Values Affecting Business Behavior

Evaluate ethics in your career as a business professional in the following scenario:

You have just started out as a junior executive in the purchasing department of your organization. Your boss has spent fifteen years in this department. One day while you are in a meeting with your boss and a potential vendor, you see your boss accepting a large yellow envelope and tucking it quickly into his pocket. This concerns you because you suspect the vendor is a member of a local gang. You have heard that the person has a criminal record and has a history of bribing local businesses to gain accounts. However, due to a lack of evidence, the person has never been charged. You ask your boss about the individual, and he tells you not to worry about it. You wonder whether you should report the incident to human resources or your organization’s legal department or not.

Later, as you continue to question your boss about “the envelope,” your boss finally responds and says it has been a long-established tradition for local vendors to donate to the purchasing organization’s favorite charity, and in return, the organization gives special consideration to the vendor in making purchasing decisions.

Based on the given scenario, address the following, supporting your perspectives with scholarly research:

• What choices did you have prior to hearing your boss’s explanation of the envelope? What would you have done and why?
• Given what the boss later responded about the envelope, how did that explanation impact your thoughts, choices, and actions on the matter?
• Explain whether the choices you would have exercised were based on internalized or externalized behaviors and values.
• Which ethical beliefs would support reporting or not reporting your boss?
• Can ethics be taught? What role does on-the-job training play?

While responding to your peers, consider where your choices were similar and where they differed and why. Discuss the reasoning behind the paths taken.

Week 2 BUS3001

To support your work, use your course and text readings and the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your peers as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your peers’ initial postings. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Cite sources in your responses to other peers. Complete your participation for this assignment by the end of the week.

Ethics and Moral Development

Reflect upon ethical dilemmas you may have encountered in an organization you are or have been with or that is currently in the news. Also, familiarize yourself with Kohlberg’s stages of moral development.

For your initial post, address the following, supporting your perspectives with scholarly research:

• Summarize the ethical dilemma you encountered in your organization.
• Which of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development is represented in your example? Be sure to justify your reasoning for your choice. Do you think that one of the other theories of moral development better describes your example? Why?
• Postulate the (hypothetical or real) best- and worst-case outcomes of this dilemma as you see them.

Then begin reading the posts provided by your peers. You will be expected to respond to the initial posts of at least two of your peers. In your response, be sure to discuss the following items:

• Do you agree with their selection of Kohlberg’s stages of moral development for their examples? Why or why not?
• Do you find that another of the theories of moral development would better describe their examples? Why or why not?
• Discuss what you believe was the impact of the ethical decision that was made.

Week 3 BUS3001

To support your work, use your course and text readings and the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your peers as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your peers’ initial postings. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Cite sources in your responses to other peers. Complete your participation for this assignment by the end of the week.

Should America Fire Ronald McDonald?

There are ethical issues and potential ramifications to consider in marketing, when unhealthy products (or those that would be unhealthy when consumed in excess) are sold. Examples could include some of the advertising used for sodas and sugary drinks, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, and high-calorie “junk food.” A particularly sensitive topic is the issue of marketing to children. Think about how perceptions of “healthy,” what business practices are socially acceptable, and where responsibilities lie have changed over time.

Several articles on this subject have been identified for you in the South University Online Library and are listed below. Review those and conduct your own research on this topic. Then respond to the following:

• Ronald McDonald has been a staple in advertising McDonald’s fast food restaurants since the 1960s. What ethical issues do you see in using Ronald McDonald or McDonald’s new mascot, Happy, to market to children?
• Is it ethical to use either Ronald or Happy in McDonald’s charitable efforts? What issues concern you?
• Should McDonald’s and other food sellers do more to make their menus healthy?
• What changes do you think should be made to try and resolve some of these issues, and how would you go about implementing them?

Be sure to cite appropriately from your reading/research in your post and responses. As you respond to your peers, debate the resolution of ethical dilemmas based upon your reading, research, and experience; consider the issues from multiple perspectives and the problems that can arise when trying to resolve these issues.

You may use these references as you begin researching this assignment:

• Bakir, A., & Vitell, S. J. (2010). The ethics of food advertising targeted toward children: Parental viewpoint. Journal of Business Ethics, 91(2), 299–311. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0084- 2
• Beaubien, G. (2011). Ronald McDonald’s role reduced in image revamp. Public Relations Strategist, 17(1), 27.
• Hansen, D. (2006, June 5). Ronald McDonald fronts 2010 Olympic fitness pitch. The Vancouver Sun.
• McDonald’s gives Ronald makeover for healthier image. (2005, June 10). Kamloops Daily News.
• McDonald’s introduces new mission and image for Ronald McDonald. (2014). Food and Beverage Close-Up.

WEEK 1 MIS3101

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two classmates with regard to whether you agree or disagree with their views.

New Ways to use Web-based Applications

As technology grows, so does its uses. Companies are finding ways to let their employees manage various parts of their job without needing a full-time employee. One way this is done is with web-based self-service applications.

Discuss new ways for employees to use Web-based self-service applications in their companies that will help save time and money. Describe not only the applications and how they work, but how they can save the company money and time. Be sure to include disadvantages to the process from the point of view of the employee.

WEEK 2 MIS3101

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two classmates with regard to whether you agree or disagree with their views.

Convicting a Criminal

There are no new crimes. But today, criminals are using computers more to help them commit crimes. Most criminals, however, don’t know that the computer can contain evidence that can be used against them.

Put on your computer forensics hat and use your imagination to discuss various ways of convicting a criminal based on computer usage evidence. Find at least one example from current news reports that illustrates computers being used in some way in a criminal investigation and post the link to that article in your response.

WEEK3 MIS3101

Justify your answers using examples and reasoning. Comment on the postings of at least two classmates with regard to whether you agree or disagree with their views.

Tradeoffs involved in using Network Computers

Over time, organizations have moved through different types of computers and networks. Each time a company changes, they do so because they believe they have the best system for their own needs. In today’s economy, this decision often comes down to using a networked computer or grid computing.

Discuss the various tradeoffs involved in using network computers (NCs) or grid computing as an organization standard. Describe how using your own computer at home or at work would be different if your computer was on a grid. Also, research distributed computing projects and include a link in your response to a public distributed computing research project.