classic 12hrs (1)

ETHICS

Name

Institution

Number 1.activity -3 about conflict of interest, you can see the questions underneath.

What conflicts of interest have you personally experienced in personal or professional roles?

Personal conflict of interest that I have experienced is in the work place is that of the choice of candidates for various jobs in the company. The manager in this case has mostly chosen people from a certain race when compared to other races and therefore the less preferred race is disadvantaged and I am just one of the few people from that race working in the company. The company policy has not changed nor has the human resource since they have continued with the practice and now there are fewer of promotion and us are mostly given to those from the other race since the owner of the company comes from the race that forms the majority.

If you perceive a potential conflict for yourself, what are some ways you must ensure that this conflict does not lead to unethical behavior for you and others?

The best thing is to evade a conflict of interest is to avoid being in the situation whereby the conflict of interest may arise. In this for example, if it is the army recruitment and there are relatives involved I would not accept to be part of the selection panel of officers. Another way is to inform the board of the potential conflict of interest to prevent it affecting the decision that can be made and if possible to let one be left out of the decision process. Another way is to avoid receiving gifts from people you conduct business with. Making collective decision that is involving other people will enable impartial decision that will prevent favoritism and thus create an open and transparent process of business operations and choices (Cooper, 2011). Another way is to avoid any roles that may conflict with my work especially when there are stakes in other companies. Avoiding favors will be another milestone that will help in removing preferential treatment to others hence considering all clients fairly.

What have others’ conflict affected how you or those you know were treated?

Others conflict of interest has greatly affected the way the company treats some sections of workers. The company has mostly treated people from a certain region in favorable way in terms of promoting them and giving them, pay rises in their current bulkposts. Some people who come from different regions that of the supervisors have not been treated favorably. I come from a different region so I can bear witness that it takes long for one to be recognized for a promotion or raise because of his race or closeness to the appointing authority.

What types of policies or do organizations implement to try to reduce conflicts of interest or their costs?

Some policies company implement are those that are against favorite and where the company requires individuals to declare whether they have such conflicts of interest among them and the clients. The polices by the companies or the regulations made are usually based on financial interests, particular matters and individuals who may bring about a conflict of interests in the companies. As such, companies have to identify such people and ensure that they prevent such instances from happening.

Number 2. Activity-4 about conformity bias, you can see the questions underneath.

Can you think of a time when you did something just because everyone else was doing it- even when it did not feel quite right to you? Do you regret it?

I was overseeing production of milk and most of the milk was diluted greatly with water but when I asked the company, I was told off and considered as not being part of the team. Therefore, I had to allow the more water to be added to the milk in the production tanks, which further led to a low quality in the final product. I regret the act because it was the same as stealing except in a more subtle way.

It was recently observed, “Cheating is contagious.” Does that sound true to you? Why or why not? It its true, why must this be the case?

It sounds true that cheating is contagious. This is because more people when told a lie can help spread it without knowing the truth or confirming with its true or not. People may either spread the lie among themselves and to others who then continue the cycle until it can no longer be circulated (Forgas et al., 2013). As such, when there is a larger group of people, the lie can spread faster since the people in the group spread it to more people who further continue the lying cycle. The people, in this case, may be expected to present the lie as truth to further enhance the goals of such a group.

Loyalty is generally considered a good quality. When a group to which you owe loyalty seeks to be making a decision that seems unethical to you, how should you go about trying to balance your loyalty to the group against your own ethical integrity? Have you had an experience like that? If so, how did you resolve it?

Loyalty is an important value greatly held in high regard among group members especially the leaders who mostly want their subordinates to be loyal to the cause of the company especially concerning profits and company secrets. Balancing loyalty needs a lot of effort especially where the company is going against integrity in doing its business operations. One such operations was to go and lie to a customer about the product that was being made for him when the company had not yet started on the project and was working on another project. I told them I could not do that because it was against my ethical principles in working truthfully and honestly in many endeavors. Some said that if you can’t beat them join them which most had done easily and had experience in receiving money to do contracts faster for clients while those who did not give them a certain amount of funds had their works pending.

Can you explain how “groupthinks” works? Can you think of a time when you have been subject to groupthink?

