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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
It is a matter of great pleasure to present this report on the entitled “Ethical Issues
on Society- Caste or Race” undertaken by me as part of my MBA curriculum.
I express my deep sense of gratitude to my dear friends for their support and
encouragement during my presentation.
Ekta Virdi
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INDEX
5 Conclusion 29
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INTRODUCTION TO ETHICAL ISSUES
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businesses can be involved in these conflicts, since any of their
activities might be put to question from an ethical standpoint.
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WHAT IS CASTE AND RACE?
What is caste?
Caste is a form of social stratification characterized by endogamy,
hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an
occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction
and exclusion based on cultural notions of purity and pollution. Its
paradigmatic ethnographic example is the division of India's Hindu
society into rigid social groups, with roots in India's ancient history and
persisting to the present time. However, the economic significance of
the caste system in India has been declining as a result of urbanization
and affirmative action programs. A subject of much scholarship by
sociologists and anthropologists, the Hindu caste system is sometimes
used as an analogical basis for the study of caste-like social divisions
existing outside Hinduism and India.
The use of the spelling "caste", with this latter meaning, is first attested
in English in 1613. Caste is a birth based hierarchical system wherein
people are divided. Varna is not the origin of caste.
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What is race?
Social conceptions and groupings of races have varied over time, often
involving folk taxonomies that define essential types of individuals
based on perceived traits. Today, scientists consider such biological
essentialism obsolete, and generally discourage racial explanations for
collective differentiation in both physical and behavioral traits.
Since the second half of the 20th century, the association of race with
the discredited theories of scientific racism has contributed to race
becoming increasingly seen as a largely pseudoscientific system of
classification. Although still used in general contexts, race has often
been replaced by less ambiguous.
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WHAT ARE THE ETHICAL ISSUES IN BUSINESS?
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That’s why every business owner should familiarize themselves with
what ethical problems in business are, why they matter, and how they
should be addressed.
It’s not enough to simply know what the biggest ethical dilemmas in
business are – you should also be aware of why they’re considered
problems and what you can do about it at your business.
• Sexual Harassment
• Diversity & Discrimination
• Social Media
• Health & Safety
• Environmental Responsibility
• Accounting Practices
• Data Privacy
• Nepotism
1. Sexual Harassment
More often than not when we discuss harassment at work the topic
quickly shifts to sexual harassment. There’s no doubt that it is an ethical
issue in business that should be taken very, very seriously – and if
you’re not sure why then you need to read about the #MeToo
Movement. While we shouldn’t forget that there are many forms of
harassment in the workplace, sexual harassment is one that deserves to
be addressed on its own.
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According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(EEOC), in 2018 alone there were more than 7,600 allegations of
sexual harassment made. Not only that but the resulting monetary
benefits for those plaintiffs were in excess of $56.6 million – an
indication of the validity of those claims.
When we take an even closer look at this ethical issue, we find that 54%
of women report having experienced unwanted sexual advances in the
workplace and 23% said that the instance of sexual harassment actually
involved a superior.
From there, you’ll want to ensure that leaders in your business are
setting good examples, that you continuously monitor for inappropriate
behavior, and that you provide employees with a safe and discrete
avenue for reporting cases of harassment. Additionally, there should
never be any fear of retaliation for reporting sexual harassment –
victims, whether alleged or proven, should get your full support.
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It’s also best to take preventative steps to reduce the risk of sexual
harassment. That can include having employees sign agreements that
they will follow company rules, not allowing the ‘little things’ to slide,
by limiting the serving of alcoholic beverages during company events,
and so on.
• Age
• Disability
• Equal Pay/Compensation
• Genetic Information
• Harassment
• National Origin
• Pregnancy
• Race/Color
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• Religion
• Retaliation
• Sex
• Sexual Harassment (as we discussed this above)
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discrimination published by the EEOC to ensure that you operate
properly with respect to this ethical issue in business.
For example, Become has made huge strides in eliminating human bias
from the loan decision-making process by using advanced technology
to analyze a business’s financial health & stability. Your Lending
Score™ will reflect your business, never your personal background or
circumstances.
As is the case for all ethical issues in business, the first step to
preventing unacceptable behavior is to educate employees, make sure
everyone is aware of the rules, and have a system for distributing
disciplinary action when needed.
