Legal and Ethical Issues in Global Business

Before establishing any kind of business around the world many things have to be taken into consideration. Important decisions have to be made before a particular business venture could operate in a certain country. Some of the factors that have to be given due attention are the legal and ethical issues that have to be study and analyze before anyone may it be someone well adept with business matters or not enter into a business venture especially if it deals with global business.

This paper aims to discuss the legal and ethical issues that have to be properly addressed before entering into global business. In relation to this, the definition of legal issues as well as ethical issues will be included in this paper. Moreover, the important elements of these issues will also be given proper consideration. Definition of Legal Issues Almost all business organizations are subjected under the laws of a particular country, which they operate in. Business personnel should not only be profit-oriented because they also have to be aware of their responsibilities to their consumers.

In doing so, they have to abide by the laws of the government in which they are operating and they also have to uphold the country’s various provisions and guidelines in their businesses (Cheeseman, 2007). Being the case, issues or concerns that have to do with the laws of a particular country or are connected with it are pertain to as legal issues. Definition of Ethical Issues Business ethics is defined as “the study of standards which businesses should observe in their dealings, over and above compliance with the law” (London South East, n. d. ).

Concerns that are related with business ethics are also referred to as Ethical Issues. This aforementioned ethical standard tends to vary from one country to another. This is due to the fact that government laws regarding business contracts, employee rights, and other related issues have a wide range, thus, these laws are not similar in every country. Another reason as to why ethical standards are unique per country is because it is dependent upon the culture and tradition of a particular place (Chesseman, 2007). Importance of Legal and Ethical Issues

Analyzing legal and ethical issues are important in doing a business. When businessmen/women are going to conduct operations in a foreign country, they should be aware of the proper business conduct that is acceptable in that particular country. There are also many issues that have to be consider like changes in laws, as well as the impact of the business itself to the environment of the country. In doing so, transactions would be done easily and hassle-free and more importantly, good working relationship would be established among business associates (Cheeseman, 2007).

The advancement of information technology is also another reason why legal and ethical issues should properly accounted for. Due to technological development, the way people do things have also changed and one of which is how people do business. The existence of the information technology in the form of the internet and software applications has given the business industry with an alternate means to conduct their operations as compared to the traditional one.

Nevertheless, this technological advancement also has its disadvantages, which includes susceptibility to threats like corrupt practices through the use of the Internet (Chesseman, 2007). Due to these, fully understanding the different issues involve in business would also be beneficial especially in dealing with the changes that occurring in this field. Legal Issues and Code of Ethics In order to fully understand legal and ethical issues, the succeeding paragraphs would give examples of some of the guidelines that have to be properly consider before establishing a business that is international in nature.

The business sector has their own code of business ethics that they adhere to. Lars G. Harrison’s code of business ethics gives a good starting point in businesses can establish their own ethical contract regarding management personnel. It is a document that provides the codes that management personnel should abide by. This aid in universalizing the expected behavior of management personnel as well as recognizing the humanity of all individuals that are directly or indirectly related to the business sector.

In relation to this, this document addresses the needs of almost all businesses that operate in any level. Nevertheless, applying this document to a larger and globally competitive business is possible without substantially modifying or altering the main points of the document. Moreover, this document would also aid companies to have legal position in terms of ethical behavior that would give a particular company the right to terminate an employee who breached this said contract (Harrison, 1996).

One of the most prevalent issues in conducting business in different countries is the problem of discrimination. The government of the United States of America created the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws in order to address this issue. These laws stipulate that discrimination against employees is prohibited. Different kinds of discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex as well as nationality is considered as unlawful. Furthermore, these laws also tackle equal pay, age discrimination as well as discrimination against individuals with disabilities.

These laws give due importance to the humanity of the employees, which it aims to protect by guiding the decision-making of these employees. As such, these laws served as a guideline that both the company and the employees must adhere to in order to establish good working relationship among them (United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2004). International business is also governed by laws in order to facilitate the interaction of various countries and multinational companies.

A good example of these laws is the Anti-Bribery and Books and Records Provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). FCPA is series of statutes that deals with all acts of fraud that may happen in the course of international business transactions. The statutes stipulate the responsibilities of businesses to report and do the necessary prevention that might jeopardize their business during the transaction itself. One of the exemplary features of this document is the individual protection that it gives to those who report corrupt practices.

In connection to this, FCPA emphasize the importance of ethical business practices in terms of its application in treating people as individuals. Moreover, it is also pressure those who would commit unethical behavior to act accordingly (United States Department of Justice, 2004). Conclusion The discussions above show that different legal and ethical issues have to be properly given attention to as it play a vital role in the operation of international businesses. Some of these issues are exemplified by company and employee misconduct, discrimination and fraud.

In relation to these, various laws served as guidelines in order for those people who are related in the business sector to act accordingly and also to address various issues like the abovementioned concerns. Some of examples of these laws are Harrison’s code of business ethics, the Anti-Bribery and Books & Records Provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws. Being the case, people who are planning to engage in international business transactions have to consider many things and these include legal and ethical matters.

References Cheeseman, H. R. (2007). Chapter 7: Ethics and Social Responsibility of Business. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from University of Phoenix : https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/content/eBookLibrary/content/eReader. h Harrison, L. G. (1996). Harrison on Leadership: Code of Business Ethics. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www. altika. com/leadership/ethics. htm. London South East. (n. d. ). Business Ethics Definition. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www. lse. co. uk/financeglossary.

asp? searchTerm=business&iArticleID=2420&definition=business_ethics. United States Department of Justice. (2004). Anti-Bribery and Books & Records Provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www. usdoj. gov/criminal/fraud/docs/statue. html. United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2004). Federal Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws: Overview. Retrieved August 6, 2008, from http://www. eeoc. gov/abouteeo/overview_laws. html.

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Ethical Issues in Marketing

Table of contents

Executive Summary

This report outlines the concept of ethics in marketing and the famous cases that have emerged in the past regarding unethical marketing practices by businesses. hrough this report we have also tried to find out how sensitive are the common people to the issue of ethics in advertisements and how do they perceive the contents shown in the advertisements nowdays. For this purpose we had conducted a study amonga sample of 50 students of age group 20 to 24 yrs. The research tool used in the study was that of a questionnaire. The study reveals that while most of the people are sensitive to the issue of unethical advertisements, there are also a few who believe that nothing much can be done in this respect and are a little ignorant towards such issues.

