4/19/2017 Personal

Managerial
Effectiveness
Assignment - 2
Submitted to – Farhana Hussain

Mustafa Javed
SEMESTER – BA 3(2017)
ID – 14M0FM0F0616
Contents

Introduction...................................................................................................2
Ethical challenges faced by the managers...................................................2
Human Resource Issues...........................................................................3
Ethically Managing People........................................................................3
Ethical Nepotism.......................................................................................3
Promotion and Dismissal...........................................................................4
Ethical Theories............................................................................................4
Virtue Ethics..............................................................................................4
Utilitarianism..............................................................................................5
Act Utilitarianism....................................................................................5
Rule Utilitarianism..................................................................................5
Ethical Rights.........................................................................................5
Moral Universalism.......................................................................................6
Code of Conduct.......................................................................................6
Moral Relativism...........................................................................................7
Moral Issues of McDonalds in India..........................................................7
NIKE Operations in Indonesia...................................................................8
Conclusion.................................................................................................8
References...................................................................................................9
Bibliography................................................................................................10
Introduction
Ethics is the system of moral ideologies relating to humans, with relation to the right and
wrong of certain actions and the motive behind it. The agenda that business follow to
increase public acceptance is Business Ethics. Business ethics assures trustfulness
amongst consumers and diverse market players with business. For instance a recruiting
manager should give same consideration to applicants from his family and outsiders.
This sort of practices ascertain that fair treatment will be received by the public.
Business ethics isn’t limited to the code of right or wrong. It harmonizes what companies
should do legally along with maintaining competitive edge over other businesses.
In the present era the need for Business ethics has become predominant. Though
there are ethical challenges face by the managers time to time, the importance of it
cannot be waived of. Employees want to work for companies where they can feel proud.
Strong ethical and benevolent ambience in the office makes the worker more committed
to his work. Similarly the moral can take a u turn if the employees feel, there is
discrepancy and law breaking unethical activities taking place in the organization.
Managers needs to be very careful of not doing something which is financially beneficial
but promotes wrong doings in the organization ( Malta Business School, 2017).

Ethical challenges faced by the managers

It is very important for an organization to be ethically valued. Companies at times opt
for any strategy which might increase their sales without thinking of the negative effect it
might have on the consumers. The strategy might include inferior quality of goods
which will eventually make the consumers lose their faith on the company ( Philosophy
Index, 2017).

It is the duty of the manager to make a business organization ethically approved which
under no circumstance would earn a bad name in the society. Organization, customers
and employees are three parties which business ethics should satisfy. Manager should
ensure that he ethical values are implemented effectively in the organization and strong
bond of trust is established between the employer and the employees. Discrimination of
employees as per cast creed and religion should never be entertained by the managers
as it goes against the virtue of ethics.
It is also important for managers not to divulge customer’s private information without
their consent to the third party. It is a serious violation of ethics and managers should
give that confidence to public that their information is safe and will only be used and
known by the company (Philosophy Index, 2017).
Different employees come from different culture and environment so they all should be
tactfully handled and managed by the managers. According to Chryssides & Kaler
(1993), practices that are morally right may not be that productive for business as action
considered good for business can turn out to be morally wrong.
Falsifying claims and deception can be very prosperous from the economic point of view
for business. Mangers’ role is tested in these situations to maintain ethics and balance
in the organization. Transparency and truthfulness should be encouraged and moral
ethics code ought to have explicit guidelines of what is termed moral and immoral.
Human Resource Issues

The most common problem mangers comes across is retaining skilled and experienced
staff. The best way is to have a conducive, ethical and active environment is by
developing mutual respect, equity and appreciation which will increase the enthusiasm
and productiveness.

