Business Ethics: Guide to Ethical Behavior & Legal Action - Essay Sample

Introduction

Business ethics are the moral standards that guide on the nature of the behavior of employees in a business. They are the guiding principles through which behavior and character are described. Ethical principles help businesspersons and the employers to act according to the common good of everyone even if the situation is not pleasing. Legal action is always advised if an unlawful activity has been committed. Seeking legal action is one way to settle any form of the dispute instead of one taking steps in their own hands? Laws present the legal procedures outlined for resolving matters. Just like ethical values, regulations provide the guiding principles that are used in the process of guiding morals and ensuring a peaceful cohesion between an individual and in business. Employers can encourage ethics in business among employees to help secure and preserve best capacity while preventing the risk of noncompliance. Among the many ethical issues faced in the industry today, discrimination and harassment at the workplace are one of the major concerns that arise as a result of diversity among people.

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This research article will analyze discrimination and harassment that comes as a result of diversity as an ethical issue found most businesses, identify the various ethical concepts and theories involved related to this moral issue. Legal analysis will also be the basis of the article. Different legal methods will form the base of the research paper with the main focus being on the issue of discrimination and harassment. This paper will also study the employer's role towards whistleblowing and social media rants in the case of the selected ethical problem. While whistleblowing and social media rants provide the perfect platform for employees to raise issues happening in their organizations, actions of their employers such as firing such employees, harassment and discriminations raise an ethical concern to both the practice of whistle blowing and taking the measure of all the employees found guilty.

Ethical Analysis

Employers and senior managements such as Chief Executive officers play an essential part in cooperate governance. They are entrusted with the responsibility and power to protect, maintain, and reserve the interests of every stakeholder in the business, including employees and clients. Employers fulfill this management function by prescribing policies and procedures regarding workplace conduct and those that protect whistleblowing. In the world of business, most of the times, ethics are displaced by greed in demand for increased business profit (Laczniak, Gene, & Murphy, 2019). A business with no clear policies of operation tends to induce unethical practices making the world of business a battlefield where standard rules are disregarded. Exposing illicit activities is a moral obligation to everyone in an organization because it prevents further harm from happening to other people. Ethical behavior requires that we all abide by the actions that promote goodness and wellness to the people around us. Through revealing unethical acts, individuals are protecting the interests of others in our environment. Social media rants similarly are a medium through which employees in an organization can express their thoughts on matters that are not right and equally unethical in the business organization. The act of employers discriminating them because they voiced their concerns is unethical, and one should seek legal proceeds to handle such a case.

Harassment in business can present through ways such as gestures, words, and actions that may harm, threaten, or create a hostile environment. Discrimination in the company of the other hand occurs when an employee is treated unfavorably or prejudiced based on their race, gender, religion, or disability, among others (Roscigno, 2019). Employees can also be discriminated based on age, disability, compensation, sex, or pregnancy. Harassment and discrimination in the workplace can cause anxiety, humiliation, and frustration among employees. The various forms of discrimination from racial, sexual, and inequalities in wages are the various ethical issues that are experienced in the business environment. These are all very costly ethical issues that business that employers should always investigate. For instance, in the United States, the equal employment opportunity commission realized 372 million in costs over the year in 2013 (Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, 2014). Sexual harassment is one of the most common forms of harassment in the workplace. There are many ways that employers use to define sexual harassment to make it look light; however, one thing is clear according to EEOC that all forms of sexual harassment are illegal. Harassment and discrimination in the workplace create a hostile environment, for example, for in cases when one is discriminated due to race, it may affect all the others with the same race making the working environment unbearable. It presents an ethical question as one act of discrimination can have grave implications not only to the victim or employee but also to other stakeholders in the business. Ethical leadership by the employer, therefore, would be one way to save the company from falling due to discrimination and harassments at the workplace.

