Ethical Issues

Melwin Fernandes 200083225 Ethics and Other Management Issues (CIS 485) Duncan Jeffries Project Management Issues What is Project Management? Project management is the discipline of planning, organizing, and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. It is often closely related to program management (Wikipedia). A project is a temporary endeavour, undertaken to meet particular goals and objectives, having a defined beginning and end, usually to bring about beneficial change or added value.

The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast to, which are repetitive, permanent or semi-permanent functional work to produce products or services. In practice, the management of these two systems is often found to be quite different, and as such requires the development of distinct technical skills and the adoption of separate management. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals and objectives while honouring the preconceived project constraints. Typical constraints are scope, time, and budget.

The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation and integration of inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives. Project Management Approach There are a number of approaches to managing project activities: 1. The Traditional Approach: A traditional phased approach identifies a sequence of steps to be completed. 2. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM): It is a method of planning and managing projects that puts more emphasis on the resources (physical and human) needed in order to execute project tasks. . Extreme Programming: It is used in combination with the process modeling and management principles of human interaction management. 4. Event chain methodology: It is another method that complements critical path method and critical chain project management methodologies. 5. PRINCE2: It is a structured approach to project management 6. Agile Project Management: It is based on the principles of human interaction management are founded on a process view of human collaboration. Project Management Development Stage

Project development includes a number of elements: five stages and a control system. Regardless of the methodology used, the project development process will have the same major stages. Major stages generally include: ? Initiation ? Planning or development ? Production or execution ? Monitoring and controlling ? Closing The Use and Misuse of Security Technology The misuse of security Technology is one of the main issues in project management. There are a large number of people over the world with very little or no knowledge of security technology which is why certain projects fail.

It is a subject which is under discussed but in today’s world with relatively low cost, trusted, security technology is readily available and easy to use. It has become a culture among people who are not sufficiently educated with the tools of security technology as it is easy to use and has somewhat become a fashionable trend. Some consider technology to be bad for the society. People have to understand that this is only because of its misuse. Technology does not threaten the society, instead it is humans who are the users who use technology to threaten society.

So technology itself is not at fault. In the field of information, technology has increased the speed, quantity and communication with co-workers and clients. Advancements in technology have also contributed to work being completed at home which imbalances their work and life. Lost revenue and productivity has become a reason for an increased need and demand for surveillance techniques to monitor employees. Employers have resorted to creating separate computer security departments or divisions to deal with both the internal and external threats.

All companies weather large or small have the pressure to maintain access to critical information in order to run the business and remain competitive. A corporation with hundreds of offices and thousands of employees would have the same pressure of holding critical information as any other small enterprise. A comprehensive data protection solution is going to involve a lot of consideration and contingencies. There are many things can go wrong with your data and you need to be able to respond to them.

There are many companies that have opted to purchase solutions from different vendors to fully address these challenges but can be an extremely expensive approach in terms of acquisition, integration and ongoing management costs. There have also been companies who decided the cost is too high and taken their chances, which is an approach that has often resulted in disaster. In the business world today, the loss of important data can cause significant damage and lead to the demise of your business.

The same complex and expensive solutions as the major players in your industry can be cost-prohibitive and unnecessary. Software and People in Project Management The most comprehensive software solution for assessing security of web application, network systems, end point systems and email users is CORE IMPACT Pro. It allows you to take security testing to the next level by safely replicating a broad range of threats to your organization’s sensitive data and critical infrastructure. You gain extensive visibility into the ause, effect and prevention of data breaches, enabling you to drive effective risk mitigation enterprise-wise. Impact enables you to safely assess an organization’s security posture against the attack methods that jeopardize data today. Exploitation of network defenses in operating systems and services, client applications that run on desktop systems, attacks on employees, contractors and other end users via social engineering, manipulation of web applications to access backend data via cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection and remote file inclusion techniques only.

It allows you to utilize penetration testing to assess your information security in such an integrated, comprehensive, in-depth andseamless fashion. CORE IMPACT Pro gives confidence in your security infrastructure by enabling you to validate network vulnerability, end-user threat response and web application exposure on a regular basis. You not only identify but also distinguish critical network vulnerabilities from false positives, identify where your organization is at risk from social engineering threats such as spam, validate security exposure in web applications.

With all this you can intelligently plan, prioritize and execute policy adjustments, ensuring cost-effective use of security and development resources while improving overall security posture. Next-generation data protection, or NGDP, is a term that describes a large number of disk-based backup and recovery technologies, including disk-to-disk (D2D), virtual tape library (VTL), snapshots, continuous data protection (CDP), remote office backup consolidation (ROBC), bare machine recovery (BMR), disaster recovery (DR), wide area file services (WAFS) and others.

The Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack It integrates to provide organizations with a complete data protection, archive, and retention and recovery solution. It also extends disk-based, block-level incremental data capture to a repository in another location, sending changed blocks of data over a WAN or Internet connection. Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack was designed to be bandwidth efficient to help minimize the impact on other applications that rely on WAN and Internet links.

It can be set individually for each location to meet specific needs of the business while avoiding unnecessary costs in bandwidth and storage.. The features also include data differencing (sending only the changes from the previous job run), compression, bundling of small files to help reduce TCP/IP overhead, bandwidth throttling and multi-threading. There have been a wide variety of industries who have taken Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack to improve backup and recovery performance across a diverse set of support tasks. It helps organizations: Reduce server backup times from hours or days to a few minutes. • Reduce server volume restoration times from hours or days to a few minutes. • Increase backup frequencies from once per week to multiple times per day, without disrupting operations. • Enable rapid recovery of granular Exchange objects that are typically too difficult to recover. With next-generation data protection and recovery solution set at mid-market prices, these solutions can help companies reduce operational risk and costs, increase productivity and resiliency, and improve levels of service.

