is believed to follow Maxim 1 of consistency as he has been consistent about
his viewpoint that profits is the most important key factor to sustainability.
Utilitarianism is explained that it is not morally wrong with profit driven as it
creates the best outcome for company and employee as everyone gets
rewarded from profit. He puts himself in Stage 2 as his ultimate objective is
graduate successfully, obtain a good office job in a large firm and thus, he finds
Ethics class may put him at risk of not able to finish his studies.

In conclusion, I feel that Deshi is an honest person and agrees that he is in

stage 2 as his perspective of work is only based on his short working experience.
Jan Edwards is a strong and assertive woman who is able to balance charity

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and profit. Mei-hua has been putting herself in a confusing state as there is a
misalignment with her ethics and social consensus. Lastly, Mike is a Egoistic
yet unethical person. He is willing to break is code of conduct to fill his egoistic
needs by going to the protest and forcing ethics into his daughter.

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2.2 Appendix B – The Holiday Case – Borries’s Dilemma

There are five ethical dilemmas evident in this case study involving the five main
parties: Borries, his manager, Swee Lan and his colleagues.

Borries’s manager’s dilemma is to allow Borries to proceed with his holiday

plans or to instruct Borries to stay back to follow up on his job. Swee Lan’s
dilemma is to balance between her relationship with Borries and his career.
Borries’s colleagues’ dilemma is the responses towards Borries decisions.
Lastly, the most important dilemma which will be discussed further in this report
is Borries’s dilemma of to go or not to go for the holiday.

Jone’s issue-contingent model suggests that there are six dimensions of moral
intensity that influences how a decision maker make a moral judgment (Jones,
1991).

The magnitude of consequence suggests that the moral intensity is low as

Borries’s relationship with his colleagues will be affected as he set the
precedents of putting work before his welfare entitlement and it will also affect
his relationship with Swee Lan.

For social consensus, the moral intensity is considered low as Swee Lan and
Borries’s colleague sound their unhappiness with Borries decision of not going.
Swee Lan sounded to Borries that her parents will be very upset to not be able
to meet Borries till the next year at least.

Borries’s colleagues’ fear of dismissal in future as pressure to prioritise work

over personal welfare may be expected after Borries’s case, suggests that the
moral intensity of probability of effect is low. It is not evident that Swee Lan will
be disappointed with Borries breaking his promise again as this is the first time
Swee Lan is suggesting meeting her parents, hence the moral intensity is high.

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As there is one month to his project, there is no immediate consequent impact
as it is too early to know the outcome. This suggest that temporal immediacy
has a high moral intensity.

The proximity is considered high as his personal involvement with the project
will increase the rate of success and thus bringing more revenue for the
company, indirectly benefiting Borries’s manager and colleagues.

Moral intensity is high for concentration of effect as Borries believed that his
absence in the project will bring more parties to harm compared to his personal
life.

Hence, with moral intensity being high in most of the dimensions, Borries’s
decision to not go ahead with the holiday is ethical.

According to Kohlberg (1969), Borries’s ethical decision are influenced by his

individual psychological factors. He would have been operating on the pre-
conventional level of being in Stage 1 & 2 of the Cognitive Moral Development
Stages.

In the initial stage of decision making, Borris appears to have the interests of
all those around him at heart as he discussed and consult both his manager’s
and Swee Lan’s opinion before weighing the pros and cons of decision which
justify Utilitarianism (Jaroslav, 2014). Also, it may also put him in stage 1 of the
moral development. He is obedient to his company, fearing of dismissal risk if
he declines the client and lose the client.

Subsequently, his decision may be influenced by Egoism (Mayer, 2009) as he

believes that his decision is right as he made it based on what is right for the
company and client against everyone else, which may have moved him to stage
2. Borries may have thought that the company will take care of him better as he
takes care of the company by bringing in more projects. It still voices downs to
serving his own interest.

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To conclude, I agree Borries’s decision as he evaluated the cost and benefits
before deciding to not go for his holiday. However, I felt that he may have
displayed Deontology in his decision making, as he is bound by his duty to place
company’s and client’s interest above his personal. He may also have moved
to stage 6 as he has internalized the normative ethics principles and proceed
to make the decision based on them despite it is not aligning to the social
consensus of his colleagues and Swee Lan.

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2.3 Appendix C – Interpersonal and Team-work Skills

Interpersonal and Team-works skills include elements like communication skills,

self-awareness and ability to understand others. These skills are the core of
human interactions (Zhang, 2018). These skills were observed and improved
in the process of discussions in class.

Interpersonal conflict is inevitable when the group comprises of people from all
woks of life working interdependently, as everyone have divergent ideas and
understanding of ethics (Alakavuklar & Çakar, 2012). My group comprise a fair
mix of people that displays egoism and utilitarianism. Initially, I find my team to
be in Stage 3 of Moral Development (Kohlberg, 1969) as members displaying
utilitarianism were playing nice by agreeing to all ideas and suggestions. On
the other side, the egoistic members were holding back on actual ideas in fear
of being judged by their peers. With better understanding of the topics, coupled
with honest and open discussions we managed to move up to Stage 5. We
come to consensus on each other’s ideas, as we learn to accept different
perspectives and be tolerant to each other’s behaviour.

As self-awareness contributes to developing interpersonal capability (Hayes,

2002), a self-evaluation on my ethical approach is essential. I find myself to be
in Stages 2 & 4 while displaying Deontology. I believe that everyone’s ideas
and thoughts should be respected. To be effective and efficient as a team, I feel
that it is vital for me to direct the team on the path of achieving the seminar
objectives at the right time. It is also important that certain rules and behaviours
are to be adhered to avoid digression.

Overall, I felt that the group’s dynamics is good as the team is open to new
ideas and changes according to needs. New perspectives on ethics were
gained after most seminars as the discussions and exchanges within the group
and with other teams allowed me to get a broader viewpoint on what is ethical.

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