They have been and will continue purchasing a brand even after perceiving its advertisement as unethical. Our recommendations to the companies that deal in such practices is that they should thrive to stick to their ethics and moral value and instead should concentrate on providing their customers with such services and products that will add value to them and their lives.

Marketing and Ethics

Marketing industry is a very broad industry and also one of the core business functions that every business enterprise practices in order to effectively cater to the needs of the customers. arketing leaders thrive to create the look and feel of a brand and to make strategies to engage and inform customers about the same. for this purpose the marketers are today using print ,electronic and social media as their vehicles,as these mediums are pervasive and their powerful forces shape attitudes and behavior in today’s world. The reason for this is the tremendous growth and development in the field of  Information and Communication technologies.

If yesterday it was television that revolutionized the way advertisements could create a lasting impact on the consumer, then today the internet and phone text messages are doing just the same. also , Rapid economic expansions in countries like China and India have meant that marketers have to quickly respond to the changing socio-economic scenarios. But at the same time these developments have given rise to a number of ethical issues. the globe is indeed becoming a smaller place but the marketers have to bear in mind national, local and cultural sensitivities.

Very often, in the hope of capturing a large share , marketers jump in new markets without keeping in mind ethnic and social issues associated to certain areas. marketers today ignore and exploit the social sentiments and factors of the customer groups ,in order to maximise their profits and make fast bucks. this leads them to engage in unethical marketing practices. Unethical marketing decisions can be made in following marketing areas:

  • Supply chain
  • Advertising
  • Pricing
  • Product Supply chain: Only being an ethical company is not sufficient.

These days, leading brands are judged by the company they keep. Consumers, investors, business partners, regulators, and media organizations now expect a company and its entire supply chain to be ethical. every company is a part of a supply chain since almost every company buys unfinished inputs provided by many other companies before refining them and passing the finished goods to the consumers. Supply-chain management is a strategic issue. It has an effect on a company’s brand and it now concerns managers and board members. Excellent companies are the most ethical in their practices .

Excellent companies lead on best practices. A business is said to be having an unethical supply chain if any of the elements of its supply chain ie suppliers/contractors/distributers/sales agents are practising unethical practices like, use of child labour or forced labour, production in sweatshops, violation of basic rights of workers, ignoring health safety and environmental standards. Advertising: Advertising is the most important tool for marketers to promote their products and to make the consumers aware about the same.

Advertisements play an important role in inclining and attracting the potential customers towards the product. However nowdays advertisements are under scrutiny for being unethical. Unethical advertisements include misleading advertisements that make false claims, obscene /offensive and indecent ads that hurt religious or social sentiments of people. To sum up, some of the ethical issues in advertising are:

  • Vulgarity/obscenity
  • Misleading advertisements and deception
  • Puffery
  • Stereotype
  • Racial issues

Feature of Unethical advertisement on television has been a hot issue in the past days in our country,with the Advertising Standard Council of India receiving 777 complaints regarding 190 ads. it has been discussed later in the project and also a primary study has been conducted regarding the ethics in advertisements in our project. Pricing: Pricing is a very important part of marketing mix and is a decision of strategic nature. a company has to do sufficient amount of analysis to decide on the priceof its product. ompanies can sometime deal in unethical and even illegal pricing. Unethical pricing practices cause customers to believe that the price they pay for some unit of value in a product or service is lower than it really is. This might also include making false price comparisons, providing misleading suggested selling prices, omitting important conditions of the sale, or making very low price offers available only when other items are purchased as well. other unethical pricing stratgies include:

  • price discrimination
  • price skimming
  • price fixing.

Product: Several product-related issues raise questions about ethics in marketing, most often concerning the quality of products and services provided. Among the most frequently voiced complaints are ones about products that are unsafe, that are of poor quality in construction or content, that do not contain what is promoted, or that go out of style or become obsolete before they actually need replacing. An organization that markets poor-quality or unsafe products is taking the chance that it will develop a reputation for poor products or service.

False or greatly exaggerated product or service claims are also deceptive. When packages are intentionally mislabeled as to contents, size, weight, or use information, that constitutes deceptive packaging. Selling hazardous or defective products without disclosing the dangers, failing to perform promised services, and not honoring warranty obligations are also considered deception. Other product related issues include animal testing and manufacturing products that harm the ecology and environment and exploit the already scarce natural resources.

Famous Cases

L’Oréal (Unethical Advertisement And Promotion Strategy)

L’Oréal is amongst the biggest brand names in personal care and beauty products in the world with a huge line of products and brands under its umbrella ,operating in over 130 countries around the world. However this company has been in news recently ,but for wrong reasons. The company has been time and again been accused of airbrushing its models in order to make them look fairer. The latest addition in its line of controversies is its advertisement that features indian origin actress Freida Pinto.

This ad has created controversies because of the fact that the actress appears to be airbrushed as her skin tone has been lightened . Earlier same controversy of airbrushing happenend when singer Beyonce featured in one of Loreal’s ad. The company is seemingly promoting fair skin tones as compared to dark skin tones and is inculcating a sense of insecurity amongst women around the world with regard to their complexion. another case of Loreal’s criticism over fakery in its advertising is of year 2007. the company was condemned for producing ‘misleading’ mascara adverts featuring Penelope Cruz.

The TV and magazine advertisements claimed that women could have up to 60 per cent longer eyelashes with its Telescopic mascara. But actually it was later revealed that Cruz was wearing false eyelashes in the ads for Telescopic, and the company was forced to include disclaimers during its advertisements making such issues clear. It is for these reasons that the company is viewed by activists as the face of modern consumerism – a company that tested its cosmetics on animals, exploited the sexuality of women, and sold their products by making women feel insecure.

Moreover, Nestle owned 26 percent of L’Oreal. Nestle was one of the most boycotted companies in the world for its alleged unethical business practices and aggressive promotion of baby milk in developing countries as discussed above.

