BAA310 Managerial Social Responsibility Assignment Sample
Here’s the best sample of BAA310 Managerial Social Responsibility Assignment, written by the expert.
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS: McKinstry Advertising Agency
Section 1
Answer 1
Firm’s Viability: The very first relevant fact of the company is that it serves a very specific market, and the loss of a client as big as the larger client could hurt its reputation in the long run. It does not yet have very large or experienced clients that are adept at managing marketing strategies for consumers. So, in turn the company has managed to mould its organisational structure into a very personalised experience for their clients whereby providing direct contact with individual employees to better influence the confidence and trust of the client in them. Switching to clientele with significantly higher market value without considering the ethical restraints that they might put, are the ethical dilemma they might create within the company environment could be a big miscalculation in terms of business management.
Client’s needs: In doing so the client has vehemently insisted on a particular employee for the work. But, the employee has expressed her lack of interest in doing the project based on her moral opinion of the product as being unsafe for the masses, to her superior the Account Executive.
The legality of the product to be advertised: The legal status of the product itself is in a quandary. The sale of the product is although legal, the use of it is not. Moreover, similar products have been linked to causing road accidents, however very strenuously.
Account Executive’s point of view: On hearing her moral objections to working for this specific client, for this specific product, the Account Executive has made it clear to the employee that the company strives to maintain a inter-personal relation with its clients, and she being an employee must either serve the clients to the best of her ability or quit her job. Account Executive stands by his adherence to the company policy and poses a ultimatum for the President of either to retain him or the ‘employee’.
Employee’s point of view: The employee does not wish to be forced to quit the company because of their moral standings. She has been performing well for the company and releasing her from her employment could be ethically problematic and also legally liable. Further some relation has been found between the use of this product and road accidents, correlation between the two is extremely strenuous. Further, the product is in a legally questionable territory.
Overall position: Account Executive is only one of three Account Executives that the company has so losing him could be harmful. Losing him also does not solve any problems. Losing the employee could be morally and legally problematic. And either one of them would result in a loss of client. So, the main fact of the case is to study the one or the other option of letting a productive employee go or letting an important Account Executive go. In either case the client relation is affected.
Answer 2:
The decision maker in this case is the President of the company. He had to accommodate four separate demands from four separate parties involved. First of all he had to accommodate the desires and demands of the client. The client in this case is a bigger company than they usually deal with. To manage the implications of that with that of the company motto of “personalised relationship experiences” is one of the problems that he is facing. The client has already made their preferences known regarding the person they wish to associate with based on the previous work that the person had done and being a bigger client feels they deserve the convenience of choosing that on their own. Although some relation has been found between the use of their product and road accidents, correlation between the two is extremely strenuous. Further, the product is in a legally questionable territory.
The second demand that he has to meet is that of the employee in question. The employee has moral qualms regarding the product that they have to advertise. According to her, the product and its kin are responsible for increase in the number of road accidents. Although some relation has been found between the use of this product and road accidents, correlation between the two is extremely strenuous. Further, the product is in a legally questionable territory. The use of this product is illegal in some states but the sale of it is not federally prohibited. The legal status of the product itself is in a quandary. The sale of the product is although legal, the use of it is not. Moreover, similar products have been linked to causing road accidents, however very strenuously This brings the moral pointer away from the product and more on the moral prerogative of the employee in question.
The third demand that he has to contend with is that of the Account Executive in question. Account Executive stands by his adherence to the company policy and poses a ultimatum for the President of either to retain him or the ‘employee’.
The account executive has a substantial client base which the company could lose with his leaving. Based on that, his point of view that the employee, no matter her personal moral reasons, has to help the client by doing her job without question poses moral dilemma for the president. On top of that his ultimatum of either letting go of the employee or himself poses a serious moral dilemma for the president.
The fourth demand that he has to contend with is his own. His aim as the president of the company has to be to ensure profitability and growth of the company. Adhering to the company’s aim of personalised assistance should be his primary focus. But, forcing an employee to work against her will is also not a conducive business practice. Firing her for following her moral code could also be ethically questionable. On the other hand he also cannot afford to lose one of the only three Accounts executives that he has. Balancing the ethical conundrums of this three party dilemma is another one of the demands of the situation that he has to asses.
