Explain how personal and business ethics can be subconsciously overridden in decision-making. Does your selected business exemplify this?
Select a company or organization whose fairness or ethics is currently being scrutinized in the news or in social media. Provide enough background information about your selected company to convey its size and prominence in society, and then explain in detail the alleged fairness and ethics violations. Conclude your paper by choosing to support the allegations or refute them, and explain your reasoning based on what you have learned. In your discussion, be sure to include the information below.
- Summarize the concept of fairness as it relates to decisions.
- Explain how personal and business ethics can be subconsciously overridden in decision-making. Does your selected business exemplify this?
- Describe how the company could improve its image regarding fairness and ethics in decision-making.
Your paper must be a minimum of three pages in length, and it should contain at least two academic references (one maybe the textbook). Please use APA formatting and citations.
Expert Answer and Explanation
Analysis of Fairness and Ethics at Amazon
When making decisions on where to buy goods or services from, individuals may look at the practices or the reputation of the businesses which offer the services or goods. The contemporary consumer want businesses to engage in sustainable businesses practices, and adopt practices which align with the existing societal norms as well as ethical values. For organizations, adhering to the moral standards which guide business activities as well as operations, can bring various benefits other than helping attract or retain consumers. It limits the risk of lawsuits or even the legal impact associated with the breach of the ethical codes. Even though an organization may have these codes, and be aware of the existing business ethics standards, it may still breach on these standards or codes (Noroozi et al., 2018). It is imperative to examine fairness as a concept, assess unfairness in the Amazon Company’s practices, and determine how the firm can improve its image.
Background
Certain U.S.’s businesses have the history of leveraging technology to grow, and Amazon Company is an example of such firms considering that technological development constitutes to sustain the growth of this firm. This firm initially started as an online book store in 1995 before expanding to a global e-commerce business, and currently, it serves millions of customers across the world. It is the leading global e-commerce business with assets which are worth over $225 billion. The firm has a history of embracing technology, and this is noticeable in some of the services and products it provides. For instance, it offers the cloud computing services, and in the process, contributes to the development of the cyberspace technology.
Fairness and Ethics Violations
While Amazon continues to record growth, the firm seems to be having issues especially in terms of how it treats workers. The company has a culture of not seeking feedback from employees, and this continues to sustain a culture where Amazon does not involve workers in the firm’s decision-making activities. Recently, the company warned its employees against protesting the firm’s sustainability practices. This does not only indicate the lack of fairness in the way the firm treats its workers, but it also show the lack of the Amazon’s commitment to address the problem of the climate change (Ghaffary, 2020). The way the company approaches this issue may cause customers and clients to develop an impression that Amazon has a negative reputation. Amazon’s actions, in this case, violate the principles of fairness and justice because it denies workers the freedom of speech.
The Concept of Fairness
Fairness is a concept that one can use to describe the act or idea of making opportunities available to individuals equally. However, the meaning of this concept goes beyond the equitable availability of the opportunities, and it may also involve actions which are justifiable or which have fair impact for all. Within the paradigm of decision-making, the concept means giving individuals fair opportunities so that they can partake in the making of the decisions. By extension, it involves making decisions in a manner that the decisions made brings benefits rather than negative results. A business’s decisions would fair, if instance, these decisions result to the business adopting sustainable practices (Bour, Asafo, & Kwarteng, 2019).
Subconsciously Overriding Business Ethics
While the executives or employees may be committed to making moral decisions, there are instances in which individuals’ thoughts or perceptions may subconsciously override personal as well as business ethics. This may occur in a scenario where these executives or workers are not aware of the existing ethical values or standards which they are required to comply with. This lack of awareness of the ethical norms may cause the decision-makers to act in a manner that their actions may amount to the breach of the values (McKay, Nitsch, & Peters, 2015). Amazon exemplifies this in the sense that the company’s executive perceives the employees’ call for the company to engage in sustainable business practices, to be act of defiance. The firm does not see this as an opportunity to adopt a change in how it approach the issue of the climate change.
How Amazon can improve its Business Image
There are various measures which Amazon can use to improve its corporate image. One of these measures involves getting workers involved in making of the decisions. By doing this, the organization’s workers will have a platform of sharing their concerns concerning issues such as climate change. This will limit the occurrence of the incidences in which employees protest some of the firm’s practices. Besides, the firm can improve its image by having the executive get to know the organization’s ethical code regarding sustainability (Yip, Han, & Sng, 2016). This will make it possible for the executive to make decisions with climate change in mind.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is imperative that firms be fair and ethical in their dealings as well as in the way they approach issues such as climate change. Amazon seems to have issues with listening the views of the firm’s workers, and this is one of the factors which can dent its image. Therefore, it needs to involve the members of the organization’s staff into certain of its operations and activities such as making of decisions.
References
Bour, K. B., Asafo, A. J., & Kwarteng, B. O. (2019). Study on the effects of sustainability practices on the growth of manufacturing companies in urban Ghana. Heliyon, 5(6), e01903. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e01903.
Ghaffary, S. (2020). Hundreds of Amazon Employees Plan to Risk their Jobs this Week by Violating Company Policy. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/26/21082650/amazon-employees-protest-policy-climate-change-amazon-employees-for-climate-justice.
McKay, D. R., Nitsch, R., & Peters, D. A. (2015). Corporate governance and business ethics. Plastic surgery (Oakville, Ont.), 23(4), 271–272. Doi: https://doi.org/10.4172/plastic-surgery.1000935.
Noroozi, M., Zahedi, L., Bathaei, F. S., & Salari, P. (2018). Challenges of Confidentiality in Clinical Settings: Compilation of an Ethical Guideline. Iranian journal of public health, 47(6), 875–883. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6077627/.
Yip, C., Han, N. R., & Sng, B. L. (2016). Legal and ethical issues in research. Indian journal of anaesthesia, 60(9), 684–688.Doi: https://doi.org/10.4103/0019-5049.190627.
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