After that, one of the best ways to fight discrimination at work and
guarantee a diverse group of employees is to consciously hire people
with different characteristics and backgrounds. Having a diverse
workforce will not only ensure equal representation for different groups
of people but will also, in turn, help your business fight against
discrimination by bringing in a variety of perspectives into the fold.
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people. For instance, you may require all employees to shave their
beards – but if the rule is deemed arbitrary and doesn’t actually have
anything to do with the employees’ ability to properly do their jobs, the
rule can be considered discriminatory on religious or even race
grounds.
3. Social Media
Here are a few questions you’ll want to consider with regards to this
ethical dilemma in business
Are you obligated to keep an employee who holds distasteful views and
expresses them online?
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like that – so what can you do to minimize ‘bad’ employee behavior on
social media?
There are few ethical problems in business that are more serious than
the health & safety of your employees and customers. Besides the
obvious ethical implications of people getting hurt or sick while
working for your business, there’s also the huge risk to your business’s
financial stability and reputation. Don’t be fooled just because this
ethical issue in business is number 4 on this list!
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In 2018 alone, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 5,250 fatal
injuries, the causes of which included everything from injuries by
animals to falls/slips/trips to transportation incidents and more. It may
come as little surprise to learn that the two industries with the most fatal
injuries are transportation (1,379 fatalities) and construction (1,008
fatalities). But regardless of what industry you’re in, what your track
record looks like, or how risky you think your business is – addressing
health & safety in your workplace is of the utmost importance.
It’s key to also highlight that physical safety shouldn’t be your only
focus; psychological well-being is a core component of creating a safe
and healthy workspace. Consider this: approximately 63% of the U.S.
population is part of the labor force and roughly 71% of adult
Americans report at least one symptom of stress (like headaches or
anxiety).
It’s not all doom and gloom though; of course, there are actions you
can take to ensure health & safety at work.
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• Promote healthy living (stock kitchens with healthy snacks &
drinks)
• Inform employees that help is available
• Recognize and reward hard work
• Create opportunities for employees to grow
• Hold periodic meetings with employees to understand their needs
5. Environmental Responsibility
Every business owner is responsible for the carbon footprint that their
company produces. That applies to how your business affects air
quality, water cleanliness, the safety of endangered species, the use &
conservation of other natural resources, the pristineness of protected
nature reservations, and so on. Fortunately, the government has made
laws to address most of the environmentally-related ethical dilemmas
in business. Those laws include the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water
Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act, and more.
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All of that said, a recent study found that a whopping 78.2% of small
businesses haven’t designed or implemented an environmental
management system. It should be noted though that small businesses
have reasons for not implementing environmental management
systems. Those reasons include the financial burden of making
changes, complications that may arise while implementing changes,
not having enough guidance on how to go green with the business, and
so on. How can your business avoid those obstacles?
There are numerous ways that your business can address environmental
responsibility, some of which can be a bit costly and others that you
can start implementing today. Either way you’ll want to create an
environmental management system:
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Of the [perhaps] more complicated and costly routes to environmental
consciousness: using renewable energy. Namely solar power. Installing
solar panels on your place of business will reduce the amount of
electricity you source from the power company and can save you
upwards of 80% on your electric bill. How does reducing electricity
consumption impact the environment? Consider this example from Fast
Company:
6. Accounting Practices
This is one of the more ‘classic’ ethical issues in business and comes
along with some very serious legal implications as well. Manipulating
a business’s financial data to make the company look more successful
– also known as “cooking the books” – is the most well-known form of
accounting misconduct (and is a federal crime). Beyond the legal
boundaries that it crosses, the ethical dilemmas in business related to
bad accounting practices can put innocent people in harm’s way.
Say, for example, your business was to misrepresent its earnings and
expenses. Not only would you be cheating the IRS and American
taxpayers by benefiting from tax deductions your business doesn’t
actually qualify for, but you’d also be deceiving your shareholders (if
you have any). If you then get caught, you could also be responsible for
your employees losing their livelihoods – even if they have no
knowledge of the wrongdoing. This is definitely an ethical problem in
business that you want to avoid at all costs.
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What can your business do about accounting practices?
Important note: After some careful thought, you may find that hiring
an accountant is well-worth the investment, but you may still be short
on funds to make it happen. Consider taking business loans as a way to
clear this hurdle and do what you need to do to keep your business
protected from the risks of fraudulent accounting practices.