Answer 3
The initial ethical dilemma faced by the decision maker in this case is that of the product itself. The moral justification first needs to be drawn to decide whether the product itself is morally justifiable. This will in turn affect the judgment as to whether association with the marketing with the said product is ethically correct. The product is an alternative to radar detectors. The need for the product arose as law enforcement officers changed from radars to laser guided technology for determining speed of moving vehicles. The dilemma arises from the fact that radar detectors have been causally linked to several accidents in the past. following which there is used in several states of The United States of America has been prohibited. But no federal regulations to restrict their sales have been forthcoming. This makes the use of Radar detectors illegal but the sale of Radar detectors is legal. Although laser guided system is an alternative to the radar detectors, it is not an alternative in the right ways. The use of this technology is still illegal. The legal status of the product itself is in a quandary. The sale of the product is although legal, the use of it is not. Moreover, similar products have been linked to causing road accidents, however very strenuously. This causes and ethical for the decision maker in this case whether to associate its company with the said product. However he also has to balance this ethical which is moral obligation towards the growth and profitability of his company.
Answer 4
Utilitarian: Utilitarian approach to a situation takes note of the action office outcomes or consequences. What that means is the total benefits the total costs to all the involved parties are taken into consideration. The main aim of this approach is to try and achieve the most quantifiable amount of good that can be done for the greatest number of people and at the same time striving to create the least amount of harm.
In this case, decisions need to be taken keeping in mind the plans that are in place for the growth of the company and the importance of the client in helping to achieve that. Also, in the process we also need to make sure that the employee in question and the account executive are not morally suppressed in their effort to perform the duties in conjunction with their personal moral believes and the company is good in mind.
Kantian approach: Kantian ethics refers to the ethical theory which states that for an action to be ethical responsible it must be uniformly applicable to all people without any significant contradictions occurring. Application of this theory to the decision making process, the president of the company needs to ascertain whether the growth of the company is the absolute moral duty to him or whether the ethical responsibility of the company as a whole is the absolute moral duty. Based on that he needs to take broad sweeping decisions that pose no ethical contradictions within itself.
Rights: The rights approach for ethical decision making focuses on respect of human dignity more than material approximations. In this case the ethical dilemma could be solved based on this approach by treating all the involved entities as individual people and then deciding whether the dignity of the employee is more hurt because of having to associate with product that she morally cannot get behind or whether the dignity of the Accounts Executive is more damaged by the refusal o his subordinate within the company to assist a client by simply doing the job that she was hired to do.
Distributive justice: Distributive justice cannot be achieved in this case as the perceived goals and rewards for each of the parties involved is in contradiction to each other. The uniformity of the objectives among the members of the company does not preclude the fact that their ethical quandaries are on different path. So adequately, forming a reward pattern that seems similarly justifiable for all parties involved is not just difficult but also not favourable in this situation.
Answer 5
The final recommendation that I would have made to the decision maker would be threefold. First of all decide not to associate with the product that has a significant moral dysfunction. That could in effect created moral dissolution of moral ethics in the company itself. Switching to clientele with significantly higher market value without considering the ethical restraints that they might put, are the ethical dilemma they might create within the company environment could be a big miscalculation in terms of business management. So the first step that I would suggest would be breaking up of ties with the said company.
The next step would be reconciling with the accounts executive. This would include discussing with him the implications of handing over ultimatums of quitting the job in response to moral conundrums face by employees working under him. I would also discuss improving managerial skills of the accounts executive in terms of managing not just the client but also the employees under him.
Third I would ask the president of the company to discuss with the employee her moral conundrums. Having first decided to cut ties with the product and informing her of the same, attempts need to be made to come to common ground with her.
Section 2
Answer 7
Marketing ethics are concerns that are applied to marketing decision making for ethical considerations. They can be considered as moral judgments or behaviour standards in the marketing environment. Below are detailed descriptions and definitions of the application of ethics in the various elements of marketing mix i.e. Price, Product, Place and Promotion.
