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1.         Do you feel ethical guidelines make a difference to marketers?

According to the code of ethics of the American Marketing Association, “marketers must accept responsibility for the consequences of their activities and make every effort to ensure that their decisions, recommendations and actions function to identify, serve and satisfy all relevant publics: customers, organizations and society” (Code of Ethics, n.d.). In my opinion, ethical guidelines should make a difference to marketers, as this will avoid marketers from doing harm to people, organizations, and society. Imagine buying a shaving razor that marketers market as “… so razor sharp you only need one blade”. But it turns out that the blade of the razor is so dull that people begin to press the razor against their skin and it cuts into the skin of a few customers. As it can be seen, it seems unethical for marketers to lie to consumers about the actual product and what it does. This can cause the organization great financial harm that may lead to bankruptcy and closing of the company. Overall, marketing ethical guidelines ensures the public their safety and health.

2.         How can companies balance the need to win with being ethical?

            Great question! I think that a great code of ethics, culture and organizational values can lead the way to ethical decision-making that will result in the organization’s financial well being. It’s important for the organization to remain proactive about ethics and ensure that its employees have a sense or ethical mind set when making decisions. In my opinion, if employees have an understanding of ethics and professionalism, there shouldn’t be a problem or issue when making decisions ethically. As Michelle Ong explains “Being ethical pays both in long-term sustainable profits and as a cost-cutting measure. Using the concept of ethical business as a strategy can thus be advantageous as business decisions are made based on balance sheets and through cost-benefit analysis” (Ong, 2014). In other words, an organization that follows ethical standards can be profitable. I would even argue that as business history has shown us, organizations that follow or fall on the trap of unethical practices/standards loose profit and eventually go out of business. So being ethical has its benefits and advantages.

3.         Is it ethical to track your buying habits or web visits to target you for marketing purposes?

            From my understanding of website tracking and buying habits, I find it that organizations who track consumer spending habits on their own website is helpful and not unethical as it will help them understand and know what you are looking for, what you look at, what you desire/want, etc. However, I find it unethical for tracker websites who track our spending and website visiting habits, 3^rd party trackers, to sell our information to other organizations. A plausible slippery slope argument may even be that companies like these sell our privacy to unknown companies. Therefore, understanding that organizations need spending habits and web visiting information in order to remain competitive and profitable, organizations should give consumers the option to have their habits tracked and the information sold. I know that I don’t want my information sold to anyone but everyone is entitled to his or her own opinions and views. In other words, it depends on the ethic and moral principles of the person.

As a side note: “The Wall Street Journal's What They Know series documents the new, cutting-edge uses of this Internet-tracking technology. The Journal analyzed the tracking files installed on people's computers by the 50 most popular U.S. websites” (Wall Street Journal, n.d.). This information can be viewed in the following link: http://blogs.wsj.com/wtk/ This information can help paint a picture of which websites use the tracking technology to track consumer habits to gain information on the targeted audience. It also helps us see which websites expose our habits to unknown organizations.

4.         As a leader, how will you manage the ethical aspects of your marketing efforts?

           

            As a leader I would make sure that the marketers are following the ethical guidelines/standards of the American Marketing Association. I would also make sure that all employees are following the code of ethics and organizational values of the organization we are working for. This will help everyone have a moral compass or guideline in which to base their decisions on when conflicting principles arise. Lastly, I would make a habit of each quarter reviewing or assessing the ethical practices of the organization. During such meetings we may review the code of ethics of the organization as a reminder of the rules we must abide by.

Reference:

Code of Ethics. (n.d.). College of Business Administration| California State University, Long Beach. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://www.csulb.edu/colleges/cba/marketing/code-of-ethics/

Ong, M. (2014). Ethical business: profit-making strategy or moral obligation?. Hijacked. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://hijacked.com.au/ethical-business-profit-making-strategy-or-moral-obligation

Wall Street Journal. (n.d.). What They Know - WSJ. What They Know RSS. Retrieved July 2, 2014, from http://blogs.wsj.com/wtk/

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Using Chapter 5 and 6 of The Practice of Ethics (LaFollette, 2007) as the foundation for determining if affirmative action is ethical or unethical, it is my standpoint and opinion that affirmative action is ethical. LaFollette describes affirmative action as “the practice of giving special consideration to minorities and women in hiring and school placement” (LaFollette, 2007). It is my understanding from USlegal.com that affirmative action is only mandatory in the public sector such as jobs with the city or federal employment, but the private sector has the option of voluntarily adopting the policy (Affirmative Action Law & Legal Definition, n.d.).