Ethically Managing People

Modern Managers needs to hire the best person for the right position and asses their
performance regularly. Ethical exercises such as evaluating the academic work and
records of the potential candidate should be maintained rather than being biased and
hiring employees for personal reasons. It’s very normal for an employee to excel in one
department and may not be that great in some other department 
This is where ethical practice comes into play. Firing should not be the initiative taken
rather appraisal should be implemented for every performance both the negative and
positive. It’s imperative to give a proper ethical feedback which can help the employee
to cover up the lickings. Discipline is an absolute need to make the organization more
professional (Malta Business School, 2017).

Ethical Nepotism
Nepotism is itself not considered a very healthy word but if implemented ethically can
pay huge dividends. A sales representative of a small company importing computer
accessories happens to meet as woman at work. Love blossoms and they get married
within 6 months. Couple of years later he resigns from his job and opens a website of
his own that will sell the same computer accessories. The traffic of the website goes up
and sales increase. He needs help so he hires is wife. His wife has the experience and
has the experience in the same field. Having her minimizes the risk. She will wake up
with him so he knows she will not skip the work and if she does he will know why and
chance of stealing office supplies is next to none. This is where nepotism makes sense
and is ethical because it is being done for the betterment of the business.
There can be different aspect to it. If the husband’s business flops and simultaneously
wife’s career grows from strength to strength. He is in need of job and she has the
power to hire. There is job opening in her company and she pushes it for her husband
though there is a junior staff who is ready.
This is nepotism. It is not ethical as she is being biased and not thinking for the
organization. It will not only make her questionable but she will breed resentment
internally (Philosophy Index, 2017).
Promotion and Dismissal

Promotion is very important to be conducted ethically and should wholly focus on the
employee’s ambition, respects creative functions and puts that extra effort than his
peers. If it’s done in an ethical manner than it turns out to be a very positive step for the
organizations. Managers faces the heat in terms selecting a person they like or a
person who is capable for the post. There is also pressure from the seniors to promote
some other employee. To be ethical the manager has to go on a disagreement with his
seniors and sacrifice his liking for a specific individual by eventually promoting someone
who is actually hungry and driven and will do justice in a higher post.
Dismissal is a more complex challenged faced by the managers. Firing a competent
employee because of personal reasons is unethical to the core. An employee should be
evaluated on the basis of his performance and not the basis of his relationship he
shares with the manager. Just because an employee has aged doesn’t mean the
company would trick him by promising him extra benefits for early retirement. These
sort of unethical practice hampers the moral of the organization internally. Managers
should see that personal interest should be kept aside and due recognition and respect
should be given to the deserving employee, which can only be achieved with ethical
initiatives (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017).

Ethical Theories

Virtue Ethics
Virtue Ethics judges a person’s character rather than his/her action which might deviate
from the normal behavior. It basically focusses on words like competence, honesty,
responsibility and loyalty and these things are taken into account when assessing a
person’s regular or irregular behavior. For e.g. If an employee walks in late to the office,
the manager might consider it, given the fact that he is on normal terms, punctual. His
reason for coming late can be because of heavy traffic jam. The manager may think that
his reasoning is truth as he is always on time but the employee might be lying on that
particular day but due to his fair past record. his excuse will be accepted.
On the contrary if an employee who is always late, comes late on a particular day
because of traffic jam will be handled harshly. The manger will take into account his
past activities and though the employee is revealing the truth, his statement won’t
gather any importance from his peers. The drawback of virtue ethical theory is that it
doesn’t consider a person’s change in moral character. The employee who may have
come late in the past is being truthful about his delay because of traffic jam, which won’t
be believed. Conversely the employee who is always on time is late for a day may have
changed from moral to immoral character, can go unnoticed till substantial evidence
plies up against him (Seven Pillars Institute, 2017).
Utilitarianism

The theories of Utilitarian is based on the ability of a person to predict the aftermaths of
an action. For a utilitarian the option that reaps the maximum benefit for most people is
the one that is considered ethically correct. The two types of utilitarianism are act
utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism (CRI, 2017).