Ethical Theories

Utilitarian Ethical Approach

The utilitarian ethical approach is the theory that differentiates the right actions from wrong by concentrating on the outcomes (Laczniak, Gene, & Murphy, 2019). It holds that one has to produce the highest good for the most significant number of people, even if the action of producing good may be deleterious. This theory thus focuses on the decisions that relate to a big group of people since it instructs that business people act following wellness and goodness. The theory advocates that the actions of business people should only produce goodness to those who the move will affect. For instance, when a whistleblower exposes explicit information of his company, this may attract competitors who might use the information to outplay the company. Such action by the employees is not ethical because it leads to more harm than good. Closure of the business might lead to the downsizing of many other employees in the process. However, in regards to discrimination and harassment in the workplace, an employer must always ensure that the actions they take do not result in employees feeling discriminated or harassed. For example, the actions that could seem as discriminatory must produce actions that are profitable to all employees and other stakeholders in the organization (Laczniak, Gene, & Murphy, 2019).

Common Good Theory

This theory explains that every individual's action should impact the society on goodness and the general will of everyone. Compassion for others should be the drive that every employer must have in the organization. According to this theory, one action of one person will impact the overall output that everyone is expected to benefit from. Thus, employers should avoid and also discourage activities that may present prejudice at the workplace or those that may make a specific group of people feel harassed. This is because a glitch at one point of the system affects the whole system. Also, employers should not sack their employees for freely expressing themselves on social media platforms because that is their right to express themselves. The standard ethical theory employs a rationale that employers and employees should act on the common good of everyone and uphold the principle of wellness and taking care of each other for shared profit (Laczniak, Gene, & Murphy, 2019).

Rights Ethical Theory

Rights theory believes that every individual should be treated as per the rights they deserve. Rights are considered as upright and correct, therefore, every person's right's must be respected. Every person in the business ought to be treated with dignity. Managing every member of an organization with the humanity that they all deserve is the ultimate measure of ethics since it advocates for love and respect to every individual in the firm. Business owners or employers should treat their subordinate in the same manner that they would want to be treated. In this case, employers should only act on the requirements of laws that protect all individuals in the workplace. For instance, the equity right states that people with disabilities and other minority groups deserve more specialized treatment and denying them this right goes against the rights theory. It is a concept of humanity that demands that business organizations operate in the way that dignifies humanity and wellness in general. This theory, however, must be used in combination with another approach, such as deontology or utilitarian (Laczniak, Gene, & Murphy, 2019).

The Virtue Theory

Virtue ethics is a concept that represents the consistency with the usual qualities of human beings. This theory takes the reputation and standard actions of a person in judging them. Virtue theory majorly looks into the wholeness of human nature and the principle of education and training and having role models to help others engage in ethical issues. Instead of firing employees because they expressed their free will, employers should help their employees in understanding the virtue theory. Virtue ethics demands that employees acted on the wellness and shared knowledge of everyone in the firm. A company's policies may be harsh to some groups of people, but the virtue ethics theory dictates that actions must be upright despite the requirements of the procedures (Laczniak, Gene, & Murphy, 2019).

Ethical theories in a diverse organization demand that every person in an organization acts or operates for the goodness and wellness of others. It is the social responsibility that rests upon everyone to treat others with dignity. The business environment is usually faced with a lot of issues which demands that the superiors act ethically and to promote unity among all people, including people with disabilities, aged people, and those from minority groups. It is a requirement that policies in the organization are formulated to make sure that there are equality and equity, and everyone fits well.

Legal Analysis

The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission has enforced laws that protect workers and have to be adhered to by the employer. Businesses or organizations with more than 15 employees must follow the EEOC laws. However, federal agencies must comply with the EEOC laws despite the number of employees that they have.

The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) forbids discrimination against workers with disabilities, ensuring equal treatment Equal. The Age Discrimination and Employment Act 1967 (ADEA) protects the rights of older workers who may find themselves disadvantaged in their trial to retain employment. Promotes the employment of older people based on their ability and not age. Additionally, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination that is based on race, color, Religion, National origin, or Sex. EEOC also protects against retaliation such as whistleblowing. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is a state's labor to take extended leave in the process of illness or pregnancy. Employers with FMLA with eligible workers have defined rights and responsibilities as stipulated by the law. It is the responsibility of the employer to maintain employee benefits, administering FMLA rights, and necessities of record-keeping (Employment Opportunities Commission, n.d.).

Legal Theories

Different legal theories have been developed over decades to help guide business people on how they operate in the business environment. These legal theories present the framework from which actions of business person...