Nike and Apple Inc. (Unethical Supply Chain Practice)

Nike  has been accused of having a history of using sweatshops, a sweatshop is a working environment or manufacturing centre where the working environment is considered to be dangerous and difficult because workers can be exposed to hazardous materials, harmful situations, extreme temperatures, and abuse from employers.

Sweatshop workers often work long days, sometimes exceeding 14 hours, and earn pay far below a living age. In 1990s ,Nike’s suppliers in developing countries like indonesia,china and vietnam operated sweatshops in which the workers were made to work in hazardous conditions with minimal wages. this case is an ideal example of unethical supply chain in marketing. a brand as big and famous as Nike has been associated with unethical practise in this particular field of marketing. It was unbelievable and shocking on part of the people who were its loyal customers.

The company initially denied all such accusitions and then in the year 2001 a very irresponsible statement was made by Nike director Tom McKean saying that the company cannot control what goes on around the world as they do not own these factories. Another famous company involved in a similar unethical practise is Apple Inc. in the year 2010 ,one of Apple’s suppliers in china was accused of using child labor. since companies are under immense pressure to find lowest cost providers ,they end up dealing with suppliers in developing countries like china ,where such unethical practises are common. o this Steve Jobs (Apple head) said that this was not merely Apple’s problem but a world problem with regard to priorities and a lack of enforcement by local agencies in various deneloping nations. Too many companies are turning blind eye towards their suppliers and end up being associated with unethical business practices. May be this is the reason why Apple ,one of the most image conscious and credible company could not escape this trap.

Nestle (Unethical And Immoral Product)

Nestle a big name in FMCG industry, has been involved in numerous unethical marketing practices.

This company was highly criticed for its disregard for the health of infants shown by its irresponsible marketing of breast milk substitutes. it had been continously breaching the WHO code regulating the marketing of breast milk substitutes. it encouraged bottle feeding and carried on promotional and advertising activities for its baby foods by giving away free samples of baby milk to hospitals . also the company was accused of misinforming mothers and healthworkers during its promotions.

It stated that malnourished mothers and mothers of twins and premature babies were unable to breastfeed ,despite health organisations claimimg that threre was no evidence to support such theory. Nestle advertised directly to mothers in over twenty countries such as thailand and south africa. Also the baby foods/milk product were sold in the market without any health warning and even instuctions on the packaging an if present they were in an inappropriate language. Thus company violated the code regulating the marketing of baby milk formulas.

According to WHO bottle fed babies are up to ten times more likely to develop gastro intestinal infections. Therefore this company till date is highly criticised for its unethical practice of immoral marketing and promotion of an unethical product. Other accusitions of the company include exploitation of workers at its Brazil chocolate plant including dicrimination of women workers and supporting brutal and repressive regimes

Microsoft (Product Bundling Case)

Microsoft is a large diversified computer software manufacturer with one of the highest valuations in the world.

Microsoft produces the Windows family of operating systems for personal computers and servers. It also produces applications software that run on the Windows family of operating systems, most notably the very successful MS- Office Suite. Almost all Microsoft products are complementary to a member of the Windows family of operating systems for personal computers and servers. United states Vs Microsoft was a civil action filed against Microsoft Corporation by United States Department Of Justice (DOJ).

The allegation on Microsoft was that it abused monopoly power on Intel-based personal computers. The issue central to the case was that whether Microsoft should bundle its Internet Explorer web browser software with its Microsoft Windows Operating System. Bundling IE with the operating system was considered as a victory of Microsoft in the browsers war as all the Windows users had a copy of IE which had started restricting the sales of the other web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Opera which were slow to download or had to b purchased at a store.

Microsoft said that the bundling of IE with Windows was an innovation and the result of competiton and that now both were a same product. The opposition said that IE should not b bundled with Windows as a separate version of IE was available for Mac OS. They also countered that IE was actually not free with Windows as its development and marketing costs must have increased the price of Windows than what it might actually have been. This had put up a question that whether Microsoft was unethical in bundling its product or was it an innovation. Was it right to increase the sales by almost stopping the sales of others?

The strategy which Microsoft adopted was not ethical as the others were suffering because of this and had no choice left before them. Hence what Microsoft did was against the ethics of the marketplace.

Research Study

In this project we have attempted to conduct a research concerning the public’s opinion about the level of ethics in advertising. Through this study we want to address the problem of the level of ethics in advertisements nowadays and what is the people’s reaction and how sensitive they are towards the issue of ethics in advertising.

For the purpose of this study, questionnaires were distributed to a sample of 50 students and were asked to give their honest opinion regarding this issue.

Data Representation

Q. Do Advertisement shows an accurate view of reality?

Here, 15 people strongly disagree with the situation that advertisement shows exact reality and 10 people are strongly agreeing and 10 are disagreeing with the situation which shows that every individual is having different opinion according to their thinking.

Q. Do you think general television advertisements promote materialism?

In this out of 50 respondents, 27 respondents think that advertisements promote materialism while other 22 people think they don’t

Q. How do you view the level of ethics in general advertising? Q. Which off the following issues in general advertising would you consider being unethical ?

A relatively mixed reaction is noticed in this answer. while majority believed that they perceived “lack of trust” issue in advertisement as unethical. A good lot also believed that advertisements of cigrattes and alcoholic beverages were also unethical.

Q. Mention a brand name in front of the product categories mention below ? Q Would you still buy the same brand of shoes if that company is dealing in wrong practices?

For e. g. child labor 43 of sample respondents said that they will not purchase a particular brand having known that the brand deals in unethical practise.

Q. Have you ever decided not to buy a product or a service due to an advertisement that you perceived as unethical?

19 respondents said they have not purchased a product having perceived its advertisement as unethical while the majority continued purchasing .

Q . Is it fine to use unethical practices to increase profitability of the company?

Almost all the respondents believe that it is not right for business houses to engage in unethical practices to maximise their profits.

Interpretetion and Conclusion

The survey done through the distribution of questionnaires revealed following facts: The students interviewed believe that advertisements today have a very unreal appeal to them and do not promote reality while there are a few who also believe that advertisements present a true picture of the real world.

