Ethical Decision Making Essay Example for Free

Ethical Decision Making Essay This is to bring to your kind notice that recently we have received a report from the quality assurance department regarding the toy collection which has been recently been made for elementary schools for our South American client. The toys made did not pass the quality check as it includes a metal whistle, which contains high percentage of led which is highly harmful for the children. The shipment needs to be left by the end of the week. There are three different alternatives that I would like to propose: Firstly, we should send the toys neglecting the quality report. This is not an ethical alternative as we are ignoring the quality report of the toys; this decision will highly impact the health of the children. Also, it is disadvantage of company in terms of financial and legal consideration because It is illegal sending unhealthy/uncertified thing as a brand new toy without notifying customer. Advantage is: This alternative would enable us to send the order on time and would save the cost to reproduce the toy. It is going to be advantage of company. Company has to do something in long term process. You can send the product and neglect the quality but if other part realized this issue, you will be lose your credit. Significant thing is realizing that it is going to disadvantage of company. Maybe your advantage will be saving money but it is going to just for this time. 100% make sure that they will realize this issue and give negative feedback about you. I want to give nice example about this situation. Last year Toyota Company called all its customers and informed that there is something wrong with new released cars` breaks. It needs to be fixed as soon as possible. It is fact that Toyota lost millions dollar but he saved his all customer and gain respect from all over the world. People saw that if any product goes wrong with this company they will be informed. This is important example for company that neglecting quality is going to earn you nothing. Your product is your responsibility. Ethics involves the community politics at the level of values–not just what can be achieved or how to achieve it, but more what should be fairness. Ignoring customers and neglecting quality is not the ethical way Secondly, we must reproduce and repack the toy collection with the assured quality and send to the customer. This alternative will lead to extend of the delivery of the toy to the customer and will entail the cost of $100000. This way is the best one. It will have some temporary disadvantages but you will get customers` respect. They will see that you are behind of your product and giving guarantee. It will cost huge money to company and some negative effects of extend deliver time but as I said in previous section best companies choose this way to satisfy their customers. Definition of ethic is: being in accordance with the rules or standards for right conduct or practice, especially the standards of a profession. Breaking the profession is not ethical Way. This method is the ethical way you inform the company about your products and asking for extra time to reproduce. The last option is to cancel the order. This will affect the relationship with the customer. Also, it will affect the company negatively for future orders because since you cancel the order last minutes, your value on customer is going to be negative because time is money and company lose time because of you. Additionally, possible that they can post negative feedback about your company on website and it is going to very negative idea about your company on existed or new customers. Advantage is customers will see that this company does not sell any unhealthy or uncertified products. Also, selling unhealthy product is illegal and possible company may sue you. It will cost you thousands dollar. I mean it can affect you negatively in terms of financial. Customer maybe not going to buy anything from you again but they will see that you are producing brand new quality product. Possible they will refer you to other customers since you are behind of your product. Among the three alternatives, the best option is to choose on reproduce the toys again. Social Responsibility refers to operating a business in a manner that accounts for the social and environmental impact created by the business. It means a commitment to developing policies that integrate responsible practices into daily business operations. Social responsibility is not just about managing, reducing and avoiding risk, it is about creating pportunities, generating improved performance, making money and leaving the risks far behind. High performance workplaces that integrate the views of line employees into decision-making processes It is an ethical ideology that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. This responsibility can be passive, by avoiding engaging in socially harmful acts, or active, by performing activities that directly advan ce social goals. Businesses can use ethical decision making to secure their businesses by making decisions that allow for government agencies to minimize their involvement with the corporation. (Kaliski, 2001) Company has responsibility to produce quality product and spread it to market area. When company makes decisions, it should be long term decisions. Those steps must be considerate: Improving interpersonal communication. Differentiate the decision conditions of certainty, risk, and uncertainty. Understand why managing is a synonym for decision-making. Though it will entail huge cost but it will help in making the decision ethically and will build a strong relationship with the client and the company will have a stand in the market. The decision needs to taken considering ethical constraint and ethical issues. Report: Codes of ethics are in part designed to protect practitioners against charges of malpractice, for practitioners who practice within these accepted guidelines can use them as some creditable measure of defense in cases of accused malpractice. Generally in legal cases, a practitioners behavior is judged by comparing it to the behavior expected of other practitioners in the same profession and in similar situations in accordance with accepted standards of practice. This reflects the community standard, which is what practitioners actually do, as opposed to the ethical standard of what they should do. Compliance with the code of ethics establishing ethical (not merely actual) standards of practice has some measure of