Ethics in Business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics in Business - Research Paper Example One of the most important qualities a business leader must have to remain ethical is the ability to maintain divided and often contradictory loyalties. When thought about most basically, a business leader is often a middle person between two other groups who have mutually opposing desires: board members who would like maximization of profits, and employees who want to maximize their own value for work. If imagined in the utmost simplicity, shareholders would prefer that all work be done for free so long as the quality remains sufficient, and employees would all prefer that they get paid for nothing, and these are incompatible goals. One of the fundamental problems for a business leader is how to treat both of these groups ethically. Many business leaders have a fiduciary responsibility to stockholders to maximize their profits while also having an ethical, legal, and often business interest in keeping the workforce happy and healthy.There have been several suggested solutions to thes e problems, which would allow a business leader to think of these competing interests as part of the same goal. Amongst the most prominent of these is stakeholder theory. This theory essentially states that many of these conflicts can be dealt with theoretically by imagining everyone involved as being â€Å"stakeholders,† whose interests must be collectively guarded. Firstly, it can have a paralytic effect (Heath 2006), because it does not deal with the fact that individual stakeholders will still have competing goals.

Armstrong Gets Dumped by Shelly Banjo Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 27

Armstrong Gets Dumped by Shelly Banjo - Article Example This article gives the reader an insight into Armstrong’s doping scandal. It shows how this issue began, and its final implications, which leave Armstrong in a negative light. Most importantly, the US-Anti Doping Agency (USADA) declares Armstrong guilty of doping, based on a 200-page report with intensive details, which point to the fact that Armstrong ran a complex doping operation. It is decided that he is a drug cheat when he fails to defend himself against these allegations. What follows is the stripping off all his seven Tour de France wins. Different organizations he collaborated with deny him and promise to cut business relations with him. For example, Nike terminates his contract abruptly, while some cycling chiefs from International Cycling Union (UCI) require Armstrong to repay all the prize money from the stripped winnings from 1998-2005, and he resigns as the chairperson of Livestrong, his cancer foundation (â€Å"The Wall Street Journal†).  In this articl e, the author takes a neutral stand, as she neither supports nor condemns any of the parties involved in this whole issue. The author only reports on the facts as they are, and does not give a personal opinion on the overall issue. This is a commendable approach, essential in reporting, for bias avoidance.  Armstrong’s doping scandal raises many concerns in the cycling sport, as doping is mentioned as a trend among some cyclists. Nonetheless, doping, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency is illegal. One of the reasons is that it adversely affects the health of the involved athletes, and is considered cheating in sport (Porterfield, 2007).