The students also believe that advertisements do promote materialism but there was a mixed reaction when asked whether such promotion is ethical. However majority of the people failed to justify their answer and give valid reasons for the same. A huge number of them also think that advertisements do not promote materialism. Also people’s view regarding the level of ethics in the general advertisements was very generalised, for them ethcal level in advertisements is neither too high nor too low.

As far as unethical advertisements are concerned, for a majority lot, advertisements which lack trust quotient and are highly exaggerated and misleading are the most unethical. While for others, advertisements promoting cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are also unethical . When asked to name a brand that hit their minds instantaneously corosponding to the products : shoes,deodorant,fainess cream and mobile phone, people had different brand names in their minds as their favourites (most of them being big names).

In continuation of this question, respondents were asked if they would still purchase the same brand if they discovered that the brand was associated with unethical practices. To this their response was predictable as most of them refused while a few were not sure. Majority of the respondents have responded that they have decided not to buy a product ,if they have perceived its advertisement as unethical . this shows that a lot of people are sensitive to such issues and have expressed threir dissatisfaction by discontinuing their purchase.

While some of the respondents were ignorant and continued purchase. On the other hand most of the respondents believe that it is not right for companies to compromise on their ethical values in order to achieve high profits.

Recommendations

Considering the high level of unethical issues that are emerging everyday, businesses need to realise that they have to find an alternate to unethical practices. They need to realise that unfair practicse may help them earn profits faster,but the profitability would not last for long .

The consumers today are becoming highly aware and such issues cannot escape their knowledge. Thus it is better if companies should strive for using ethical marketing practices . they should Focus on providing good products with lots of benefits, and in this way they will be able to make their marketing honest and irresistible for the customers. They shoiuld make sure there is always an exchange of value between two parties with their marketing efforts. Business houses should keep in mind that business tactics should always be ethical. hey should be persuading a person to buy a product because they really need it, and when the companies are certain that this product will bring value into their lives. Ethical business practice is the ability to truly give somebody the power of choice, and not forcefully loading a product onto the customers, which they know in the back of their minds they will never have any use for.

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Ethical issues and dilemmas in international business

Globalization refers to the increasingly connectedness people and countries across the entire world, especially with regard to work and the economy. Globalisation has overwhelmed the whole world. In some areas it has enhanced the businesses and the standard of life, whereas in other places it has caused mayhem. The benefits have not been distributed fairly within nations. In an attempt to increase profits and maintain competition some organization have ended up in an unethical business practices such as casualisation of employees, which destroyed the interest of employees and violate essential labour laws.

With globalization, the international business experts are getting into ethical dilemma. This include whether the enterprise can guarantee the safety and right of their employees while at the same time maintain its profits. Most organization has code of ethics stated in their policy. It includes the organization intention upon which moral principles it works. Ethics are necessary when the line is drawn. And this will help determine what is right or wrong based on the international perception. Generally, some organization especially in the developing world, have a blurry ethical lines.

In most organization problems of casualisation have long-standing issues especially in the developing world, multinational and corporations (Albrow, 1997). Ethical perceptions across cultures in regards to the ethical situation Business principles are products of social and cultural evolution. They exemplify ideas and orientation and enhance decency through conventional practice and historical experience. Thus, it is not easy to make standard ethical strategies that can be legitimized across business organizations. New ethical issues in international business emerged with globalization hence making ethics to vary from one business to another.

Thus, different organizations have different measures of attributing ethical status to conduct (Anderson, 1991). Risks and consequences associated with this dilemma. Although globalization was meant to boost development across and within the countries, essentially it has also led to economic, social and political problems. It has received both support and opposition from different countries. In the recent time, those who oppose what they see as bad impacts of globalization have criticized the meeting of western leaders.

The critics to globalization argued that, it makes the rich countries richer at the expense of the poor countries, and results to the increasing insolvency and segregation of the third world. On the other hand, those for globalization argue that globalization spreads wealth and reduces the inequality existing between poor countries by promoting the world trade. Casualisation is one of the unethical issues that have been widely practiced in most organizations. It has detrimental impacts to workers, for example, in some companies, it is possible to get that about three quarter of their workers are on contract basis.

This ethical dilemmas examples could be worse in informal sector of some local industries. Although most of the casual workers are professions they get low wages despite of their important service. The right of these casual in some companies are worsen by locking them up in their factories to control moving out or in the factory. Moreover, these workers are denied permanent employment and joining unions despite having worked for long within the organization. Conclusion Casualisation and other unfair treatment of workers for competition and to maximize profit in businesses is an obstacle to constructive business ethics.

Furthermore casualisation violates the rights of employees to better job and denies them freedom of association. It can thus be noted that cusualisation and other unfair treatment of workers promote capitalist pursuit for enormous productivity and maximization of profit at the expense of workers. Companies must be aware of what is going own within the organization and ensure fare treatment of workers.

Reference:

Albrow, M. (1997). Global age: state & society beyond modernity. Stanford University Press. Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined community. London, New York: Verso.

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Auto Insurance In Canada Ethical Issues

Auto Insurance In Canada Ethical Issues

                People get an insurance to allocate a known premium for an unknown and highly variable potential loss.  One of the insurance that people always make sure to get was auto insurance to make sure that they will get a replacement for a potential loss.   Once a policyholder has been paying into a whole life insurance policy for some time, its cash value builds up, making the policy more valuable.  Ofcourse when this happens,  the policy holders are already sure that they are secured.  But there are agent who offer a built up value for their policy, a much better “new and improved policy “ which contains one with more coverage, different features, or a different payment schedule.  But dishonest intentionally forget to mention that the insurance that they are holding are enough already to protect them and by enrolling to the bult-up cash value they will begin again from the start in building up cash value in the new policy.

                The rates used in auto insurance in Canada are fair because before the insurance industry issues the list of prices for auto insurance. People from the insurance industry have undergone extensive research to study the number and cost of collisions and comprehensive claims for the most popular vehicles used in Canada.  They also included reported cases of  stolen vehicles together with their respective claims.  Owners to pay for any damages that might happen just in case they met an accident in the road allocate car insurances.  It is right that they pay for what they have damaged.  However, if it was not their fault they should not be paying too much.