It delivers a common foundation for managing both business and technology requirements and is designed to quickly address most pressing service management needs to changing business demands. The Tivoli portfolio is backed by world-class IBM Services, IBM Support and an active ecosystem of IBM Business Partners. Project Management Software It is a key tool in your effort to consistently finish projects on time and within budget. It allows you to do the critical steps Project Managers must do efficiently.

There are a number of benefits that Project Management Software can provide such as spotting problems before it’s too late to fix them, optimizing the use of resources so you can finish early, updating the plan each week so you know where you are and updating everyone’s schedule when things change. These are the basic tools that every Project manager should have. Ideally Project Management Software provides managers with time-saving scheduling and analysis tools as well as archive data for use on future projects.

Unfortunately Project Management trainings do not include practical skills in using Project Management Software nor the value that comes from archiving data on every project. Tasks like scheduling skills to optimize the use of resources to finish as early as possible and project software to identify problems early are best done with Project Management Software which otherwise can waste a considerable amount of time if done manually. With the appropriate Project Management Software, tracking actual performance in terms of hours of work and completion dates builds a database for estimating on the next project.

Practically, there are far too many Project Managers who do not have the training or the tools to optimize their schedule or make efficient use of their resources resulting in projects that are guided by guesses. Project Management Software does not make the managers more effective, it just makes them more efficient. Project Management Software does not teach you how to define scope, communicate to the Project sponsor but just lets you accomplish these tasks more efficiently. There are three general classes of software available: Statistical Software: To blend in one direction with relational database software such as Oracle or Sybase. • Mathematical Software: MATLAB in the other direction exhibits not only statistical capabilities flowing from code for matrix manipulation, but also optimization and symbolic manipulation useful for statistical purposes. • Visualization Software: Overlaps to some extent with software intended for exploratory data analysis. The user interfaces common range from command line to graphical user interfaces (GUI) to hybrid drag and drop system interfaces.

The Statistical Analysis System is available on PC and UNIX based platforms, as well as on mainframe computers. This modern database technique with queries is very easy to use and also accomplished easily. System for Statistical Analysis among the products are for management of large data bases, time series and most classical statistical problems including multivariate analysis, linear models (as well as generalized linear models), and clustering; data visualization and plotting.

Users with a need to write an applications program using a matrix language, the product SAS/IML provides the ability to program using matrices as objects. SAS is to a large extent an industry standard statistical software package. The demand for students with SAS skills is greater than with skills other than statistical packages. Other statistical of the same general vintage as SAS are MINITAB, BMDP and SPSS. All of these systems began as mainframe systems, but have evolved to smaller scale systems as computing have evolved.

MINITAB Inc was formed more than 20 years ago around its flagship product, MINITAB statistical software. MINITAB Statistical Software provides tools to analyze data across a variety of disciplines, and is targeted for users at every level i. e. Scientists, business and industrial users, faculty, and students. It has broadened the scope of its products to include quality control, designed experiments, chemo metrics and an array of general statistics from the original software that helped faculty to teach basic statistics.

MINITAB is available on the most widely-used computer platforms, including Windows, DOS, Macintosh, OpenVMS, and UNIX. BMDP features a comprehensive library of over forty statistical routines and has set the standard for high-end statistical analysis software. It has its roots as a bio-medical analysis package from the late 1960’s and each statistical routine has been thoroughly time-tested based on the most advanced algorithms available. Current versions come in several flavors including the BMDP New System Personal Edition.

The Professional Edition combines the full suite of BMDP Classic for PCs Release 7 statistics with the powerful data management and front-end data exploration features of the BMDP New System Personal Edition. SPSS Software products run on most models of all major computers and statistical analysis can now be done on the desktop. It is a multinational software company that provides statistical product and service solution for survey research, marketing and sales analysis, quality scientific research, government reporting and education. e SPSS products are a modular system and includes SPSS Professional Statistics, SPSS Advanced Statistics, SPSS Tables, SPSS Trends, SPSS Categories, SPSS CHAID, SPSS LISREL 7, SPSS Developer’s Kit, Exact Tests, Teleform, and MapInfo. S-PLUS is a supported extension of the statistical analysis language. It was originally developed at AT;T Bell labs manufactured and supported by the Statistical Sciences Corporation, now a division of Mathsoft. Some of the code has been contributed by prominent individuals from the academic and industrial communities.

MATLAB is an interactive computing environment used for scientific and statistical data analysis and visualization. The basic data object in MATLAB is the matrix with functions for basic data analysis and graphics which are text files that the user can read and adapt for other uses, giving the ability to create their own M-files functions and script files, thus making MATLAB a programming language. The most useful capability is the tool available for visualizing data. It also provides Handle Graphic and there is a considerable amount of contributed MATLAB code available on the internet.

The above descriptions of statistical software cover the most well-established commercially available software packages and among them the most extensively used mathematical packages is MATLAB. MINITAB is used in the educational community for introductory courses. BMDP and SPSS find users among communities in which they originated respectively the biomedical and social sciences community. Mainstream applied statisticians tend to use SAS more extensively whereas on the other hand S-plus seems to be a package that is highly regarded among the more research oriented particularly those interested in computational statistics.

JAVA is a programming language which represents an extension of the World Wide Web capabilities. Basic documents on the web are constructed using HTML, in the sense that once the server delivers the HTML text to the browser, the server has done its job and the static text is interpreted and displayed by the client’s browser. It is a fully distributed, object oriented programming language which allows for creation of a fully interactive web-based system. The data and tools can be sent to the clients’ browser and allows attributes and methods to be linked together.

In particular, JAVA allows applets, small applications or subroutines, to be created and transmitted across the web just as static HTML documents are now transmitted. JAVA is intended to be a secure system although security problems do exist with present implementation. However, access to local data is restricted and the JAVA is a secure environment. JAVA has been declared as is related to statistical data analysis software of the future because it is a practical implementation of a new paradigm in distributed computing.