Act Utilitarianism
Act Utilitarianism focuses on individual activities rather than general rules. It believes
that an action can only be proper if the consequences are extremely good for most
people and rules should be broken if end result will be good. A very good example
would be a soldier throwing himself on hand grenade to save his comrades. The soldier
is thinking greater good for many people, though he is sacrificing his life but for others
benefit (CRI, 2017).
The Robin Hood story is another act of act utilitarianism where the legend is a glorified
thief because he robs the rich and generously donates it to the poor. The rich
represents a small percentage but their wealth is giving life and happiness to so many
poor people. In other words act utilitarianism is always not validating justice, if
oppressing the rich leads to the solution, from which many poor people can benefit than
it’s the right path to follow.

Rule Utilitarianism
Moral rules are the most important thing for role utilitarianism. Sticking and following
moral rules will ultimately result to the most good. It is stiffer than act utilitarianism. The
Robin Hood story above would be unethical for a rule utilitarian’s perspective but an act
utilitarian wouldn’t be even bothered till it is benefiting many people.
The other example of role utilitarianism can of the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors.
Doctors treating a mass rapist might be lured to not treat the patient and let him die for
the general good. But they take an oath of not doing any harm- in the long run, the
belief that doctors will not do any harm will increase utility (CRI, 2017).

Ethical Rights
Rights made by the society is given the maximum priority. Rights will be considered
correct if a large population supports it. It is even possible for an individual to exercise
rights on others if he/she has the ability to do so. The major issues faced is the rights
endorsed, are challenged on regular basis. In a business environment the rights given
to the employees should be set after a through consultation of senior and junior
employees. Many corporate house gives right to the employees to demand explanation
from the senior management which is great but if it clashes with the senior managers’
ego then an ugly scenario erupts. Balance is very important while setting the ethical
rights and it should be exercised in such a manner where everybody should understand
the benefits of it.
Moral Universalism
Moral Universalism is a highly authoritative system of philosophy and ethics believing
that certain moral values or system is cosmically applicable to one and all or to the very
least everyone in similar condition. It is also termed as universal morality which is a form
of ethical objectivism (The Basics of Philosophy, 2008).
Moral Universalism supports the fact that it’s applicable to all individuals regardless of
their gender, race, nationality and ethnicity. It is extremely difficult for organization to
apply or make same set of rules in different countries as every country or clan will have
their own likes or dislikes. Setting moral values will differ from place to place where the
organization is running its business.
It is very close to moral absolutism but differs in many ways. For instance absolutist
would condemn death penalty considering it wrong as it kills a human being. However,
a Universalist would vouch for the act as it would prevent future crimes.
An example of moral universalism would be gender equality in the workplace which is
proudly practiced globally (The Basics of Philosophy, 2008).

Code of Conduct

Most of the organizations formulate their own code of conduct when they are doing
business overseas. Many organizations combine together to form a certain set of
standard which will used in all the countries they do business. Tata motors (motor
company in India), ArcelorMittal (largest steel producer in the world in UK), Mercedes
(car company in USA) have promised to produce goods which will be environmental
friendly and not hamper the ozone layer (The Basics of Philosophy, 2008).
Some globally accepted Standards are-
No child labor in the work place.
Barring use of forced labor.
Safe working environment for workers.
Paying the minimum wage to the workers

The code of conduct is decided by four organization for multinationals around the world.
International Chamber of Commerce.
Organization for Economic Cooperation & development.
International Labor Organization.
United nation commission on transnational corporations. (G.MEHALU, Kidus, 2011)
Moral Relativism
It basically states that what is right for you is not right for me. Working women in Brazil
attends office in short skirts which is considered absolutely normal in their culture but in
countries like Bangladesh or Nepal the same skirt will not be treated as a formal form of
attire and will be not be normal under any circumstance. The irony of moral relativism is
both the cultures are right. Moral rules cannot be same for everyone. and the other
being cultural subjectivism or cultural relativism says that morality differs with culture,
each culture has its own form of morality and whatever is right for each cultural is
ultimately right (Syracuse University, 2017).