                The concept of discrimination has typically had negative connotations.  It is true that some drivers are negatively impacted by age or genders- based differentiation or in insurance rates.  It is much better that they remove these differentiations, any it will not affect pricing.  They should have a standard pricing. As long as they are of legal age and they are qualified to drive they should be given equal treatment and pricing like any other regular . Furthermore, the concept of actuarial equity can be argued to be ethical using theoretical approaches grounded in utilitarianism, equality and egalitarianism. Most Canadians now view the ability to drive as a social “right”.  Insurance requirements that are prohibitive to the exercise of that “right” are, as a result, viewed as unethical.  However, a thorough exploration of the issue suggests that there is a strong ethical argument for requiring vehicle insurance.  Further, governments should not be ethically obliged to assist individuals when the requirement of insurance proves too prohibitive for an individual to be able to drive.  There must be a limit on “rights” claims that can be made to challenge every negative impact.  Governments should not assume they are ethically obliged to intervene.  Although they may choose to, and have done so in certain jurisdictions, there is not any overriding ethical imperative to do so.  This is not to say that ethical arguments could not be provided for making such a decision. However, those who choose not to are not without a moral foundation either. (OHRC, 2005)

References

Brown, Charters, Gunz and Haddow. (2004) Age as an Rate Class Variable.  University of Waterloo.  Retrieved on November 23, 2006. http://www.lcc.gc.ca/research_project/pr/gen/resources/brown_2004-en.asp

Insurance Bureau of Canada. How Car is Measure Up? Retrieved on November 23, 2006. http://www.ibc.ca/en/Car_Insurance/Buying_a_New_Car/HCMU.asp

Ontario Human Rights Commission. (2005) Where do we go from here? Retrieved on November 22, 2006. http://www.ohrc.on.ca/english/consultations/insurance-consultation-report_3.shtml

 

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Identify the potential ethical issues involved in this case.

Table of contents

Identify the potential ethical issues involved in this case

Among the potential ethical issues that may arise from this case are the psychologist’s competence, the confidentiality of the clients’ records, and the necessity of informed consent. First, the psychologist’s competence in the conduct of group processes may be an issue here since the workshop clearly involves multiple clients that may pose difficulties for a single therapist or psychologist in providing quality service to each individual client. Second, safeguarding the confidentiality of the clients’ records may be problematic since Lynn may be obliged by the principal who hired her for the workshop to turn over the results and minutes of the group consultation.

Accordingly, the psychologist’s integrity may also be challenged as she confronts pressure from the employer to report the not only the outcomes but also the process undergone in the workshop. The nature of the session may also result in breaches of confidentiality that are beyond Lynn’s control as the proceedings of the workshop could be a source of conversation and even become gossip-fodder for its participants. Third, informed consent could be an issue here since the participants of the workshop could have been pressured by the administration to attend or they might not be aware of the risks involved in their participation.

Describe the consultation relationship defined in this case and the rights this establishes for the individuals involved

The consultation relationship that defined in this case is that of the partnership between Lynn as the therapist and the group of teachers and administrators as client. On the other hand, while this may be an undertaking that they go through as a group, the psychologist or therapist must bear in mind the individual rights of the clients involved in the consultation process such as self-determination or the client’s freedom to choose solutions and alternatives for his or herself. Likewise, each individual client in this setting has the right to decline participation in the consultation process, to be properly informed of the advantages and possible disadvantages if they choose to participate, and for confidentiality to be safeguarded.

Discuss the role informed consent plays in this case

As previously discussed, the issue of confidentiality in this case may be more difficult to maintain given the nature of the workshop. Hence, informed consent plays a relevant role in ensuring that clients’ welfare is protected. It is Lynn’s responsibility to ensure that the participants of the workshop were properly informed of the risks involved especially in this case where other issues such as labor-management may arise.

Discuss the main ethical considerations that need to be taken into account when entering into consultation relationships

Accordingly, therapists and other professionals involved in helping relationships should always take into consideration their primary ethical responsibilities to ensure that the helping relationship established between the therapist and client is as close to the ideal as possible. Ethical practice therefore means putting client’s rights and welfare at the fore of the relationship and considering key ethical issues including

  • client self-determination,
  • confidentiality,
  • informed consent,
  • maintaining professional boundaries,
  • integrity.

These ethics are interrelated. Client self-determination underlines the importance of involving the client as much as possible in the consulting process from goal-setting to setting the expectations of the relationship and this underlines the relevance of informed consent and confidentiality. Corey, Schneider-Corey, & Callanan (2007) stress the importance of informing the clients and participants of the consulting process on all aspects of the consultation particularly the “goals and purpose of the consultation, the limits to confidentiality, the potential benefits, any potential risk, the potential outcomes of intervention, and their freedom to decline to participate in the consulting process”. Likewise, maintaining professional boundaries and ensuring confidentiality enables the client to be freely share his or her thoughts, issues, and other sensitive information with the therapist because of the knowledge that this is a professional relationship established and that the professional therapist would safeguard his or her personal information. Thus, the therapist is also able to practice integrity and honesty in his or her dealing with the client.

References

  1. Butler, M.H. & Gardner, B. C. (2001). Ethics and the ideal helping relationship: Response to Hill and Mamalakis. Family Relations, 50(3): 209-214.
  2. Corey, G., Schneider-Corey, M. & Callanan, P. (2007) Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions (7th ed.) Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole.
  3. Hepworth, D.H., Rooney, R.H. & Larsen, J. (2006). Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills (7th ed.) Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

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Arthur Andersen’s Legal Ethical Issues

Describe the legal and ethical issues surrounding Andersen’s auditing of companies accused of accounting improprieties The largest bankruptcy of a non-profit organization,the investors of Baptist Foundation of Arizona sued Andersen which served as the auditor for $217 million for issuing false and misleading approvals of BFA financial statements and also lost $570 million donor funds. BFA management allegedly took money from other investors to pay off the current investors which the court held that there is a Ponzi scheme going on.

Here, the auditors of Arthur Andersen has clearly compromising their integrity and honesty by issuing a false information to the public. The next company up in the sacks is Sunbeam whereby Arthur Andersen audits failed to address serious accounting errors while they issued an unqualified opinion. Losses to the shareholders amounting to well over $4. 4 billion and 1,700 people was jobless. Andersen paid $110 million out of an approved $141 million for the settlement of the case which they resolve the claims without admitting fault or liability.

