WHAT ARE BUSINESS ETHICS?Business ethics are described as the human morals and values which easily depict good behaviour. These ethics are valuable in business as they can be applied in most situations. They refer to the law and choices covered by social and economic activity. There are however many ethical issues in the business world, such as:• Conflict of interest.• Inappropriate gifts.• Sexual harassment.• Insider trading.• Stealing from the company.
• Fraudulent activity.• Piracy.• Unrealistic pricing.luckily, these negative aspects can be dealt with using simple tools and skills which could prove to make your business a better place. Business ethics provide the a good working environment, where employees can be ultra productive which in the long run, will benefit the company. These good morals will result in positive globalisation, which coud possibly grow your business into a world wide company.Business ethics contains a code of ethical conducts which entails that the code is there to provide guidance, an acceptable behaviour within the workplace and show employees concepts such as: integrity, accountability, honesty and transparency.
The code of ethics is an umbrella concept which defines the morals and principles in which a business operates. Ethical behaviour can either make or break a business. Employees should be guided in order to become efficient, ethical businessmen/women. A more ethical workplace provides more customers and productivity.?ARTICLE NO.1What the article states:The article entitled “another line crossed” written by Paul Greenberg is basically an article stating that a medical health company has become interested in an “after birth abortion.
” This entails aborting a new born baby who is not of the correct sex or who suffers from a disability unbeknown to him/her. The writer of the article is very against the idea and thoroughly explains why it is unethical.My personal opinion:I agree with what the writer has to say because killing new borns is a disgusting and terrible act of humanity. I strongly agree that the act is seen as murder and anyone who carries out this action should be imprisoned for life. This is extremely unethical and could potentially ruin the business as it would receive tons of negative comments and publicity. Why it could be unethical:This article can be seen as unethical and distasteful in many instances. As abortion has been made out to be an incredibly bad and horrific thing, the murdering of a new born baby would provide an up rise of upset people.
31.4 infants are killed per 1000 live births in South Africa alone. Parents spread across the country are mortified at the death of their new borns. Many of these parents would become terribly angry at the thought of doctors aborting a new born baby. Badvertising is considered as an advert which is inappropriate and could cause anger amongst viewers. It is also unethical for the following reasons:• It is illegal.• It is against the right of life.• It could emotionally and physically scar other human beings.
• It is against certain religions and could possibly be seen as an act of “war.”• It could negatively impact the society in which the business runs.• It could affect employees in the workplace that are against abortions.• Productivity will reduce as people would be against commitment of this act.Why the company would produce this idea:The company was clearly thinking of babies that are born with disabilities as being a “burden” in their future.
Many people are all for mentally and physically challenged babies not surviving past birth and would easily promote the idea of after birth abortions. The company was interested in making a profit off of these people. However, both the company and the people who share this mindset should think again and create new and positive ideas in order to deal with “challenged” people. ARTICLE NO.
2What the article states:At a speech being honoured towards Native American war veterans who served during WWII. President elect Donald Trump made a racial slur in his speech by calling a part Native American lady “Pocahontas.” This was seen by the Native Americans as “insulting and distasteful.” President Trump has been known to make racial comments before and he is not shy to insult other races.Whatsapp is one of the many, endless ways of communication that we have in todays day and age. People all over the world are able to share their current experiences and reach loved ones, wherever they may be. On whatsapp, you are able to see what people are doing and where they are. Communication is very important in the present and going forward.
many companies need communication to market their potential goods. Any companies that provide ‘pretty’ consumer goods tend to be really successful on social media. For example, fashion retailers, bakers, car dealers, jewellers and beauty salons all usually get a big response when they post content onto their page. For some industries, social communication has become an absolute essential part of their marketing mix and without it they would be (potentially) screwed.
Without communication and the skills needed to reach people we know, many of us would live a boring, sadistic life, spending each day in the same rut. The Good:technology has transformed the way we communicate, in part due to the advent of the Internet. Instead of mailing letters, we’re writing e-mails through Gmail or Windows Live Hotmail that can be sent instantaneously to a recipient. We can even add multiple recipients to these e-mails, so that more than one person can read them.Sending a note to a friend can be done in a matter of seconds through instant message apps like whatsapp. With them, we can see if a friend is available or away, talk to multiple people at a time, “wink” and “sigh” using emojies, ignore a message if we don’t feel like talking, and send links to our favorite Websites and youtube videos.