It allows not only the distribution of text and multimedia but also of computing applications and data. It is a response to the enormous popularity of the World Wide Web and under this framework, new statistical, data analytic and other methodologies could be made available and tried out by practitioners in other research fields on their own data and their own computer. Considering the possibility of extending the web in a natural way to acquire data in the same way we acquire human-consumable information, new mechanisms must be sought to provide for the distribution of that data.

Best Practices in Project Planning Project managers deal with sponsors who are organizational levels above them and sign their paychecks so Project Managers can’t really argue about the best way to do the project. Having data to quantify the impact of changes and model alternative ways of solving problems gives them much more credibility to give their executives a solid data on which to make their Project decisions rather than having due dates and budgets plucked out of the air.

The ethical issue and its consequences, its resolution and its effect on Management In project management, timing is everything. Justifying, Planning, Activating, Controlling and Ending it the right way is the key to a successful Project. It is a disciplined process and a full circle project management that holds every development project together. The project plan, schedule, budget, resources, risk, scope, motivating the players and launching all project activities with communication play a very essential role in project management.

It must be constructed in a way that reaches a busy, important audience with the right amount of the right information, a strategic marketing entity in a tight package that must be backed up with well-researched facts and figures that speak directly to the needs, goals, and problem-solving missions of the business. Present them with the business case report and explain it via a well-crafted, well-rehearsed presentation, accompanied by the sponsors. Starting off with a strong solid foundation of research and a creative solution to a business need do the utmost to obtain approval and present justification for the project.

Plan Project produces the detailed project plan, project schedule, project organization, and resources. The approved project plan includes understanding the potential risks and the actions that are necessary to manage them. The goal of every project is to drive it to a successful and appropriate conclusion. Controlling a project is imposed not to create a bureaucratic layer, but to ensure that the project proceeds to its planned and scheduled ending. The activity of the project rests with the Project Manager. He controls, monitors, makes decisions ensuring that the project proceeds as planned taking corrective actions when necessary.

End Project tasks archive the project materials and release the project resources for use on other projects. Conclusion Project management and project planning processes can contribute to an organization’s survival and success, while the absence of project management and project planning processes can lead to an organization’s demise. This helps in developing the concept for the project, which in turn is used to secure approvals to proceed to the execution phase of a project. Collectively these five steps form the life-cycle phases of project management, and all steps require adequate attention to ensure that a project is adequately managed.

Costs, time-frames, quality targets, and other relevant factors are very essential while considering the planning process. Project management ensures that organizations are able to achieve strategic initiatives that extend beyond normal operations through a recognized process, thus aiding organizations in fulfilling strategic objectives such as new product development, process re-engineering, organizational change or financial growth. In conclusion, project management is needed within organizations to support temporary endeavors that create unique products or services.

Kuan-Yu Lin Brenda Varda HMN-101-01 10/28/2012 Ethical Issue Essay: Final Draft Video games have always been an important part of the entertainment industry since its appearance in 1970’s. They have been played worldwide and effect many people. While the children are already playing the games, the number of women gamers, as well as the age level of gamers in general is increasing.

As technology advances, video games with more diversity and real-life experience are slowly creeping into parts of our life and gaining its momentum in the society. Due to its quick development, many ethical issues associated with video games have been brought to our attention. Therefore, we should understand how video games are ethically influencing people within its realm. The four major ethical issues which will be discussed are issues of violence, education, stereotyping and addiction. Video games are enjoying fast-growing popularity, becoming a major component of young people’s social lives and leisure activities.

First of all, a major concern which has been discussed continuously regarding video games is violence. Violence in video games is considered as the visual presentation of characters fighting, gun shooting, physical injury or death to characters. Recently, more and more video games involving violent behavior are taking over the game selection on the shelves. Comparing to games made in the 70’s, 80’s, recent games feature tougher, more aggressive heroines and more games are made specifically for adults.

Research consistently declares that most top-selling video games involve violence. In order to prevent the potential harm to children, youth and society of this negative influence, lots of research has focused on the consequence of violent video games. Video game research indicates that playing violent video games increases aggression, hostility, and aggressive thoughts. (Anderson, Buckley, & Gentile, 2007; Anderson & Bushman, 2001; Anderson, Carnagey, Flanagan, Benjamin, Eubanks & Valentine, 2004;Anderson & Dill, 2000).

In their research, they conclude that engaging games which have content related to violence may possibly increase a person’s aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in real life. Some other studies focusing on college student playing video games also point out that students playing violent games are also engaging in more aggressive behavior. It has been claimed by many critics of the media industry that the incident at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999 was caused by the influence of violent video games.

It was shown on BBC news that both students shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, had played and enjoy violent video games. “Relatives of people killed in the Columbine massacre are seeking damages from computer game makers, claiming their products helped bring about the killings. ” Although video games can help players relieving stress, they can also affect gamers in a harmful way. It is both the players’ and the game makers’ responsibility to be aware of the negative effects of video gaming. Games with harmful content might be leading negative effects; they still have values considered being beneficial in certain aspect.

Games are popular in the community of youth and have many qualities that make them wonderful teaching tools. Through the educational perspective, both adults and children learn many things by playing video games. Games with positive content show positive effects. For example, playing a dancing video game can help children lose weight (Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution, 2007; O’Hannon, 2007; Epstein, Beecher, Graf & Roemmich, 2007). As mentioned before, videogames could be an excellent tool for learning. In particular, players are learning in an active way with practice and feedback.

Because they are fun, children are highly motivated with video gaming, when people are motivated, they usually perform better, thus lead in to a better result. Also, games usually have clear objectives with adaptable difficulty levels. Games with increasing difficulty across levels allow player to apply past learning. Lastly, games allow children to apply to what they learn in different problems and contexts. Some believe that video games help improve life skill such as logic and problem solving. They also can improve hand-eye coordination and leadership skills, which can be useful for military training purposes.