Andersen was also named in the case of Waste Management where they could earn additional fees in some “special work” which in this case overstating nearly $1. 4 billion earnings. At first, Andersen identified those improper accounting practices and presented them but both Waste Management and Andersen went into a closed-door engagement with Andersen to write off those accumulated errors. Here there is a Self-Interest threat.

In the case of Enron, Andersen admitted that they had destroyed a number documents concerning its audit on Enron which had filed bankruptcy in late 2001. The destroyed documents had led to an indictment for obstruction of justice on March 14, 2004. Further scandals surfaced and this time is WorldCom where they blame Andersen for failing to find the accounting irregularities however Andersen blame for the scandal insisting that the expense irregularities had not been disclosed to them and it had complied SEC standards in its auditing for WorldCom

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What Ethical Issues Does Ethnography Raise How Might We Deal with These?

Ethics can be defined as a “set of moral principles and beliefs that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity” with its main principle of doing ‘good’ and preventing harm (Oxford Dictionaries: 2011). However Orb et al (2002:93) states that Ethical issues can best be described or expressed as the “tension between the aims of research to make generalizations for the good of others, and the rights of participants to maintain privacy. Ethical issues and moral dilemmas are seen to arise in almost any type of research concerning human participants; in quantitative, biomedical, psychological, anthropological and sociological research. The infringement of some ethical issues which arise are considered to be more serious than others; however in order to minimise these ethical dilemmas, researchers must follow and obey a strict set of ethical guidelines in order to protect and minimise harm caused to participants or research subjects.

Urie Bronfenbrenner suggests that there is no way of conducting research without breaching the principles of professional ethics, and that the only way of avoiding such dilemmas is to cease the conduct of any research (Fine 1993:267). Clearly there a variety of differing ethical dilemmas which occur in research, however those which arise in ethnographic research are in complete contrast to those ethical dilemmas raised in biomedical or quantitative research, where some might suggest that ethical problems are greater (Alder et al 1986).

Punch (1994) goes further in suggesting that qualitative studies such as ethnography rarely, if ever, raise ethical issues (Orb 2000:93); however this statement is heavily debated. This essay aspires to discuss and analyse the ethical issues which arise in ethnography and discuss how valid and harmful these issues really are. The paper will also seek to discuss how researchers may overcome these ethical dilemmas and as to whether they are really effective means to dealing with the issue.

However, firstly this essay will commence by giving a brief history of ethics, draw upon problems concerning the ethical review board guidelines and outline two contrasting dimensions of ethics. Today ethics are seen to be used as a tool to guide and direct research studies, however it seems that before the mid 1950’s research studies gave little regard to ethical guidelines or their research subjects causing a great deal of harm and distress to individuals and cultures (Akeroyd 008:133). An extreme example of this happened in America, from 1932 to 1972, many African American people where deliberately left untreated for syphilis as researchers wanted to find out what would happen if the illness was left (Orb 2002:93). Questions are today raised as to whether these studies should be disregarded as so many ethical issues and dilemmas were raised in pioneering research.

However, today research studies are under strict regulation and scrutiny from ethical review boards, that have developed guidelines and controls which must be obeyed during any type of research. In the US, the Institutional review board (IRB) review all federally funded projects and require the researchers to follow a strict set of rules whilst conducting their studies, such as informing their participants of the objectives of research, obtaining consent from participants, protecting them from harm and so forth (Murphy and Dingwall 2007:340).

However the ethical guidelines set by Institutional Review Boards have been criticized greatly by many social scientists claiming that the codes set have been designed around biological or quantitative models of research which are totally inapplicable nor relevant to social research and in particular ethnographic studies (Akeroyd 2008:147). Social scientists argue that the ethical guidelines set are not sensitive to ethnographic research and due to this may cause harm to individuals or groups studied; further they argue that the guidelines are liable to constrict research unnecessarily (Murphy and Dingwall 2007).

In ethnographic research it would seem that ethical dilemmas are strongly correlated to the ontological and epistemological foundations of the research. However there seem to be two differing dimensions in explaining ethical issues, firstly is the concequentialist approaches and secondly there is the deontological approaches and in order to accomplish good quality research both approaches must be regarded. The consequentialist approaches are primarily concerned with the outcomes of the research and as too whether the participant is harmed during the study, and if they were, did the ends justified the means?

The deontological approaches are on the other hand concerned with the participant’s rights, such as were they treated with respect, informed consent and did were their rights to privacy and autonomy attained (Murphy and Dingwall 2007:340). Many presume that these approaches are in competition however they are not because in actual fact these two contrasting approaches work in sync in order to protect participants from harm whilst also respecting the rights of participants.

Beaucamp et al (1982) were one of the first to consider the consequentialist and deontological approaches and devised a list of ethical principles to be complied with when conducting research (Murphy and Dingwall 2007:340). In their list of principles BeauChamp et al noted Non-maleficience, Beneficence, self-determination and justice. They noted that Non-maleficience, requires the researcher to protect participant from harm and Beneficence suggests that the research must discover and obtain something of significance from the research for it to be ethical; these two approaches fall under the consequentialist approach.

The deontological approaches outlined by Beaucamp et al are Self-determination, where the researcher must respect participant’s views and beliefs and Justice where the researcher is required to treat participants as an equal to themselves. Here firstly the consequentialist approaches to ethics will be discussed. Unlike in biomedical research, if harm occurs within ethnographic fieldwork it is likely to be indirect rather than direct.

When biological scientists are testing new drugs or surgery they directly put the research participant under risk of harm and the harm will occur during the procedure; however in ethnography the harm which occurs is not so obvious, visible or direct. It would be foolish to think that ethnographic field work was free from the problem of endangering participants; as it can harm individuals, but just not in the same way as biomedical research. In ethnographic field work if harm has taken place, then the participant will most probably not feel the effects until after the study has ended.

In ethnography, if participants are ever harmed, they are usually harmed when the research studies they have participated in have been published or publicized (Murphy and Dingwall 2007:341). The reasons which lie behind this are due to the fact that once the work of an ethnographer has been published they have no control over how individuals read or interpret their work and how other people will use their work in the future (Akeroyd 2008). Through the publication of the researchers work research subjects can be put under a great deal of stress, apprehension and embarrassment and through this their confidence and self-worth can become damaged.

