Introduction
While the primary purpose of business is the generation of profit, adherence to ethical principles is equally important in modern businesses. In the recent past, the profit-driven nature of business and the need to fulfill the interest of shareholders brought many leaders to unethical decisions that had detrimental effects on the businesses’ reputation. However, businesses must adhere to a system of ethical standards in the modern business environment characterized by the authority of informed customers, corporate responsibility, and the need to maintain positive relationships with suppliers. Thus, modern businesses prioritize creating value for shareholders in search of the common good (Gallego-Alvarez et al., 2020). The following essay will define how business ethics principles can be applied to the case of William Yurchak and his work in Buddy Enterprise.
Case Analysis
Firstly, Yurchak’s ethical concerns about his experience in Buddy Enterprise start from the board of directors’ refusal to promote him to the position of the company’s president. Examining the board of directors’ actions from an ethical perspective has different implications. There are many different ways to approach ethics in business; therefore, applying them to the case can have different results. For example, according to Gibson (2023), the rule-based approach defines employees as agents with the primary goal of maximizing the investors’ returns.
Applying the rule-based perspective on business ethics to the board of directors’ decision to hire an outsider shows that their decision was ethical as it does not break the law. Moreover, the decision can be justified if the other candidate has skills and experience that support his potential to do a more effective job in increasing investor returns than Yurchak. While it is unknown how the outsider candidate’s experience and skills compared with Yurchak’s, the collective decision of the board of directors points to the outsider candidate’s significant advantage.
Further discussion of Yurchak’s potential actions and Clyde Kellor’s offer requires applying the principles of ethics in business. Firstly, Kellor’s offer to Yurchak is unethical as it takes advantage of Yurchak’s feeling of being betrayed by Buddy Enterprise directors. Thus, the offer and Kellor’s intention to manipulate Yurchak violate the ethical principles of respect and healthy competition. Next, if Kellor had not added the request for the Buddy Seven plans, the proposal would have been more ethical to Yurchak. However, if Kellor’s goal were still to gain access to plans for Buddy Seven, the offer would still be unethical on his part. In that case, Kellor’s offer would also violate the honesty principle.
Yurchak’s ethical course of action has two distinct directions. Firstly, the vice president’s current contract with Buddy ends only after three years, but he is tempted by the offer of a 50 percent raise. Yurchak can disclose Kellor’s plan to the board of directors and request the board members to increase his raise in exchange for the knowledge and support he will provide to the new president. If the new president fails at the job, Yurchak’s position as the candidate will be improved from the board member’s perspective. Alternatively, Yurchak can accept Keillor’s offer but avoid sharing vital information about Buddy Seven to maintain the fair competition principle.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the case study demonstrates how complicated ethical decision-making can be in business. Adherence to ethical principles makes decision-making easier and prevents serious problems between competitors. The case also shows how the unethical decision of one individual can persuade another person to make more unethical choices. Therefore, all people operating in the business must remain loyal to business ethics principles even if violating them will give them an advantage.
References
Gallego-Alvarez, I., Rodríguez-Domínguez, L., & Martín Vallejo, J. (2020). An analysis of business ethics in the cultural contexts of different religions. Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, 29(3), 570–586. Web.
Gibson, K. (2023). Ethics and business. Cambridge University Press.