We no longer have to spend large amounts of money on home phone accounts and with the simple click of a button, we can message people across the world. Social media has become a way of life, letting us communicate no matter where we are—on the way to work, at the beach, at school, etc. text messaging has become an efficient way to get a short message across, such as “Meet you there at 8” or “I’ll be home late.”The Bad:It’s true that technology has also made society somewhat impersonal. In our every day lives, we are constantly messaging our friends instead of personally seeing them. As a result, it’s difficult to tell when a person is serious or sarcastic—our clever turns of phrase can easily be misconstrued. Technology tends to make communication drag out more than it has to; sometimes it’s quicker to just get out of your seat and walk to the person, or simply pick up the phone.
Even worse, younger generations have forgotten how to spell and write complete sentences due to the increased use of text messaging on mobile phones. Many reports and statistics have proved that teenagers seemed “unduly reliant on short sentences, simple tenses, and a limited vocabulary” and that with the use of phonetic spelling and little or no punctuation, it’s beginning to pose a threat to traditional conventions in writing.In addition, we’ve seen how addicted people can become to their smartphones. People possess an obsessive need to constantly check their messages, even when on vacation with the family.
We all have a sense of FOMO and we simply cannot go a few minutes without checking our social media.Social communication is a necessity in todays world and it contains many aspects that are good and bad. People need to balance their times and use social media wisely. However, without these means of communication we would all have many potential problems. The article also explains why the Native American woman was offended and why it was completely disrespectful for Donald Trump to say such.
My personal opinion:I personally don’t find the comment insulting as he passed it as a light joke followed by the words to the democrat “you know what, I like you,” this shows that president Trump was not particularly being racist. However, I do think that the comment was distasteful as it was a little colloquial coming from one of greatest countries leaders in the world. These kinds of comments should not be made by professional people and should be avoided in order to keep the peace and professionalism within the government.
Why it was unethical:The event that president Trump spoke at was supposed to be an honourable evening, but Donald Trump made the speech a little bit informal when he began to call the lady Pocahontas, in front of many Native American people. Many people of colour could easily take offense as the “joke” is extremely stereotypical and a little crude. These types of situations could affect the government in the following ways:• Make the government seem racist.• Cause problems between the government and the president.• Cause strikes and boycotts.• Help people become aware of racism within higher powers.
• Cause the US government to lose support of allied countries.Donald Trump contradicts himself in the speech by stating afterwards that he is the “least racist person you will ever meet in your entire life” this comment could also cause an unethical up rise as he is made out to be a liar, the President has made many racial remarks already in his term as president. His remarks can also be used as propaganda techniques from other senates running for presidency, which could cause Donald Trump to lose viewers and supporters, potentially affecting all his existing business practices. ?ARTICLE NO.3What the article states:The article refers to the current affair of world-wide industry: Apple IPhone slowing down older devices in order to enhance current and new products. According to the article, “apple says it started the practice a year ago, to compensate for battery degradation” as good as this excuse sounds, there are plenty of other ways that apple could’ve performed this deed without betraying their customers trust.Cold weather, low charge and other “natural” causes can affect battery degradation, so apple came up with the idea to counteract against these issues.
Apple could’ve simply told customers what problems may cause older iPhones to slow down, and these customers could’ve gotten their phones fixed almost at any phone shop. My personal opinion:I honestly tend to think that apple has produced such a problem to enhance business and to make more money. Their original excuse was that they were slowing down older iPhones to ensure that people aren’t harmed by iPhones being slowed down naturally. However, I tend to believe that apple wants new and improved iPhones to be sold at a higher rate, causing the company to commit such acts. As apple is in competition with Samsung, they needed a new and improved marketing strategy which could end up knocking Samsung out of the race. Another thing that apple hasn’t told the users, is that they sell new batteries for R1000, which can easily replace older batteries that are susceptible to slowing down and degrading. Apple could possibly use this as a profit strategy as people get rid of their older, slower iPhones and instead of buying a R1000 battery, they buy a R10 000 iPhone X.
Why it was unethical:The way Apple construed this plan is almost as if “fraudulent” activity is taking place. They have broken almost every rule in the code of ethics (attached to the portfolio task).Apples unethical decisions can also affect the following:• Employees – as customers can verbally abuse due to slow, not working IPhones.
• Customers – customers who have older iPhones will suffer largely as frustration and anger will occur.• Poorer people – many poorer people can’t afford to buy a new iPhone because the older version is slow.• Certain situations – tragic accidents could possibly happen, and an older iPhone user could take too long to get a hold of an emergency hotline.
The slowing down of older IPhones could hurt apples production and money base. Apple is being sued for millions of dollars due to this scheme and they are currently guilty for the following:• Corruption.• Extortion.• Unethical practices.• Harming trust between customers.