Participants may become embarrassed about views they hold if they sense that the researcher disagrees with their outlook or if the researcher makes it apparent that they are surprised that they hold such views. Furthermore this embarrassment and anxiousness caused by research may be likely to increase if the media hype the publication of the study, even in cases where the participant’s identity remains anonymous (Murphy and Dingwall 2007:347). An example of a study where the research subject was embarrassed and harmed through the publication of research is ‘Whyte’s Street corner society study’.

Richardson (1992:114) writes about ‘Docs’ reaction after reading what was said about him in the study, he suggests that Doc was embarrassed about what was said about him and his sense of pride and self respect was damaged. After the publication of the study ‘Doc’ pleaded with Whyte never to reveal to anyone who he was and to keep his identity anonymous. Boelen writes how ‘Docs’ sons believed that the Street Corner study ruined their father’s life (Richardson 1992:115).

In response to this criticism some social scientists have suggested that ethnographers and their participants should work in partnership when producing reports (Murphy and Dingwall 2007). Others have suggested that too deal with such problem, all studies should present their participants with the right to reply. Some research subjects have sent letters to their local papers in response to publications they have taken part in. (Slack 2011) Another way in which ethnography is seen to cause harm is through offering ‘tools’ to those in power.

Governments and army’s have been seen to use ethnographers in order to manipulate communities and cultures for both economic and political gains. These bodies of power have used ethnography to control those who are weak and powerless. Burgess (1985) suggests that “ethnographic studies increase knowledge of the adaptive behaviours that actors use of their feelings” (Murphy and Dingwall 2007:341), and we see examples of this happening today. The American department of defence have invested $40 million into a programme they consider to be a “Crucial new weapon” in their war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. They have hired ocial scientists and anthropologists so that they can grasp an understanding of tribal relations; and as this is seen to be working they are now looking to expand this ‘human terrain team’ (Rohde 2007). The head of the human terrain team see’s the work conducted as vital and defines it as a “scholar warrior” and as “rare work of applied scholarship” (Times Higher education 2010). However although it would seem that many anthropologists are happy for their work to play a vital role in shaping military and foreign policy a great number are in firm opposition and are against the militarization of anthropology.

Some believe this program is unethical, dangerous and ineffective. They believe it to be unethical as it breaches many ethical codes of practice such as no informed consent and can cause great harm to the research subjects (Network of concerned anthropologists). As previously noted, ethical guidelines state that research should only be authorized and carried out, and is only deemed as ethical if the study has some significant anticipated benefits. However in ethnography this is a problem. Predicting and anticipating the outcomes and potential benefits prior to research studies is proven to be extremely difficult.

In biomedical studies these are much easier to predict and more obvious. However in favour of ethnographic research the risks are not as likely to be as damaging as those displayed in biomedical research (Arskey 2008). It would seem that many would consider that the emotional harm as a result of ethnographic research is far less damaging that that of physical harm such as the testing of new surgery seen in biomedical research; however ultimately the researcher has less control over the participant (Thorne 1980).

Harm could also be said to occur in ethnography due to the difficulty in preserving anonymity, as it is clear that no ethnographer can guarantee this. This is due to the fact there is a possibility that field notes transcripts might be read (Murphy and Dingwall 2007). However a suggestion to counteract this problem would be that once researchers have finished with such documents they should destroy them at the earliest possible point they can so that no prying eyes see the information.

Furthermore it would seem that there is only ever a small number of qualitative ethnographic research studies ever carried out, and when research is conducted in an overt manner participants will know that the study has taken place and therefore when the work is published will be able to easily identify themselves or their society in the published work. It could also be argued that the close emotional relationships which are formed during ethnographic studies are harmful to research subjects.

Unlike in quantitative and biological research, qualitative ethnographic research offers the opportunity for participants and researchers to form close relationships during the period of the study (Richardson 1992). However, when the study finishes and is completed, usually more often than not, the relationship and friendship between the participant and the observer also end. This in turn is harming the participant as they are experiencing a loss. Again an example of this can be drawn from the Street Corner Society study conducted by Whyte. Many wonder how ‘Doc’ must have felt after Whyte left, after spending so much time with him.

Did ‘Doc’ feel hurt? Because we know that one of the most important thing in ‘Docs’ life was friendships (Richardson 1992:116). Researchers must be careful of the cathartic effects of ethnographic research as the process of legitimise deviant behaviour can be damaging to society, as people may begin to think it is okay to act in such a way. Fine (1993) states that the research conducted on the extremely racist group of the Ku Klux Klan were guilty in doing this. He suggests that the researcher in this study “dehumanized their informants placing them outside our moral community in the guise of justice” (Fine 1993:272).

The researcher adopted a sympathetic stance to the views of group, and this is clearly not always a positive characteristic, and can be considered to be unethical. In contrast to biological and statistical research, ethnographic work is based on observations and interpretations of what they see. Clearly the researchers own beliefs and values may influence what they write, and what they chose not to write about in their reports. There is much evidence supporting this notion. Fine (1993:227) suggests that readers who believe what they see in quotations marks are foolish because how do they know that is what actually was said or happened.

He suggests that maybe what we sometimes see put in quotation marks are lies and misunderstood interpretations. This can be damaging to research subjects or communities under study as they may be portrayed as people they’re not e. g. racist. A programme on Channel 4 called “Love thy neighbour” is a prime example. In this reality TV show, the village people partake in choosing who gets to live in their village, and as a black family were voted out, these individuals are now portrayed as being racist.

However in response to this criticism it could be said that this type of research is ‘conscious raising’, and may get individuals to think twice about their actions and behaviour (Hammersley and Atkinson 1995). The Deontological approaches and dimensions of looking at ethics usually take in to consideration the participant’s rights to privacy respect and self determination that may be infringed. The discussion about privacy and rights within research has been bought to the fore front after the antagonistic response from some previously studied communities, participants and native anthropologists (Murphy and Dingwall 2007:343).