Groupthink is a scenario where employs feel that they cannot truthfully speak out on various issues because they will be going against the groups interests and as such they cannot use their common sense leading to a warped decision making process. Cohesion is mostly stressed in such a scenario among group members and therefore they avoid any instances that may hinder the group’s unity though the contributions may be good and help solve various problems affecting the group. As such groupthink greatly contributes to conformity bias as it tends to push out any differing view points and people and thus maintain a status quo and those have opposing views are usually sidelined or removed total from the group.

Number 3. Activity-5 about ethical fading, the questions are underneath.

Can you explain the concept of ethical fading and perhaps give an example of when it happened to you?

Ethical involves the process whereby the moral or ethical consideration in the implementation of a decision is not considered by individuals or parties. As such, a business engaged in operations that are unethical and that are over time accepted as a way of doing things. Not is has not but I observed a worker who expected to receive some money after performing his duty that is required of him by the company to the client. The client, in this case, has to give him some money, most of the workers when carrying out their tasks expect to be paid some bribes to quicken the work, and most clients have gotten used to this and offer to pay them differing amounts of money respectively.

Can you think of a situation where you were so intent on pleasing an authority figure, fitting in with your friends or achieving a goal that you failed to give an ethical issue your full attention? Did that situation because you regret?

Fitting among friends at the workplace caused me to make decisions that were ethically fading. Since most of them expected and even asked for bribes as I worked in their department some of the clients gave me bribes, which I was expected to take by them. Such actions mostly drew praise from the other workers and even the head of department who would applaud me and encourage me to receive more bribes or if I had refused, he would encourage me not to leave such a chance since he received some share in the money. Bribes are thus given to the works to ensure that they are prompt in their action (Bazerman & Tenbrunsel, 2011).

Can you think of an example of a friend who might have been the victim of ethical fading? Alternatively, a person in the news recently?

Scientists have most of the time covered up for their colleagues especially through the many violations concerning the respective research. As such, others who may choose to keep quiet about such incidents to maintain more cohesiveness in the scientific community thus inevitable give wrong information especially of the violations in conduction research about the methodologies used and the various subjects may cushion most of the scientists who have carried out the various violations. Planned Parenthood is such an organization, which has greatly backed abortion in the United States while at the same time using the fetus without the consent of the mother or the family. Such unethical practices involve workers who may have to bow and condone such practices without considering the ethical principles in carrying out various practices in their profession.

Number 4.activity 6 about farming, the questions are underneath. 

If you met a famous white-collar criminal, what would you expect him (or, occasionally, her) to be like?

A white-collar criminal would possibly be a person who is not noticeable as a criminal and passes across as a decent and honest person. In such a case, the white-collar criminal would disguise himself behind the mask of a clean-shaven person who in reality has a questionable character.

Why is it so common to hear white-collar criminals described by their neighbors as the “nicest guy,” “a real family man,” etc.?

Their actions are not like the violent criminals who carry guns and perform their actions to be seen by various people or to be evidenced by an individual (Ferrell et al., 2015). Such criminals usually car you their acts behind a number of computers manipulating figures and even causing a storm in the stock market by speculating while giving wrong information on accounts to suite themselves as evidenced in the Enron’s case where executives enriched themselves though they were considered with high integrity. They use technology and manipulation to ensure their goals are met and thus make others suffer. The person, in this case, cannot be linked to any criminal activity until scandals crop up in the company linking him to the swindling of funds through devious means.

How can we endeavor to judge people’s character more accurately?

Judging people’s character more precisely will need engaging with the person in a conversation and finding out why he does what he does. In such a case, people will be more careful in ensuring that they do not judge a person one instance like the person drinks alcohol and therefore is bad, but they will tend to look at the whole person and thus the individual characteristics of the person in question.

References

Bazerman, M. H., & Tenbrunsel, A. E. (2011). Blind spots: Why we fail to do what’s right and what to do about it. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.

Cooper, T. L. (2012). The responsible administrator: An approach to ethics for the administrative role. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases. s.l.: Cengage learning.

Forgas, J. P., Haselton, M. G., & Hippel, W. . (2013). Evolution and the social mind: Evolutionary psychology and social cognition. New York: Routledge.