HU-222: Professional Ethics

Assignment #01

Registration
Name Class
Number
Ali Abdul Rehman 247282 BEE-10A

Submitted: 17th April 2021

Statement:

It’s not okay for Victoria to pay for John’s dinner.

Argument:

Ethics can be defined as the study of moral principles, a system that defines right or wrong. So,
we can say that business ethics refers to the standards for morally right and wrong conduct in
business. Now, it is important to consider that law can partially define ethical conduct but ‘legal’
and ‘ethical’ don’t always go together. There are many instances where there are no set of rules
to determine whether an action is right or wrong. That is where ethics come into play, by
outlining acceptable behaviors beyond governmental control.

Now coming onto the case study, from the initial few sentences of the provided situation, we can
infer that John and Victoria are on good friendly terms. This hypothesis is further confirmed by
the fact that Victoria invites him for dinner when she once runs into him at his workplace. The
fact that it was Victoria who made the invite, and that she gave her credit card to the waitress
implies that she very happily wishes to pay for the dinner. The fact that it was not during work
hours means that they were not out on official business but rather enjoying some time off
together in their personal lives. John should thank her for the kind gesture and make up for it in
the future. Victoria making the payment would not be okay if this were a frequent instance or if
the given statement implied that John somehow avoided paying. Instead, we see that Victoria
quite happily volunteered to pay so therefore, her feelings should be respected, and it is
completely acceptable for her to make the payment. One important factor to consider in this
situation is how the dinner came about to be. The plan was initiated by Victoria herself, so it
seems she is happy to meet and hang out with John so there's good reason to believe that she'd be
happy to pay as well. Now moving to the latter part of the question, which brings into discussion
their work relationship. From the given context, their meeting seems completely informal and
unrelated to their works lives, so it is only fair that Victoria pays from her personal account and
not the company account. Meeting outside working hours is not a problem since there is nothing
objectively wrong with that.
On the contrary, we can also argue that it was not for okay for Victoria to pay for the dinner. The
kind offer made by Victoria can be accepted with gratitude under normal circumstances but the
price being paid in this situation is unusually high. $55 for dinner is a very high price by most
standards and is therefore a strong financial burden on Victoria. John should immediately insist
on paying for his part. If she still does not choose to accept, then he should pay for the dinner
whenever they're out next. Another point to consider is the cultural context. In eastern cultures
such as Japan, gifts and dinners are not only considered okay, but rather appreciated. It is
considered unethical to refuse gifts in such countries and one must accept any offer graciously.
However, in this case study we see that it is based in Texas, USA. Paying for dinner here could
have an ulterior motive. Paying for John’s dinner could make John conscious about repaying the
favor back to Victoria. This could affect their work relationship and lead to unfair conclusions on
the disputes due to bias and partisanship. Victoria is an adjuster who directly deals with John to
resolve disputes on claims, and this work relationship is sensitive for both the companies
involved. Personal elements can hinder professional dealings and therefore, John should split the
bill and pay for his own dinner so that gifts and favors do not interfere with his job description
and work life.

Conclusion:

By considering both arguments, we can conclude that the argument for “Victoria should not
pay for John’s dinner” significantly outweighs its counterpart. Thus, in such circumstances,
John should try to split the bill so there’s no favor or debt in his mind.