Reflecting on the definition and information above, it is my opinion that at the moment when the country was suffering of racism in the employment sector, the government did make the correct action of implementing such policy. The implementation of affirmative action did ultimately open the doors to equal employment and school placement opportunities to women and minorities who prior to the implementation of such policy suffered of unequal and unfair practices and opportunities of employment. In other words, the government tried to make amends for the years of unfair treatment by giving women and minorities the opportunity to excel in society. According to Bill Shaw, “Affirmative action, although not the ‘perfect solution,’ is by far the most viable method of redressing the effects of past discrimination” (Shaw, 1988).

There are many other arguments for and against affirmative action. The first argument for affirmative action is mentioned above, the equal opportunity of employment and school placement to women and minorities. With this argument it can be said that the equal opportunity of employment can help those affected by racism increase their self-esteem causing them to believe in themselves more. This can have many other emotional effects that help those affected overcome the many years of slavery and unfair treatment. Another argument for affirmative action is that it gives those groups affected by slavery and unfair treatment the opportunity to have the same educational and economical benefits that for many years white families benefited from.

Arguments against affirmative action have been made in the basis of reverse racism. Some students in the discussion board of this week mentioned that it is an unfair burden to continue implementing affirmative action when they have not engaged in any racist or unfair treatment against other races. With this argument the possible solution would be for all employers to withdraw the question of race from applications. In other words, prospective new employees will only qualify for the employment based on their merits, achievements, experience, and education. Others argue that it is unfair and even racist to continue giving an unfair advantage to minority races when it has been years since any slavery or racists acts have been done. Meaning, the new generations should not have to suffer for the mistakes of their past ancestors. Estergall argues that “not all minority companies that are hired are qualified to do the work; they are there simply there to fill a quota” (Estergall, 2000).

Overall, everyone has his or her own personal and societal opinions of affirmative action. It is our duty to educate ourselves on these issues in order to come up with ethical solutions, actions, or opinions of the affirmative action policy. After reading the chapter and articles on affirmative action, I have to say that I do think it is unfair for the new generation to continue paying for past mistakes. However, until the government or society creates a different method of making sure that everyone is gains a fair, ethical treatment and opportunities for employment and education, the affirmative action should stay in place. As Shaw mentioned it, affirmative action is not perfect but it has helped the minority gain a fair opportunity that others have had for many years (Shaw, 1988).

Reference:

Affirmative Action Law & Legal Definition. (n.d.). Affirmative Action Law & Legal Definition. Retrieved June 27, 2014, from http://definitions.uslegal.com/a/affirmative-action/

Estergall, G. (2000). Affirmative Action is Reverse Racism. The Plain dealer (Cleveland, Ohio: 1961), 8.B.

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishing

Shaw, B. (1988). Affirmative action: An ethical evaluation. Journal of Business Ethics, 7(10), 763. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/198015382?accountid=27203

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After reading the article “The harder they fall” by Roderick Kramer, I realized there are many times in our lives where we experience a similar situation to those mentioned in this article. We may have not experienced the same situations first hand, but we do experience them through friends, coworkers, and family members. Taking the concepts of this article as a baseline to dilemmas that happen in society, work, and in my personal life, I have realized that I have experienced these dilemmas through family members and neighbors.

Growing up I was very close to my cousins, especially those around the same age as me. I had one particular cousin who was two years older than me and lived down the block from my house. Eventually, she left for college, found her soul mate and got married. Throughout all those years we stayed in touch and she visited the family every holiday and summer break.

Three years after she got married, she began to be obsessed about her weight and her looks. So she got herself a trainer, joined the gym, and began losing the weight she had gained in college and in her marriage. As soon as people began to notice her new look, she began spending more time with the people that gave her looks attention, and less time with the family. Every day for the past year or so, she has been taking pictures of herself in the gym and out with her new friends. I tried calling her and reaching out to her but she continues to tell me she is busy. Her commitment to her new looks has now caused her-her marriage and as a family, we no longer see her unless it’s through an Instagram or Facebook picture.

Another time that I have experienced this situation was with a neighbor I was growing up with. My neighbor’s family at the time won the second prize of the state lotto. With the money they had won, they put their only daughter in a private school and bought a bigger new house. On her 16^th birthday, her parents threw her a big, lavish birthday party, which I uncomfortably attended. A year later, she began to call me the same thing her new friends were calling me; poor, gold-digger, and so on even though I have never asked her for any money or gifts. This was when I realized that we were no longer friends.