Having realized the efficiency and the joyful quality of learning experience in gaming, educators are able to take advantage of the positive learning characteristics of games by using the well-designed software in order to teach children more effectively. While the issues associated with violence in video games have caused huge concern among children, gender, and racial stereotypes in video games are also causing problems which require more attention. There is an unbalanced proportion between male and female game players and developers. According to a recent study the average gamer age was in the mid to late 20’s with 60% men playing and 40% women. ”2 The whole gaming industry is overwhelmed by the male population. Most of the games on the market are targeted to only male players. Dietz’s, one of the earliest studies to examine stereotypical portrayals in video games, analyzed the depiction of women in a sample of 33 most popular Nintendo and Sega Genesis video games. The study categorized the female characters in those games into four possible stereotypes based on their appearances and behaviors. Females as sex objects or prizes, females as victims, females in feminine roles, and females as heroes or action characters. Not surprisingly, Dietz (1998) found that 41% of the games were devoid of female characters. Only 15% (5 out of 33) portrayed women as heroes or action characters, while 21% (7 out of 33) portrayed women as victims or as so called ‘damsel in distress’. At the same time, in 28% of these games, women were portrayed as sex objects based upon physical appearance or sexually-oriented actions. Following the discussion of female character as indicator of sexuality, most of the female characters in video games have clothing that exposed more skin than the male characters. The research also found out that the female characters appearing in gaming most likely wear low-cut clothing. About half of the female characters have bare arms and legs with big busted figure. * In essence, these female characters in video games were portrayed in a stereotypical way in which they were exaggerated by sexy attire. That leads to the exclusion of female players in video game industry.

Although the number of game designed for female gamers is increasing slowly, it is crucial for both consumers and game makers to make the video games more engaging for both sexes either by changing the content of the game or by expanding the choice of games. They should be designed in a way that they are attractive for both male and female players. Finally, the last ethical issue I want to talk about is the addiction of engaging video games. Some people spent immense amount of time playing video games and caused them to lose valuable time participating in activities which are more beneficial for them.

However, video games could be considered as one of social activities because friends, siblings, and other relatives can play with it. Bibliography (not yet in proper MLA format, I will work on in for the final paper) http://evvy09. hubpages. com/hub/Video-Games-Have-Changed-the-World http://www. ethicapublishing. com/ethical/3CH12. pdf https://www. msu. edu/~pengwei/Mou%26Peng_gender%20and%20racial%20stereotype. pdf http://news. bbc. co. uk/2/hi/science/nature/1295920. stm

Understanding Business Ethics in Asia: A Study of Several Ethical Issues in Japan, Indonesia and Mongolia Anggita Putri, Nasa Lkhagvasuren, Takashi Ushijima Brigham Young University International business ethics has been an issue researched and understood by companies, government entities, NGOs, and other institutions worldwide. Understanding business ethics becomes more important as entities understand the significance of cultural values in different countries.

De George (1997) describes that as business is going global and cultural values are becoming more evident, it is “more urgent for agreement on common values that make world trade and commerce possible without any party feeling or being exploited”. This agreement on common values has been achieved on some scale and level; however, in many parts of the world, cultural values and circumstances usually still hold more weight in the decision process. This paper addresses several ethical values in three representative Asian countries: Japan, Indonesia, and Mongolia.

The three countries are located in three different parts of Asia with difference in economy, social, and culture values. Therefore, each country has its own unique way of approaching and overcoming ethical issues. For each of the different issues, we will provide background information and history and then we will discuss and develop the issue. First, the paper will address Nabakari-Kanrishoku (Nominal Manager) which is an ethical issue in the workplace in Japan. Second, the paper will discuss gratification giving in local and national government which is a prevalent ethical issue in Indonesia.

Last, the paper will talk about the development of ethical standards in Mongolia. The conclusion of the paper will summarize the importance of understanding cultural aspects while implementing ethical standards in different countries, and discuss a few ethical theories that will help frame the ethical issues discussed. Japan Background Information Since the birth of the idea of Capitalism, a conflict of interests has existed between employers and employees. In general, employers’ genuine best nterest is to maximize their profits; whereas, the employees’ interests are to receive wages out of the least work hours. However, without regulations, laws, or rules, historically, the conflict has tended to favor the employers. Therefore, working long hours has been one major ethical issue in workplaces all over the world, especially in capitalistic countries. Nabakari-Kanrishoku (nominal manager)-hereinafter referred to as NK- is a unique phenomenon in Japanese society which represents the working-long-hours ethical issue in Japan.

Labor Standard Act (hereinafter referred to as LSA) prohibits that working hours exceed 40 hours per week unless (1) the agreement exists between the employer and the employee and approved by municipalities (Article 36) or (2) the employer pays overtime rate to the employee (Article 37). Ethical Issues in Workplace in Japan: Nabakari-Kanrishoku (Nominal Manager) The dilemma exists between employers and employees under recession. Employers have to make sure their business runs appropriately and generates a sufficient amount of profits.

In the case of a recession, employers/companies have to cut costs significantly because increase of revenue is rarely expected. In general, the large amount of expenditure is labor costs; therefore, cut labor costs, such as layoffs, increase the workload of each employee. However, the increase of workload often causes overtime work for each employee and the increase of overtime premium adversely affects the cut labor costs (Mizuno, 2012). Therefore, employers/companies have to face the dilemma of how extensive their cut labor costs will be while also dealing with the increase in employee workload and overtime work.

Responding to such a dilemma, NK emerged in the Japanese business society as a loophole of LSA when Japan started experiencing recession in the 1990s. LSA states that management representatives are not subjected to the work-hour regulation ratified by LSA article 32, which stipulates 40working-hours per week as a legal ceiling of weekly working-hours (Article 41). Therefore, some employers/companies promote and consider managers as management representatives to avoid the weekly working-hours regulation in order to have them overwork without an overtime premium.

