Ethical Platform
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Transcript of Ethical Platform
Ethical Platform
By: Anna Barsegyan
Table of Contents
Ethical Quote…………………. 1
Ethical Stance………………….2
Ethical Theory…………………3
Ethical Lessons Learned…..4
Shocking Revelations……….5
“Zeitgeist”/”Cancer: the……6 forbidden cures”
Ethical Note to Self…………..7
The Marketing Industry…...8
& Ethics
Ethical Responsibility………9 To the Environment
Ethical Leaders Worth……10
Following
Ethical Quote
“On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is It Safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is It Politic?’ And Vanity comes along and asks the question, ‘Is It Popular?’ But Conscience asks the question, ‘Is It Right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is RIGHT” -‐ Martin Luther King Jr. Speech In Washington (Feb. 6, 1968)
“The True Measure of a Man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good” -‐ Ann Landers
1
Ethical Stance
My Personal Ethical Statement: My ethics are personal beliefs and morals that reflect the person I am. I live by an ethical code of conduct, which is to always approach my personal and professional dealings in a fair and honest manner. Two of my core values are to be an individual that believes in social responsibility and makes decisions that are not self-‐centered but rather for the greatest good. The values that I hold set me aside from others and help me identify unethical behavior. It is my responsibility to speak up on concerns about any inappropriate behavior that I observe either in my personal or professional life. I dedicate myself to having a moral commitment and to always do the right thing. To hold myself accountable for all my actions and never pointing fingers at others. We have one life to live it is better to hold a reputation for being an individual with integrity, honesty, and respect then a person who cheats and lies.
Always Remember To:
-‐ Always Practice the Ethics of Truth Unless In a Situation When the Truth will Harm Your Loved Ones
-‐ Approach Ethical Dilemmas with the utmost dignity, dedication, and professionalism, all without compromising my personal convictions.
-‐ Treat others the way they would want to be treated
2
Ethical Theory
Utilitarianism Approach “Greatest Good for the Greatest Number of People”
One ethical theory that I live by and will integrate into the way I do business in the future is the utilitarian theory of ethics. Under this framework, acting ethically means making decisions and taking actions that benefit people by maximizing “good” and minimizing “bad.” The utilitarian approach is not based on being self-‐centered and what is good only for me but rather what is good for everyone else. Taking apart this ethical theory has helped me make decisions in life whether it is in my personal life or in my professional life. It has helped me understand and cope with the fact that your actions affect not only yourself but also everyone else. -‐ Utilitarianism offers me a relatively
straightforward method for deciding the morally right course of action for any particular situations I may find myself in.
-‐ I determine all the foreseeable
benefits and harms that would result from each course of action for everyone affected by my actions.
-‐ I will further use this approach to
help me guide my decisions to put a halt in deception in the world of marketing so less people are affected 3
Ethical Lessons Learned
First important lesson I learned from this course was that everyone’s ethical definition and ethical stance is built on different foundations. Your right may be somebody’s wrong! Lessons Learned From Dr. Marques
ü Never Use a Person as a Means to an End.
ü One needs to open their eyes and mind to the unethical actions that is taking place in our world today.
ü Treat others not how you want to be treated but how they would want to be treated as a unique individual.
ü Do not do something that you would not want your family to know or to end up in the front page of the daily newspaper.
Lessons Learned From Business Ethics by Joseph W. Weiss
ü A question one should ask oneself when dealing with ethical reasoning and approaching and ethical dilemma is what is my motivation for a choosing a course of action?
ü The Test of One’s Best Self: “Does the action I am getting ready to take compatible with my concept of myself at my best?”
ü One should be condoned to the right thing in an organization at report any unethical or wrong behavior if you have good motives behind being your actions.
4
Shocking Revelations
3 Shocking Developments Discussed
1.
The Unethical Practices of Monsanto: This was my first time hearing about Monsanto and its outrageous unethical practices. Monsanto is considered to be one of the world’s most controversial companies. What came shocking to me was there harmful and unmoral ways of decision making that has had and continues to have a negative impact on people’s health. Monsanto controls 90% OF ALL GENETICALLY ENGINERED SEEDS that causes serious and fatal health damages, but that does not stop Monsanto from producing genetically modified food. The worse part is that the FDA allows it to happen because it is a “profit machine”.
3. Merck Avoiding the Truth Before taking Business Ethics I did not care to look into cases such as the Vioxx one. What was a shocking revelation was that because of the careless and greedy acts of Merck & Company approximately 28,000 people had heart attacks or cardiac arrests. The details of what happened shocked me and angered me. How could they ignore all the signs and turn the other cheek after each study they conducted? Proves to us that corporations have lost
5
2. Benefits of Child Labor: What shocked me the most came towards the end of the semester when I learned that child labor is not always an unethical act but it can actually be seen under good light. Child labor may be opportunities, a sense of responsibility, and save these children and their parents from poverty. Children in developing countries yearn for the opportunity to work to help put food on the table. Shocking yes indeed, we learn something new everyday.
Critical Notes on Zeitgeist: What the government does not want us to know!! There are a few facts that I learned from this documentary that changed my mentality forever. The first critical fact that I took from the documentary was that hamsters on a wheel are a metaphor for humans constantly working to pay off their debt. This could not be more true we are sometimes distracted by all the materialistic stuff that we do not realize that we are working that little ants to pay off all our debt. The second fact that I took from the Zeitgeist was that government wants to maximize profits regardless of everything. Money always comes before people for government. People do not have value, money rules everything it is the root cause of all-‐evil. A third fact that the documentary taught me was if there is no debt there is no money. Money is created out of debt, hence the people in the United States dug deep into debt and cannot get out. Debt is the weapon. We are all working for the banks. The banks are dominating our lives. This documentary came as a shock it is time to educate ourselves on what is going on around us. We cannot blind ourselves from the truth as much as the government wants us too.