Moral Issues of McDonalds in India

McDonald’s first challenge in India was beef. Hindu’s worshipped cows and Muslims’
didn’t eat pork. Almost 30% of the population was vegetarian and good majority ate
meat, an alternative source was required to operate in India. McDonald’s came up with
Aloo tikki burger, tailor-made for Indian vegans with potato and spices. Chicken and fish
options were also kept in mind for the non-vegetarians. The company even separated
the cooking process of veg and non-veg to gain confidence of vegetarian customers.
McDonald’s didn’t offer beef burgers only in India which itself was unique. The business
surged and their adjustment of not including beef worked.
This goes to show moral relativism. McDonald’s changed its approach to get a foothold
in Indian market, it had to change its policies to match the culture. If Moral Universalism
was applied and McDonalds would have stuck to beef, the operations would have
dramatically plummeted. It proves that Moral Relativism has more edge then moral
universalism as the morals can be customized as per the need and place of business.
NIKE Operations in Indonesia
Nike is one of the biggest sports footwear and apparel manufacturing company in the
world. Its business ranges over 140 countries and employs over 44,000 workers. In
early 90’s Nike foot wears’ were being manufactured in 6 Indonesian factories which
had almost 25,000 workers. Nike’s business continued to grow in Indonesia and these
factories accounted of supplying 6 million shoes every year. With mammoth success the
company fell under heavy scrutiny (Online Guide to Ethics and Moral Philosophy, 2002).
Several NGOs and human rights activist proclaimed that these factories had very
miserable working conditions, zero safety and weak infrastructure. Labors and workers
were persistently abused and the company did not even pay the legal minimum daily
wage. Statistics showed that the minimum legal wage only covered 70% of an
individual’s basic need and bearing expenditure of family was out of question. The
factory owners exploited the workers in every way, in return reaping billions of business.
(Online Guide to Ethics and Moral Philosophy, 2002).
The Nike case goes to prove that ethics and morals change from country to country.
Ethics doesn’t even have any relativity here. The kind of sickening activity that Nike
does in Indonesia, Nepal, Vietnam is not possible in USA or any European country,
because of their strict labor laws and professional environment. (Online Guide to Ethics and
Moral Philosophy, 2002).

Nike intentionally dropped their operating standard, to make more profit in Asia (3 rd
world countries). To a certain extent this situation can fall under moral relativism,
morally the activities are questionable, however Nike is changing its operation from
region to region. The ethical question is why Indonesia and not USA. If Nike had the
choice, it would have exploited the workers in America too but there is no option,
because of the strong jurisdiction. Countries like Indonesia have many loop holes in
their government system and Nike has used it to the best of their advantage. Virtue
ethics also can be brought up here as there is a change from moral to immoral
character as per place and situation. It’s very hard to actually predict or ascertain what a
persons’ or companies’ behavior will be if there is a change of place or situation
(Syracuse University, 2017).

Conclusion
Ethics and moral values needs to be determined and settled by the organization. Girls
wearing a head scarf is a very common sight in Dubai. A multinational company based
in Germany plans to start its operation in Dubai will face certain ethical issues. The
company has its professional dress code and all its global branches adhere to it but the
manager in Dubai office will face a dicey situation! If the manager permits women
employees to wear head scarf then it will go against the company’s policy but it will also
be unethical to stop women employees from wearing something, related to their religion.
Sometimes greater good needs to be considered and act utilitarianism can take place.
Going against the company is also unethical but for the manager there is no other
choice as if he sticks to the dress code then he might lose his competent employees.
Moral Universalism concept is not applicable everywhere as felt by the manager of the
German company and this is why working policy is debatable but even then ethics and
moral values should always be prioritized (CRI, 2017).
References
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