Those management representatives are often not credited with any authorization or allowance for the position. The media sarcastically began to call these management representatives “Nabakari-Kanrishoku” (nominal managers). Unethical Consequences of Nabakari-Kanrishoku The major reason why NK is an ethical issue is that employers/companies tend to force NK to overwork. LSA is set up for balancing employer and employee interests to protect employees’ health and human rights. Then, the relationship between employers and employees tends to favor the employers side without LSA regulation because of its power balance.

NK is not protected by the LSA weekly working-hour regulation, so they are highly likely to overwork. The research conducted by JILPT (Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training) indicates that most managers (60. 2 percent of department chief and 53. 4 percent of department head) feel their workload cannot be accomplished within their given working-hours (40 hours per week) so overwork is unavoidable (Ogura, 2009). NK’s overwork often leads to two types of unethical consequences. One is that employers/companies do not pay an adequate amount of wages to employees who are NK and overworked.

The other is that overworking NK’s damages their health and causes them to be non-workable. Both types of unethical consequences are exposed by the lawsuit of McDonald Japan in 2008. Mr. Hiroshi Takano, former store manager of the McDonald Kousaka Branch, overworked for 136 hours in a month at maximum and worked 63 days in a row (Yashiro, 2009). Even though he had worked many hours as a store manager, he did not receive a premium and his wages ended up on the same level as his subordinate’s wages, who received overtime premium every month (Yashiro, 2009).

After being overworked, he was diagnosed with an asymptomatic cerebral infarction due to overwork and lack of sleep. Under such condition, employees cannot have a healthy, balanced life. The lack of healthy, balanced life then leads to negative impacts on their performance in the workplace; therefore, employers/companies must avoid utilizing NK as their labor cost cut strategy in ethical and business management terms. When working at a Japanese Bar, Murasaki, one employee was obviously an NK.

He was expected to work and run the bar even if there were enough employees to operate. He always overworked and rarely took a day off. He ended up quitting his job when he fell sick due to overwork, and the bar experienced a tough situation after he quit. Murasaki’s unethical management not only damaged one employee, but also its business administration. Indonesia Background Information Similar to any other developing country, corruption is a prevalent ethical issue in Indonesia. Corruption takes many forms and is practiced in all levels of government.

Because Indonesia is a country with many islands with over 30 provinces, corruption is more common in some areas than in others. Srinivasan (2012) argued that there are two major categories of ethical issues: societal, that consists of widespread corruption and weak legal enforcement systems, and organizational, that consists “of creating corporate cultures within organizations that breeds ethical conduct”. Both of these categories have happened in government institutions throughout Indonesia.

Some major changes that the Indonesian government has made are: replacing employees, especially government institution managers that are guilty of corruption, changing the internal system and procedures of the institution, and encouraging citizens to help institution managers and staff to avoid corruption. One form of corruption that is very common in Indonesia is called gratification. Gratification in Local and National Government in Indonesia After the democratic revolution in 1998, Indonesia faced several presidential changes.

When the current president was elected, he formed a national committee of corruption eradication (Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi or KPK) to eliminate corruption from all levels of government. Since it was formed, the committee has been able to identify and investigate corruption cases from top managers in the government. In 2010, the committee also did a survey to assess public sector integrity on a local and national level. The committee specifically focused on gratification cases using these indicators: the monetary value of gratification, as well as the time, the meaning , and the purpose of gratification giving.

The committee found that among 50 government institutions on both the national and local level that were surveyed, 24 of them have a lower integrity rate than the appointed standard integrity rate for the survey. Most institutions out of the 24 surveyed were at the local level. The giving of gratification happens when citizens pay extra fees to the institution’s staff other than the established fees to quicken and complete their documentation process or to obtain certain permits so that they don’t have to wait in line or to wait for a few days.

The research also found that gratification often happens at the beginning of the documentation process. Gratification frequently occurs when obtaining citizenship cards and building permits. For example, if a certain company wants to obtain a building permit, a representative of the company would give extra money to one of the staffs that process the document to either make sure that building permit is ready within one day or to not disqualify the company if it misses some required papers.

The committee also discovered that the working environment of institutions has an effect on whether citizens are likely to be involved in gratification giving. The committee argued that uncomfortable service environments and incomplete information cause citizens to be reluctant in processing their documents. This possibly creates external procedures by using a middle-man or giving gratification money to the institution’s staff. Overcoming the Issue

De George (1997) quoted these sentences from the Wall Street Journal: “In May 1996, the United States proposed that the “World Trade Organization (WTO) outlaw bribery on government projects. In reply, the Indonesian Trade and Industry Minister Tunky Ariwibowo said: “We do not have common standards on issues like corruption… Any effort to relate them to trade will be detrimental to the functioning of the WTO in the future’ (Wall Street Journal 6 May 1996: A14)”. As a comment to that reply, an editorial writer from the Wall Street Journal wrote a column entitled “Is Corruption an Asian Virtue? Corruption is clearly not an Asian virtue. De George continued to say that “both the Wall Street Journal’s question and the statement by the Indonesian Minister exemplify deep misunderstandings and differences between the two, and between the groups they represent”. It is clearly difficult to pinpoint what kind of ethical values should be the same for every country because there are different factors that contribute to the development of the economy and society of a country. In the research done by the national committee of corruption eradication, 56 percent of citizens believes that gratification is not acceptable.

However, many of the citizens do not fully understand the meaning of gratification, the ethical consequences of the issue, and are not assertive enough in stopping the practice. Most citizens agree that gratification is illegal and that it is something which needs to be eliminated in order to create a system that is fair and effective for every citizen. Therefore, trainings and campaigns are needed for both the government institutions and the citizens in order for each group to support the discontinuation of gratification giving. Mongolia Background Information Mongolia is a landlocked country with a population of three million people.