Product and its Ethical considerations: Ethical problems that are faced in the planning and application of the product life are considered under this purview. For example, there is an ethical need to analyse the ethical restraints in developing or mass producing a product at its conception. The environmental impact of the production process and the psychological impact of the product on the consumers are some of the major ethical considerations that need to be made while considering the product. Other considerations like the appropriate labelling of the products to include possible side effects, intended age of use, etc. all fall under the ethical considerations regarding a product itself.
Price and its Ethical considerations: Pricing and the ethical consideration regarding it is one of most difficult aspects of the marketing mix. To balance the margin of profit, with the need for the product and its intended use is a very difficult but necessary part of the process. The intended use and its necessity in the market place have to be taken into consideration, along with the availability of alternatives. More over the need has to be juxtaposed with the affordability of the product pricing so as not to alienate the needy from the product just by value of its pricing, while also considering the sustainability of the business at the same time.
Place and its Ethical Considerations: Ethical issues regarding the sustainability of the supply chain, retailing decisions, channel management and consumer service fall under this purview. Sustainability of the supply chain might include things like product quality, their production methodology, and related associations among others. In case of services industries ethical considerations of factors like privacy, confidentiality and intrusion also fall under this topic.
Promotion and its Ethical Considerations: This is one of the other major sectors where ethical considerations regarding the marketing strategy, the intended audience of the marketing and the additional effect of the marketing on society in general are considered. Mostly advertising and personal selling are considered in this part of the consideration but it has the most ethically relevant part of the process along with product design.
Regarding the strategies that a manager could employ in the pursuit of having no ethical issues are three fold. First of all, he has to make sure that there is a clear ethical standard maintained in the work environment of the company, and thus streamlining the work process to discourage unethical product initiations. This will also help in ensure that products that are ethically unsure, are killed in the pre-design process. Next, ensuring that the product design and its manufacturing process is ethically consistent with the internal policies of the company. A no compromise policy regarding breach of internal ethical consistency needs to be employed. Finally, the marketing phase and employment of marketing strategies need to be ethically sound. Encouraging a culture of through research and investigation into the various potential marketing strategies is crucial in this regard. These would be the main strategies that I would recommend to a manager in this case. As maintaining internal consistencies would without doubt help in the overall earnestness of both the product and its marketing, thus helping to avoid those ethical issues.
Answer 8
“Conflict of interest” can be, simply put, any situation that causes competing interest or loyalties in any entity be it individual or organisational. Any person/entity that for some reason is employed in two competing work forces represents a conflict. A conflict of interest, although, does not necessarily mean that impropriety has occurred, can be identified prior to the case and rectified and necessary parties removed from the process to avoid conflict of interest. Inter-Personal Conflicts of Interest: This could capture conflicts from a wide range of cases. Intimate relationships between an employee and his/her immediate supervisor is a concrete example of inter-personal Conflicts of Interest. In this case the personal relationship among the two employees would create a conflict of interest for the supervisor in deciding between professional decision making and personal relationship maintaining. Personal Conflicts of Interest: This captures the conflicts that arise because of the personal interest colliding with the professional duties. For example, a public servant working for the public works division who has to the duty to evaluate the pricing of real estate for a region that he stays in. This would create conflicts of interest between his professional duties and his personal aspirations. Ethical conflicts of interest: This considers any ethical conflicts that might arise in the performing of duties for an organisation that clash with the ethical requirements of a situation. For example, a HR director that has been tasked to investigate sexual harassment case against his/her own colleague that they have known for quite some time. This would create a conflict of interest for the HR director as the ethics of the situation require an objective un-biased investigation which clearly he is not capable of in this case. Direct conflicts of interest: Examples of that include when a member of one organisation’s board of director accepts fees as payment from a competing company and acts as an advisory to the said competitor.
A manager can employ stringent policies and clearly mention them to the employees at the time of joining. This would help them in eradicating conflicts of interest. This would encourage employees and even incentivise them to remain aware of the possible situations that might arise and how to avoid them or recues themselves if the need arises. To avoid the conflicts of interest, they can also employ decent HRM strategies to inform employees regarding the various types of conflicts and educate them on how to deal with or avoid them. Incentivising such decisions on part of the employees would also help a lot. These are few of the strategies that a manager can employ in trying to avoid conflicts of interest.
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