validity in legal proceedings. When faced with an ethical conflict it benefits practitioners to think in terms of formal codes of ethics as providing the first (but not the last) line of assistance in the decision-making process. Responding to Siebers conditions that result in ethical problems, and acknowledging that they may share similarities, several writers have developed models for ethical problem solving and decision making. Tymchuk (1981) developed procedural guidelines that can be used as an ethical decision-making model. The model begins with a thorough description of the situation and involves obtaining information from all relevant sources including the parties involved, sources in the literature, and collegial consultation. From the information that has been obtained the critical issues involved are ferreted out and defined. The codes of ethics or other professional guidelines may be helpful in seeking a possible resolution. These guidelines may include state or federal guidelines or laws, licensing statutes and other educational and resource material such as published case studies that are similar to this situation. This process may not provide the right answer and might expose contradictory information; however, failure to find and acknowledge appropriate policies may have consequences later. With this additional information, evaluation of the rights, responsibilities, and welfare of all affected parties (including the community and the profession) may be assessed. When the issues have been defined and the affected parties identified, alternative decisions regarding each issue may proceed. This should proceed without regard to feasibility; the decision not to make a decision should also be included at this time. This process is analogous to a brainstorming session where ideas are generated and judgment is reserved for a later stage. This allows for the development of an array of options, possibly including the best-fitting one of all. Allowing for the possibility of each decision is followed by critical evaluation of the consequences of each proposed action and the time and resources necessary to effect each decision. The consequences should also be viewed from the standpoint of both short-term and long-term effects and their relevance to all parties identified. Benefits of a code of ethics: A code of ethics is a very important part of an organizations Social Responsibility. A code of ethics is a set of rules or moral guidelines that define and govern principles and actions in an organizational environment. Ethical behavior is beneficial for everyone because it protects the interests of the company or organization and the interests of everyone who comes into contact with the organization. Mutual Respect and Integrity: A code of ethics promotes an environment of respect based on integrity. When people know the code of ethics and follow it, this creates an atmosphere of trust, respect and confidence in the actions of each person involved in the organization or group. In the presence of a written code of ethics, employees at a company, for instance, are expected to behave a certain way toward each other and toward customers Trust and Honesty: Another benefit of a code of ethics is trust. Rules promote trust, especially when they are followed consistently. Management, who take the code of ethics seriously, gains the trust of their fellow employees. Those who work for the organization know that they will be protected in any situation Responsibility: When people take responsibility for their actions, everyone benefits. Responsibility is accountability and honesty, and holding yourself accountable promotes these good character traits in others who see them in you. This helps to create a cohesive and productive work force Code of Ethics Analysis: A code of ethics holds the mutual respect, honest, time, profession accountable to the public. If all employees commit to following a common code of ethics, it will produce mutual respect, honest and coherence among coworkers and organizations. I want to approach the situation with an example below: Presently Nokia is the world’s largest mobile telephone device manufacture. It is the most admired brand, ranking 5th position. Initially Nokia started as pulp industry in 1865 then in next 100 years it emerged as a powerful industrial conglomerate. The purpose of code of ethics for Nokia is to deter wrongdoing as well as promoting the standard of good corporate practices in the industry. The code of Ethics of the company applied to its CEO, President, CFO and Corporate Controller. The code of conduct of the company reveals that it aspires towards becoming the most aspired and loved brand in the world by considering not just what the company does but also how it does. The code of ethics of Nokia sets its approach towards ethical and sustainable business practices which is based mainly on the high ethical standards. The company respects and promotes human rights as well as fair workplace practices, equal employment opportunities, sustainable business in accordance with the environment and lastly zero-tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption. As the company products are technologically driven, so the user requirements are highly volatile. Nokia has to keep the pace and satisfy the consumer . There is always a progressive and continuous increase in customer involvement with technology and communications globally. The corporate practices of the company includes honest and ethical conduct, ethical handling of conflicts of interest, fairly and timely disclosures regarding all necessary information including the effectiveness of company’s control and procedures, compliance with laws and regulations of the state in which it is operating, and reporting of illegal as well as unethical behavior by any official of the company. When we look at the top companies, they always based mainly on the high ethical standards Importing thing is taking most improving companies as an example and implement their nice ideas in our companies. Finally, the probability of the actual occurrence of any of the identified consequences should be carefully weighed. Following the above process to completion results in as full a disclosure as is possible pertaining to the facts and circumstances relevant to the situation. Based on this, a decision is rendered. Ideally, this information (decision) should be shared with all parties involved to the extent possible. The decision that needs to be taken should highly focus on ethical issues and constraints.