Mongolia was under strong Russian and Soviet influence; therefore, Mongolian politics followed the same patterns as the Soviet politics of the time. After the breakdown of communist regimes in Eastern Europe in late 1989, Mongolia saw its own democratic revolution in early 1990, which led to a multi-party system, a new constitution in 1992, and a transition to market economy. The growth of the economy attracted more attention from foreign investors, whose interest in investing in the country has recently skyrocketed due to the discovery of rich minerals in MongoliaEthical dilemmas in the work field did not become a big issue until 1990.

It was difficult for a lot of Mongolians to adapt to changes in the work field because people were used to being told what they should do at work. The Development of Ethical Standards in Mongolia As in any other country, gaining a deeper understanding of the Mongolian attitude towards business ethics depends to a large extent on knowledge of the local market condition and historical background. According to IMF, The Mongolian economy is growing rapidly from 9% to 14. 4%. With continuing economic progress and interest growth from foreign investors, business ethics are likely to increase in importance.

Because some actions may be considered moral in one culture and viewed unethical in another, it is important to understand the ethical values of other countries. Choi & Zuzaan (2011) in Journal of Applied Ethics conducted a survey that identified the action and behavior of role models as a principal influence on unethical behavior in Mongolia. The result of the survey indicated that 45. 6 percent of the respondents said that unethical practices exist in their industry and 25. percent of the respondents wanted to eliminate cheating customers, dishonesty in making or keeping a contract, miscellaneous unfair competitive practices, and dishonest advertising. Giving of gifts, gratuities, and briberies are very common in Mongolian business practice, but 10. 7 percent of the survey respondents want to eliminate this unethical practice. Most international comparison agencies indicate that Mongolian companies make less effort in instilling ethical practices in their employees than in other Asian firms. However, the majority of managers in Mongolia (60. 8 percent) think their companies make an effort to some extent.

The survey results show that nearly half of the companies rely on a code of ethics and do not think that companies put enough effort into building ethical values in their organizations. If companies can put more effort into building ethical values in their organizations, they will be more successful in implementing their organization’s ethical values and feel more responsible to local communities. It is not uncommon for business managers to experience conflicts between their personal ethical beliefs and the interest of their companies. Almost half of company managers have experienced this type of conflict in their career.

More than half of the managers responded that they would act depending on the situation. One of the main reasons managers make unethical decisions is often related to personal financial needs. As the Mongolian economy continues to develop, this is expected to diminish. Looking to the Future How is today’s level of ethical standards in Mongolia compare to ten years ago? Half of the respondent managers said that it has gotten better. For example, before the 1990’s transition period, it was common for Mongolian children to drop out of school in order to help their parents herd privatized livestock.

Helping parents with livestock was given greater importance than education because it helped families accumulate wealth. Conversely, 90 percentof the total populations are high school or university graduates today. The transition resulted in making education more important in society and introducing ethics in school. Hopefully this gradual development will lead to a higher business ethic in society in the long run. Because Mongolia is a developing country, the country will continue to struggle with ethical values in the business field.

However, Mongolians have already started to practice codes of ethics and training employees in ethics. Old, Mongolian tradition, the remaining tradition of the Soviet period, and the transitional process influences how Mongolians view their personal and business ethics. As the Mongolian economy grows and progresses, an increase in building ethical value will also come along with all the other practices. Conclusion Ethical theories, such as utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and social contracts can also play into the decision making process. For example, the bribery case in Indonesia can relate to disclosure decision criteria.

Think about if those that have been involved in bribery think twice before doing so and ask a question whether this decision will affect image and reputation if it goes public. They may have avoided giving gratification money and would encourage others not to do so. Take another example, what if the nominal managers use the dignity decision criteria? They may not force their employees to work long hours because it would mean treating the employees as a mean to an end in themselves, not just as a means. As discussed above, three different Asian countries presented different ethical issues.

Nominal Manager may be a prevalent ethical issue in Japan but it may not be in Mongolia. Gratification giving is very common in Indonesia but it may not be in Japan. De George (1997) argued that each economy is a combination of the country’s political system and cultural values. Consequently, ethical justifications differ from country to country. He further gave an example of Confucian values, which include “co-operation over competition; community over the individual; paternalism over the market; long-term over shortterm interests; harmony over conflict; and loyalty, harmony and respect over their opposites”.

These values could appropriately explain the transition in countries that uphold those values and why some countries, especially in Asia, view some ethical issues differently than other countries References Choi, T. , & Zuzaan, B. (2011). Business Ethics in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Mongolia. Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics 1:89-120. De George, R. T. (1997). Ethics, Corruption, and Doing Business in Asia. The Asia Pacific Journal of Economics & Business 1. 1: 39-52, 114. Direktorat Penelitian dan Pengembangan. (2011).

Integritas Sektor Publik Indonesia Tahun 2010: Fakta Korupsi Dalam Layanan Publik [Public Sector Integrity of Indonesia Year 2012: Corruption Facts in Public Sector]. Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi [Committee of Corruption Eradication]. Health, Labour, and Welfare Ministry of Japan. (n. d. ). Soumusho Hourei Deta Teikyou Shisutemu [Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry of Japan’s Legal Data Providing System]. Retrieved 10 18, 2012, from Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry of Japan: http://law. e-gov. go. jp/htmldata/S22/S22HO049. html Mizuno, Y. (2012, 1 10).