“Zeitgeist”/ “Cancer: the
forbidden cures”
Critical Notes on Cancer: the forbidden cures: A cure is forbidden because cancer brings in billions of dollars a year!! In the Zeitgeist documentaries I learned that money comes before people and in the documentary about cancer, we learn that money comes before people again This was the most frustrating documentary I watched because I lost so many loved ones to cancer because our government does not want to help save the lives of people because cancer is a big profit machine. In the documentary I learned that a single person spends an average of 50,000 dollars for cancer treatments. If a million people spend $50,000 that is 50 billion dollars profit. The government does not want to jeopardize 50 billion dollars that is why they shut down the cures that helped thousands of people. What turned a light bulb in my brain was when a key figure being interviewed in the documentary said, “if you get better there market goes away”. Bingo! They do not want you to get better because no money will go in their pockets. The FDA shut down all the natural cures that were discovered. We live in tough unethical web of lies and destruction and all we can do is educate ourselves further with such documentaries that teach us new things we never knew before.
6
Ethical Note To Self
For the coming ten years, I want to be the individual that succeeded in life not because she took shortcuts but because success came to her as a result of hard work over time. To never let greed or money have an effect on the way I live my life. I want to be the girl that lead by example and followed her dreams by being honest, trustworthy, and always picking right over wrong. I want to approach every situation whether in my professional or personal life with good motives and a clear conscience. With a noble goal of bringing ethics back into the world of marketing, I want to use the tools I have obtained in my business ethics class to shape and mold marketing into a more ethical business. To never let wrong decisions linger in my brain to long because the high road is always the ethical road. Note to Self for the Next Ten Years:
ü To never change myself or adjust my ethical beliefs or values for anyone.
ü Further educate myself on topics that society would usually close their eyes too.
ü Remember that my education does not stop at a Bachelors degree.
ü Work on leaving a wonderful legacy. ü Do not forget the small things that matter in life ü Help my future children understand the importance of
living a life of honesty and integrity. ü Always sleeps with a clear conscience because thinking
if something can be wrong is not worth thinking long about.
P.S. Always remember What Richard Branson said “ Your Reputation is everything. If you’re starting in business and ask me if I have a lesson for you, I’d say, “Be Fair in all your dealings. Don’t cheat-‐aim to win” 7
The Marketing Industry & Ethics
Choosing to study Fashion Marketing, I knew that the down side of it was that the world of marketing is known to be deceptive. I felt as though I can make a difference if I took the tools I learned at school and applied it to Marketing in a more ethical manner. It is time that we stop the deception and market products and fashion for what it really is. Noble Goal: • “To bring ethics back to the world of
marketing by acting ethically and responsibly to finally put a halt on deception.”
Marketing can be a powerful tool why should we use power to lie and cheat people into purchasing products that do not live up to what the advertising says. Not all marketers are unethical, it is time to turn the tide, and even if it takes a hundred years it is worth trying to bring ethics back to marketing.
8
Ethical Responsibility to the Environment
Facts of Day: Ø Did you know more people are killed by air
pollution than by traffic crashes Ø The earth has become warmer today than at any
time in the past 125,000 years Ø Approximately 1.1 billion people worldwide lack
access to improved water sources Ø Some 1.7 million deaths a year worldwide are
attributed to unsafe water Lets Make a Change: Knowing these gruesome facts about what global warming is doing to humanity and our planet it is our responsibility as the future of American corporations to help our environment. I believe that ethics is not just limited to how you treat others and approach ethical dilemmas but how you treat the environment. Our environment is our home we need to have responsibilities and to always choose to act ethically when doing business so our actions do not rikashay back to the planet. Being at Woodbury University, I have learned a great amount on the importance of green marketing and the positive outcome. As a future marketer I want to work with green marketing campaigns to help market green products and services that will reduce the use of items that have a negative impact on your environment. It is not only the responsibility of consumers but also the responsibility of large corporations to reduce their carbon footprint so that we maintain our planet and reduce the deaths due to air and water pollutants. I want to dedicate myself and the way I approach business by keeping in mind my ethical responsibility to our home, Earth.
9
Ethical Leaders Worth Following
Stella McCartney & Richard Branson: Being a fashion-‐marketing student, I closely followed two individuals one in the world of business and the other in the world of fashion. The reason why I chose to closely follow the way they approached their careers was because of the ethical way they went about doing things. They lead in an ethical manner that affects the greater good. To these individuals ethics makes a bigger splash then profit. Understanding their mind set and following their business ventures has helped me open my eyes to an ethical way of operating in the world of business. Each one of these individuals has taught me an important lesson in business ethics that I will forever use to help guide my decisions in the future. They are they reason why I can use the word “business” and “ethics” together.
Stella McCartney: Fashion Designer § Ecologically Inclined Fashion Designer § Gives Environmental Tips § Gives Facts about her animal free
production process to educate her fans § Heavily involved in green marketing
“If you try to create something people enjoy, and it happens to be made in a responsible way, then that's when you can really strike an incredible balance” - Stella McCartney
Richard Branson: Entrepreneur § Believes doing the right thing comes
before making profit § Is trying to cut emissions from
airplanes § Educate others about global warming
and its negative affects and what we can do to benefit our planet
§ Believes we can bring ethics back to business “The most important quality acquired by a good
leader, is having a personality of caring about people” -‐Richard Branson 10