Module 2: Critical Issues in

Business Ethics

Dr. Nancy Bouchra Hanna

Employment at Will
￮ Courts are reluctant to recognize issues other than those explicitly agreed by the parties
concerned.
￮ If employment at will governs the workplace, if employees can be dismissed for morally
wrong reasons without violating the law, then the concept of employee rights is
meaningless.
￮ To say that employees have legitimate claim implies that they ethically cannot be placed in
the position of having to choose between these goods and their job.

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Dual Process in the workplace
￮ Dual process in the workplace mean that employees have a right to be protected from the
arbitrary use of managerial authority.
￮ Due process means that while employees can be dismissed for good cause, they cannot be
dismissed for no cause of even for cause morally wrong.
￮ Due process right would establish the procedure that an employer must go through to
ensure the dismissal is not arbitrary.
￮ Acceptable reasons for dismissal: incompetent job performance, intoxication, inordinate
absenteeism, theft, fraud and economic necessity.

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Dual Process in the workplace
￮ However, specifying every possible reason and distinguishing them from unacceptable
reasons beforehand might be impossible.
￮ As a result, a typical due process policies outline a procedure through which employers
must go before they can dismiss an employee.
￮ This procedural might include things such as prior warning, documentation, written
performance standards, probationary period, a process by which decisions can be appealed,
an opportunity to respond to allegations, and prior determination of punishment that is
proportionate to the infraction.
￮ Due process demands nothing more than that the exercise of power be justified.

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Counter-Argument Due Process
￮ Due process involves an illegitimate restriction to the freedom of individuals to establish
the conditions of their own work. I
￮ f employees are free to quit the job for any reason, it is only fair that employers be free to
fire employees for any reason.
￮ Due process is an illegitimate restriction on the property rights of business owners.
￮ Without the dear of dismissal as motivation, the workers will be inefficient and
unproductive.

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Ethics and Marketing
Marketing and Ethics
￮ All of the factors considered and each decision made in the marketing process are ethical
issues:
￮ what, how, why and under what conditions is something produced?
￮ What price is acceptable, reasonable, fair?
￮ How can the product be promoted to support and enhance sales?
￮ Where, when and under what conditions should the product be places in the
marketplace?

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Marketing and Ethics
￮ Each of the four Ps raises important ethical issues:
￮ What responsibilities do producers have for the quality and safety of their products?
￮ Who is responsible for harms caused by a product?
￮ Are there some products that should not be produced, or does consumer demand
decide all production questions?
￮ Is consumer’s willingness to pay the only ethical constraint on fair pricing? Should
the ability to pay be a factor in setting price?
￮ Are deceptive or misleading ads ethical?
￮ What privacy protections should be offered for marketing data?
￮ Is it ethical to target vulnerable populations such as children or the elderly?

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Ethical Responsibility for products
￮ Questions of product safety concern determining the causes of any harms.
E.g. what caused the Ford Explorers to crash during the blowouts of their firestone tires?

￮ The manufacturer who fail to inspect their products before sending them to the
market without adequate testing can be geld culpable for harms caused by this
negligence.

￮ Discuss the case for Boeing 737

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Thank you

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