Roudou Jikan House no Kadai to Kaikaku no Houkousei [The working-hour legal problems and the direction of the restructure]. RIETI Discussion Paper Series, 1-11. Ogura, K. (2009). Kanrishoku no Roudoujikan to Gyoumuryou no Oosa [The Amount of Managers’ working-hours and Workload]. Nihon Roudou Kenkyu Zasshi [Japan Labour Research Journal], 73-87. Srinivasan, Vasanthi. (2011). Business Ethics in South and South East Asia. Journal of Business Ethics: 73-81. Yashiro, A. (2009). Naze Nabakari Kanrishoku ga Umareru no ka? [Why nominal managers emerged? ]. Nihon Roudou Kenkyu Zasshi [Japan Labour Research Journal], 38-41.

Cosmetic improvements can make people feel better about themselves but can also make others that cannot afford or obtain such services feel worse. However, the debate as been raging as to whether or not the billion dollar beauty industry is worthwhile in the modern society. The beauty industry is very diverse and has multiple players.

Players involved in this diverse industry include the dealers in the beauty products, the cosmetics, services for improving appearance like exercise machines, nutritional beauty products and above all the end users of all these products (Simms, 1998).

Considering the rate at which the beauty industry has been growing, it would be important to analyze whether it impacts the current society positive or not. My analysis will examine the importance of the industry to the players and the society in general. In addition I will look at the various ethical concerns presented by the beauty industry and how possibly they should be solved in order to have the industry continue benefiting the society. The highest number of consumers of the beauty products in the current world and in deed over the centuries is undoubtedly women.

Women generally adopt the idea of self-grooming at a very tender age (Gillespie, 1996). Unlike men, women have a natural interest in their looks and physical presentation and in most cultures; they believe that good looks and physical attraction is expected of them. Women therefore find it hard to escape such sociocultural norms and as they grow up they internalized the norms such that they simply become unaware of their motivations to seek beauty (Black, 2004). Nevertheless, the modern man has been quite conscious of his looks and physical appearance (Sullivan, 2001).

The motivation behind men’s growing interest in physical attraction is a debate for another day; however, the importance of beauty products and services to these users is clear. The users of beauty products and services always want to experience body empowerment, pleasure as well as freedom from appearance (Haiken, 1997). Society associates good looks and great physical attraction to power and therefore those who possess such qualities would avert competition in marriage and other social spheres of life. The pleasure of having a good body elevates one’s esteem.

The beauty industry therefore provides an opportunity for those who feel bad about their physical looks to transform it according to one’s own societal ‘standard’ (Morgan, 1992). Apart from the freedom it offers the users to improve their looks; the aesthetic industry is currently a multibillion dollar industry. From the manufacturers of various beauty products, to millions of users across the globe, the beauty industry is considered one of the top revenue earners in various economies around the world and therefore justifies its existence in toady modern world (Hiscock & Lovett, 2004).

Despite the importance of the beauty industry to the various players and economies, the industry has been receiving criticism for its unethical practices (Brumberg, 1997). There has been a growing public outcry with regards to the industry’s unsustainable business practices especially with respect to the environment. Manufacturers of beauty products have always faced criticism for testing their products on animals, unsustainable sourcing for raw materials as well as for causing chemical pollution.

But due to consistent pressure from the media, the consumers and the retailers, aesthetic industry especially the cosmetic companies are shaping up to be counted as good corporate citizens. Many corporate bodies in the aesthetic industry are investing a lot in CSR programs as well as in other sustainability initiatives. For example, the Body Shop has been embarking on ethical sourcing while others like Yves Rocher have been focusing on preservation of biodiversity (Organic Monitor, 2010).

A number of beauty companies have opted to take holistic approach to the issue of ethics and sustainable business practices. These companies are now reducing the environmental effects of their products by opting to greener formulations, decreasing packaging of most of their products and also reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as water and energy consumption. In addition, they are also considering the social dimension of their businesses and operations. These include ethical supply from their supplies and social responsibilities through corporate philanthropy.

In its recent strategic report, Organic Monitor (2010) found that most companies are investing in greener formulations and sustainable packaging in order to reduce the environmental footprint caused by the various cosmetic products. The report suggests that packaging is getting high interest because most companies in the aesthetic industry have realized the high environmental impact most of their cosmetic products have had on the environment. As a result companies are now looking for biodegradable plastics, recyclable materials as well as other innovative ways to lower environmental degradation (Brandweek, n. d).

Conclusion

The beauty industry has more to offer to the modern society in terms of monetary value and desired body image. Although, some may not be able to access or afford the most expensive cosmetic products like plastic surgery, the benefits far outweighs the concerns of the minority who would have to contend with their natural looks. But even as the industry remains relevant and beneficial to the current society, it has to treat the ethical issues raised as a matter of urgency.

A sustainable business practice would not only benefit the consumers and the society but also ensure a continued operation by the cosmetic companies within a sustainable environment. Although, a few companies have seen this importance of this, more need to be done.

References

Black, P. (2004). The Beauty Industry: Gender, Culture, Pleasure, Routledge: New York. Brandweek, (n. d). Study: Natural Beauty Products Flooding the Market. Retrieved on August 21, 2010, from http://www. brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/packaging-and-design/e3id5cad753451dc1bfe073efb89ddb9730 Brumberg, J. (1997).

The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls. Random House: New York. Gillespie, R. (1996).

Women, the Body Brand Extension in Medicine: Cosmetic Surgery and the Paradox of Choice. Women and Health Vol. 24. Haiken, E. (1997).

Venus Envy: A History of Cosmetic Surgery. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore. Hiscock, J. & Lovett, F. (2004).

Beauty Therapy, 2nd Heinemann: London Organic Monitor, (2010, May 19).

CSR & Sustainability: How the Beauty Industry Is Cleaning Up. Retrieved on August 21, 2010, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WvoQqIjRJqcJ:www.npicenter. com/anm/anmviewer.asp%3Fa%3D27277%26z%3D2+Beauty+Industry+Ethics&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ke&client=firefox-a Morgan, K. (1992).

