American Business Ethics

Question 1

One major issue regarding gender at the workplace is sexual harassment. It is an illegal act that is mostly perpetrated by the victim’s employers. Fellow workmates and even clients also pose significant threats. It features as one of the most common complaints received by law enforcers because it falls under a criminal offense. A recent sadistic indicates that almost 20% of cases fell under the Sex Discrimination category, and 89% of them were directly linked to sex prejudice at the place of work (Eaton & Eaton 37). The latest advancements in technology brought about gadgets such as mobile phones, social networking sites, and email communication, which promoted new forms of sexual harassment. World leaders and leading feminists alike are consistently pushing for legislations to protect vulnerable persons, especially female workers. Past incidences indicate that those who suffered abuse reported low productivity because of post-traumatic effects. As such, it is a barrier to women who take part in employment under full term basis. For instance, women faced by abuse threats could suffer low self-esteem, and undermine their complete participation in businesses or organizations, lessen the standard of their work life, and incur additional costs on organizations.

Question 2

Between individual rights as stakeholders and ethical concerns of the society, the latter are more important than the former because of their far reaching positive impacts in solving chronic problems. Though citizens are major stakeholders to a country, their basic human rights represent conditions for their personal welfare and wellbeing. As such, selfish interests are likely to emanate in their pursuit. On the other hand, the pursuit of ethical standards in governing the practices and social relationships of members of the society could be likened to the establishment of collective rights of every individual involved (Everton 45). In other words, ethical standards represent the code of conduct that every person is expected to adhere to. In turn, they guarantee the comfort of every person. In some paradigms, individual rights are linked to economic and political freedom, whereas group rights reflect initiatives for social control. Consequently, a form of social order emanates when a centralized authority overseas a set of rules and regulations that govern its members, as well as protect the vulnerable lot from abuse by extremists.

Question 3

An individual’s rights represent what he or she expects from the state in terms of their social security and peaceful socialization. In other words, it is a moral rule that sanctions a person’s freedom of coexistence and action in whichever context.  The state is responsible for ensuring that every citizen’s right is safeguarded, especially the right to life. Secondly, a person’s obligations are those expectations that the state require them t o fulfill in order to contribute to its growth and development. Individuals owe their country a variety of obligations because of the benefits they derive. One major responsibility is that of taxation (Treviño & Nelson 190). It is an obligation to pay taxes to ones nation in order to finance the development and social services expenses extended by the government.

With respect to an individual being an agent within a state’s economic structure, fulfilling one’s obligations falls as the most critical tenet in the course of associating with one’s state. It is because obligations are more important in ensuring future survival as opposed to enjoying a person’s rights. While rights take away resources, obligations add them up in an economic structure.

Works Cited

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Eaton, Joseph W, and David J. Eaton. The American Title Insurance Industry: How a Cartel Fleeces the American Consumer. New York: New York University Press, 2007. Print.

Everton, Michael J. The Grand Chorus of Complaint: Authors and the Business Ethics of American Publishing. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Internet resource.

Treviño, Linda K, and Katherine A. Nelson. Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How to Do It Right. New York: John Wiley, 2011. Print.