7. Data Privacy
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So, what does that have to do with ethical problems in business? Well,
the ethical issues have less to do with how your employees conduct
themselves on company computers, smartphones, and tablets (although
that’s super important to address!). The ethics come into play when you
decide how exactly to implement a cybersecurity plan for your
business.
8. Nepotism
The problem typically arises when that isn’t the case, and you wind up
hiring someone based on your personal relationship with them and not
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on their ability to do the job. But even when they are qualified for the
position, hiring a friend or family member can still breed resentment
among other employees. That’s why you need to be extremely careful
when deciding to bring someone from your personal life to work in
your business.
Besides being very careful about who you bring into your business,
there’s not much you can do to eliminate the negative views that some
employees may have if and when you hire a family member or close
friend. Even if yours is a family-owned business, you’ll want to pay
close attention to the ratio of employees vs. friends/family. After all, as
the old saying goes, “you can’t be a boss and a friend”.
9. Theft
Last but not least, theft is one of the most common phenomena
worldwide. According to a survey by Finance Online, 39% of
businesses have experienced more than one case of employee theft. But
what exactly does that mean? Is there more to employee theft than
“just” stealing inventory? The answer is yes.
Employee theft is also about violating some other ethical issues, like
stealing time; although this issue isn’t talked about often, many
businesses are losing a fair amount of money due to false attendance
reporting of employees.
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Preventing theft is a process that should start at the very beginning of
the recruitment of employees. Obviously, you’ll want to be rest assured
that your potential employees are trust worthy and respectful of your
business in all ways. Make sure to conduct background checks, address
employee theft in your company policy and occasional updates, and
make the consequences of theft clear enough for all your employees.
Also, encourage your employees to raise a flag when suspicion arise.
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HOW TO RESLOVE ETHICAL ISSUES?
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• Enlightened Egoism: This method considers the consequences
of alternatives on the stakeholders but ultimately a decision is
made based on what’s in the best interest of the decision maker.
So, a manager would consider the effects on the stakeholders and
may decide that since a particular decision is harmful to the
stakeholders because manipulation of the financial statements
compromises the validity of those statements, it is in the best
interests of the manager to conform the statements to accounting
rules.
• Utilitarianism: Here the decision-maker evaluates harms and
benefits of alternative decisions using a calculus/weighting
approach. Under act utilitarianism, the decision would be to select
the act where the benefits to the stakeholders exceed the harms
(i.e., net benefits are greater than any other act I might take). The
problem here is a decision-maker might weigh the alternative to
manipulate the statements as having greater value than
conforming to the rules. An alternative is to apply rule-
utilitarianism where regardless of utilitarian benefits certain rules
should never be violated, such as always follow proper
accounting rules regardless of the consequences on others.
• Rights and Obligations: In this method the decision-maker uses
ethical judgment to evaluate the rights of others (i.e., the investors
and creditors). These stakeholders have a right to expect accurate
and reliable financial statements. Correspondingly, I, as a
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decision-maker, have an obligation to respect those rights when I
select an alternative course of action. Rights Theory follows a
universality approach in that I would ask, before deciding,
whether I would want others in my position to make the same
decision for the same reason if they were faced with a similar
dilemma. If so, my action has universal appeal and should be
taken.
• Values-based decision making can be a complimentary thought
process because the ethical values to be emphasized in the
workplace mirror the rights and obligations approach. Decision
makers should act in accordance with certain virtues of behavior,
or character traits, such as truthfulness, trustworthiness, respect,
fairness, responsibility, objectivity, and integrity. If I am a
principled person, then my actions reflect these virtues and those
who rely on my decisions expect to be treated in accordance with
these ethical values.
• Ethical decision-making in the workplace is fraught with danger
because stakeholders of an organization may have competing
demands. Investors and creditors expect to receive truthful
information while top management may believe their own
personal wealth and image is tied into putting the best face on the
financial statements. It takes courage and perseverance for
decision-makers to avoid the obstacles that may be in play and
follow their conscience
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• . Let your conscience be your guide is as true today as years ago.
Of course, we are talking about people who have the propensity
to be ethical; otherwise, their conscience may not bother them if
unethical actions are taken.
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CONCLUSION
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