Women and the Knife: Cosmetic Surgery and the Colonization of Women’s Bodies. Hypatia Vol. 6: 25-53. Simms, J. (1998).

A Practical Guide to Beauty Therapy for Nvq Level 2, 2nd edition, Nelson Thomes: New York. Sullivan, D. (2001).

At-will employment means that the employee or employer has the right “to end the employment relationship at any time with or without notice or cause. ” (FedEx Office: AllBusiness, 1999-2009) Involuntary termination is a touchy subject for employers and it can happen for numerous reasons: specific cause, such as stealing, poor performance, and layoffs due to lack of work. Even though most companies have an “at-will” relationship with their employees, it is still arguably illegal to terminate an employee for no reason.When it comes to termination, managers are faced with current moral and ethical issues. In a lot of companies, in addition to professional relationships, managers develop personal relationships with their employees. In most cases, employees spend a majority of their week (40+ hours) with their “work family.

” Co-workers learn about each other’s families, extra-curricular activities, and personal problems. Even if managers try to separate themselves from their employees on a personal level, it is difficult to ignore new school pictures being displayed on their desks or avoid a discussion about a recent weekend vacation.When legitimate problems arise in a company which requires involuntary termination, the manager faces a dilemma. They must fire an employee because it is best for the company and ignore the thoughts of how it will affect their family and personal life. Often times, employees take the involuntary termination harder because they feel betrayed by someone they considered their “friend”. When an employee is terminated, in more cases than not, they feel blind-sided; most of them “never saw it coming”.It is essential that employers set and follow standard documentation procedures that will provide a timeline of disciplinary action and performance reviews that will serve as proof of legitimate termination if necessary.

A disgruntled employee may question the validity of their termination and in some cases seek legal counsel to help them determine if there was just cause. The current social issues in the United States may make it more difficult for a manager to terminate an employee while at the same time it is more than necessary.The financial state of the country is causing businesses to struggle which results in less profits; less profits mean that a company’s productions will be lowered so they cannot afford and do not need the same number of employees. In this case, an employee may not have given any cause for termination but managers must choose which employee they are willing to lose. They may choose the last hired, the highest paid, or the employee that is least valuable.Knowing that the rate of unemployment is at an all time high and the possibility of finding other employment may take longer than usual, the manager faces a tough a decision when thinking of how their decision will negatively each person they must terminate. Severance packages may be offered in exchange for “a full release of all claims” that may be filed against the company for wrongful termination.

Tough economical times may cause disgruntled employees to take whatever measures necessary to generate income for their family. I have been a victim of wrongful termination.In 2002, I started working as an assistant to the Office Manager of a small financial company. There were only two other people above the Office Manager and that was a person in sales position and then the President of the company. I quickly caught on and was given more responsibilities as well as a pretty healthy increase in pay. Working in a small office allows for unconventional relationships between managers and employees; we shared the same interests, shared a similar sense of humor which resulted in a workplace friendship between all of us.Lunch trips and shopping breaks turned into personal Christmas party invitations and summer beach house vacations.

We were all very close and business was increasing so more employees were hired to work under me. My supervisor and I became almost interchangeable. If she was not there, I took over and performed her duties, although she could not perform mine. I sensed animosity building and tension rising, but overall I knew I was there as her assistant and was careful to never overstep my boundaries.Business slowed and our sales structure changed, so cuts were being made. The sales person was let go and I think she felt that one of us would be next; even though she had been there longer I know she felt threatened that I could perform her job as well as mine. She started targeting me; purposefully changing my changing after my school schedule had been approved, moving my desk unnecessarily, and creating an overall hostile work environment by addressing everyone in a room except for me.

I knew what she was doing; being a part of the “inside upper management”, I had witnessed her do it to others before. Her strategy was to make employees quit in order to avoid the expense of paying unemployment wages. One week, she called me into an office to discuss my work performance and stated that she was giving me a warning. I knew that she was now trying to create a paper trail of disciplinary problems, even though nothing had changed in my performance.The following week she requested another meeting and said that she was writing me up for personal internet usage. Previously, it was acceptable for us to check our personal email, and she and I would collectively read news and gossip and exchange stories across the room. I refused to sign the disciplinary notice because I had not been informed of any policy changes, so that was then considered insubordination.

I was asked to leave; I immediately went to the Department of Labor to file for unemployment due to wrongful termination.I explained to them that my termination was not legitimate. I waited for them to contact my employer and of course they provided a copy of the form that I refused to sign. The Department of Labor declined my request for unemployment compensation, so I appealed their decision and wrote a very long letter explaining everything I knew about how my supervisor “set up” previous employees to keep them from receiving unemployment. I also requested a phone interview in which both I and my supervisor would be present with a Department of Labor representative.My supervisor declined the request; I assume because she knew she was wrong and did not want to be faced with questions regarding what I wrote. Nine months later, I was contacted by the President of the company stating that they had tried to hire several people to take my place and he realized that he should have never allowed her to terminate me.

He offered me a large salary increase and a promise that my employment status will never be in her hands. She still works with me, and we are “friends” again, but I have definitely learned to keep office friendships to a minimum.Today we are able to laugh at the situation; deep down I think she respects me for standing up for myself and she knows that I am a great asset to the company. Termination is not something that anyone ever looks forward to, be it the employee or the employer. Unfortunately it has to be done, and employers must take steps to protect themselves from lawsuits and disgruntled employees. Employees must learn that although there may be a “relationship” with their manager, the manager must first look out for the business’s best interest and it may ot always include them as an employee.References Butler, B.

(2009). Right-to-Work and At-Will Employee. Today’s Workplace: A Workplace Fairness Blog. Retrieved on December 7, 2009. Farr, . (2000, November). Terminations Require Careful Study, Planning.

Small Business, (), 15. FedEx Office: AllBusiness. (1999-2009). Decreasing the Legal Risks of Employee Termination.