In the article, Kramer tells us “to the individual with a winner-wants-all mind set, such sacrifices are the price of admission to the top” (Kramer, 2003). In my personal life example, my cousin lost sight of what is important to us, family. Ever since we can remember, we have always known that we should always be close to family. Family has and will always be a priority to me. She sacrificed her family and her marriage just to remain in-shape with her new looks and to be with her new friends. In the example of my neighbor, even though we were young, I feel as if she traded our friendship for friends who represented her new monetary and more lavishing lifestyle. I know that we all make mistakes and at one point or another, we all lose sight of what is important. But, until the people who made these mistakes realize what they have done, nothing will change until they fall down to the ground on their own.

Reference:

Kramer, R. M. (2003). The Harder They Fall. (Cover story). Harvard Business Review, 81(10), 58-66.

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On Chapter 2 of “The Practice of Ethics”, LaFollette gives us a tale of two theories, consequentialism and deontology. These two styles of reasoning of ethical theory are shaped by the most current knowledge and understanding of ethics. Consequentialism deals with the consequences of our actions while deontology deals with the rules or principles we should follow independently of consequences (LaFollette, 2007).

Consequentialism is about choosing the best option available in terms of the consequences of the actions or options available. In other words, out of the options available, people will choose an action depending on the best consequences of that action. When choosing such action or option, consequentialist will take into consideration which option will do the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. This forces consequentialists to take into account the interest of all of those affected or will be affected by the action or option. According to the author of the text, any adequate consequentialist theory must specify: which consequences are morally relevant, how much weight we should give them, and how we should use them in moral reasoning (LaFollette, 2007).

In the utilitarianism view, the only consequence that should be considered when choosing an action is happiness. Therefore, the best action will always be the one that promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. A good example of this would be a brief review of last week’s problem, the “train dilemma”. The scenarios of this problem dealt with the power and stand in ethical decision-making scenarios. When I first dealt with this problem, I used the theory of consequentialist without realizing it. The problem consisted of 5 kids playing on the main train track, one kid playing on the sidetrack, and the moral choice of throwing or not throwing the switch.

In the first scenario, I chose to throw the switch so the train would end up in the sidetrack in order to save the greatest number of kids. In the second scenario, I had the option of throwing an elderly man into the tracks to stop the train and save all the kids. As I am a believer of not taking an innocent life, I chose not to throw the elderly man into the tracks but to still throw the switch for the train to go into the sidetrack. My reason behind throwing the switch is because it would be easier for me to save one child than it would be to save 5 kids. By only having to save one child, the lives of the other 5 kids will be spared and it would be easier for me to get the attention or move only one child from the tracks of the train. In both scenarios I would do my best to save everyone and I believe that by throwing the switch I can still save the life of the child in danger.

Unfortunately, in the third scenario, the one child in the sidetrack is my child. After reflecting on the consequences, the options available, and the weigh each consequence has, I chose not to throw the switch, as the issue is now more personal because it involves losing my child. Even if the moral compass of a consequentialist were to say that the best option and the greatest happiness would come from throwing the switch to save the 5 kids, I would not do it. It is the life of my child and as a woman; it is my duty and instinct to save my kid. Therefore, the theory of consequentialism can only get me so far. It can help me make decisions when it does not involve life or death situations with a loved one. The moment the problem or options become personal, there is no rational thinking of saving the greatest number of kids because I would chose family before anyone else.

The second style of reasoning is the deontology theory. According to LaFollette, deontology states that we should act in ways circumscribed by moral rules or rights, and that these rules or rights are at least partly independent of consequences (LaFollette, 2007). In other words, instead of making decisions based on the consequences of the action or options available, we make decisions by our rights and obligations in ethics. Consequences are only a small part of the decisions, as the decisions should be based on doing what is right as defined by the rules. Following the deontology theory, it tells us that we have the necessary knowledge and understanding to know what are the right things to do. Therefore, in any given situation you should follow and do what the rules (or laws) tell you to do.

After reflecting on the information above, it is now more apparent to me that the choice I made in the third scenario was following the deontology theory. Following my instincts, knowledge, and understanding of ethics to do the right thing, I will be able to save my child. I do understand that it is wrong to put others in harms way and I know I wont be able to live with myself if the kids die but, the love of a mother wouldn’t allow me to take such a risk. The 5 kids are sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters of other people so I would still try to save them all even if it means that I will die. Overall, I believe that life and theories will have a lot of gray areas in which only your knowledge, understanding, moral, and principles will be able to guide you to make the right decision.

Reference:

LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publication