Some make the assertion that the rights of the participants are not always regarded just because they have signed a consent form (Akeroyd 2008). Others go further in saying that consent forms don’t really protect participants; they are devised primarily to protect the researcher in an event of law action, and in many cases after signing consent forms participants will still be unaware of what the research is about and what their rights are. It is suggested that these consent forms will just reinforce the unequal relationship between the research and their subjects (Homan 1980).

Furthermore Price (1996) believes that “consent forms risk jeopardizing anonymity making people more identifiable” (Murphy and Dingwall 2008:343). Ultimately consent don’t guarantee the total protection of participants identities (Akeroyd 2008). However Bulmer (1980) is a great believer in informed consent, and believes it to be an essential part of any research. Bulmer (1980) is a critic of covert research and argues that this method of research can cause a great deal of harm to participants whilst also violating their rights and autonomy; he sees this type of research as a betrayal of trust.

Edward Shills goes further and suggests that this invasion of privacy is a nuisance as it interferes with individual’s lives and cultures (Homan 1980:52). Furthermore critics argue that those who carry out covert research are reinforcing the idea that all social scientists are devious and untrustworthy. However although ethical review boards guidelines and some critics believe that covert research is unethical and breaching the rights of participants, Homan and other supporters of covert research believe that in some cases this research method is acceptable to use, for example a study on secretive communities.

Several researchers have adopted the covert role and Laud Humphreys and his ‘Tea Room’ study is one of the most notable; however this study was subject to much scrutiny once it was published as it was seen to be breaching a tremendous amount of ethical guidelines. Questions are raised as to whether it is ethically right to deceive participants’ but also is it ethically right that research subjects don’t get to know anything about their researchers background as they know so much about theirs. Researchers rarely disclose personal information and if they do some lie.

Diane Wolf (1996) claims that many ethnographers have lied about marital status, national identities or religious beliefs; and she is one of those, as during research she lied about her marital status to her research subjects (Denzin & Lincoln 2003). Moral and ethical questions are raised asking whether it is right and proper for the researchers to have all the power in shaping, designing and undertaking studies; researchers are portrayed to be more competent due to this. It is queried whether this is really appropriate? (Denzin & Lincoln 2003).

However feminist argue that to evade such a problem the research subjects should be involved in the planning stages of research and have a say in the types of questions asked. However the practicality and sensibility of this idea is questioned, is this really an appropriate way of dealing with the problem? Many argue not. Some suggest that this would be impractical and some participants might not want to contribute. It has further been suggested that this is an obscene idea because at the end of the day it is the researcher who has the final word on what is going to be researched (Murphy and Dingwall 2007).

Although it would seem the power status between the researcher and research subjects is less reinforced and not so clear within ethnographic research in comparison to other kinds of research; there are some concerns raised about the way that ethnographers can objectify, manipulate and take advantage of research subjects either during the period of the study or in published work. However some argue that the researcher controls are not in fact a breach of the research subjects’ independence and rights, and is not manipulative in anyway (Hammersley & Atkinson 1995).

On the other hand Fine (1993:284) proposes that it is sometimes the case where female ethnographers are objectified rather than the research subjects, due to the fact we live in a sexist world. Moreover Murphy and Dingwall (2007) argue that in some cases it would seem that the research subjects manipulate and exert power over the researchers conducting ethnographic studies. They propose that this happens through refuting the researcher the privilege of conducting research on themselves or their community or through manipulating what they study and not allowing the researcher to have full responsibility and say over the research.

However, although it is questionable whether there is a problem of power imbalance between the research and their research subjects, feminists have suggested ways of dealing with this. They attempt to readdress power imbalances in relationships between the researched and researcher, by not enforcing the power the researcher has and balancing relationship statuses, making relationships more intimate and authentic (Murphy and Dingwall 2007).

However, other critics have replied to this suggesting that the development of closer, sympathetic relationships are far more unethical and dangerous as manipulation on the researchers behalf becomes far easier as participants are more likely disclose thoughts and feeling to whom they feel close to. Furthermore participants may not wish for a relationship with an individual who is researching them (Akeroyd 2008) Once the researcher has published their research findings they usually gain scholarly recognition and financial benefits, whereas the studied groups or individuals gain nothing on this level.

As Richardson (1992: 116) points out Whyte is recognised as the single author to the Street Corner Society and “received all the fame and fortune”, but questions are raised queering if the publication of the study would have been possible at all without ‘Docs’ help . The fortune made in the Street Corner study could have improved ‘Docs’ life a great deal, and a small percentage of the financial could have changed his life. However once the study ended ‘Docs’ fortune did not change, as he remained jobless for practically the rest of his life and living on the bread line.

However it would seem that some researchers believe that through giving participants feedback and insight to the research moral dilemma of their financial and scholarly gains are resolved. On the other hand other ethnographic researchers may not feel that this enough and share the royalties from their published work (Slack 2011). Finally a further ethical dilemma concerning ethnographic research methods is that all the data and publications are based primarily on the interpretations made by the researcher, but it is queried whether the researcher has the right to do so (Hammersley & Atkinson 1995).

As Calvino (1998:257) states, communities or subjects can become ‘confrontational’ if they feel that the interpretations made of them are inaccurate and mistaken. Murphy and Dingwall (2007) claim that for research to be ethical they must produce accounts that convey the research subjects standpoints and views. However it is argued that ethnographers can and do sometimes take advantage of their empowered roles and construct their own versions of events and interpret data in ways they wish to display such groups.

However in order to overcome this dilemma, it has been recommended that researchers should back their analysis and understanding with proof and verification that what was said and done did really happen (Akeroyd 2008). Therefore in conclusion, it is evident that ethnography can and does raise some ethical dilemmas causing harm and infringes the rights of many participants; however it is the duty and obligation of researchers to minimise these effects, even if they hold negative views and dislike the research subjects.

Furthermore it is somewhat clear that ethnography can give valuable insights in to unexplored cultures and individuals, however on the negative side it is also seen as a damaging ‘tool’ used by those in power . It is obvious that today, unlike in the past, practically all research abides by ethical guidelines, set by ethical review boards and if they don’t researchers are held liable. Nevertheless, in the near future it is imperative that ethical guidelines should be amended so that they are specific to the issues surrounding ethnography. It is clear that this is the only way that ethnography will be almost fully ethical.

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