Week 5 Discussion
This is a 2-part assignment
Write two initial reaction posts (one to each primary question prompt) each with a 100-word minimum. The post is listed below. Both initial reaction posts must be posted by Thursday.
Legal vs. Ethical
1. Is being legal more important than being ethical or vice versa? (100 words minimum)
Profit Motive?
2. What is the primary responsibility of a business? Explain. (100 words minimum)
A) Writing has to be Original/ use your own words
B) No less than 100 words each question
C) NO PLAGIARISM!!!!!
D) Answer the 2 questions within your discussion
Part 2:
Each question above will require a response to two other students initial reaction post (100-word minimum each). That means 2 student responses for the first question and 2 student response for the second question.
The two additional reaction posts (from 2 other students) will be added to this assignment on Thursday and response must be posted by Saturday.
PROFIT MOTIVE
David Eugene McCroskey
The primary responsibility of a (for profit) business is to take care of the shareholders and stakeholders. The primary reason to start a business is to successfully generate revenue and make money. While it is important to be ethical and take care of stakeholders, if a company is not generating revenue and keeping their shareholders best interest in mind, it will eventually go under. This does not mean that the community should not be overlooked though, because social responsibility also plays a important role as well and a fine tuned strategy should allow a business to balance both to meet shareholders expectations, while still actively engaging with their communities in a positive matter.
Gaston Aguilera
I believe that the primary responsibility of a business is to be able to have profits, otherwise, it would not be worth it and it will lose huge amounts of money. Having said this, I kind of relate it with the previous post of being ethical, given that if a business is doing the right things for its employees, customers, and even for the economy of the country without being unethical it is more likely to grow and be successful in the industry and maximise its profits which is the main objective of almost every company.
Nowadays, many companies around the world are trying to be environmental friendly and try not to harm the planet while producing its products or service. Since more and more people are getting involved into helping and taking care the environment, companies are likely to gain more followers and customers if they are helping the environment.
Legal v Ethical
Tessa Lynn Jackson
I personally feel being ethical is more important than being legal. Ethics gives us guides on what is the right thing to do in all parts of life, while the law usually puts forth more explicit guidelines with the goal that social order and their foundations can be kept up or maintained. Ethics connects with our sentiments, including disturb and guilt. The law does not instruct us comparable to a large number of the difficulties and choices we need to make throughout everyday life. Even though most people feel complying with the law is a significant reason for good examples throughout life, we contemplate different qualities, for example altruism and compassion as more significant in characterizing somebody as a decent individual.
Paul Wesley Otto
While I believe it is of the upmost importance for a business to be ethical, I believe at the end of the day it is more important that a business be legal in all of it’s business dealings as a bare minimum. Can a business be ethical while practicing illegal activity? I would say no, due to the fact that’s it’s breaking established laws. I also believe a business can be legal while at the same time being called into question it’s ethical business practices. In my opinion, a company cannot run a successful social responsibility or environmental sustainability strategy while conducting illegal activity.
Drug testing as a requirement for employment:
For many businesses, drug testing is a mandatory requirement for employment. For some businesses, there is an initial drug screening; for others, there are periodic tests to maintain employment. As more and more states legalize marijuana (for both medicinal and recreational uses), drug testing as a condition of employment is being re-evaluated by many businesses.
Select Recommended Search Terms:
mandatory drug testing in the workplace; drug testing in the workplace articles; disadvantages of drug testing in the workplace; benefits of drug testing in the workplace
Pre-Reading Questions:
1. What do I currently know about this topic?
2. Is this topic important to me, the people I know, and/or the larger business and social communities? Why?
3. What additional information about this topic would be helpful?
4. What are the business implications of this topic?
Selected Links:
2020. STATE-BY-STATE WORKPLACE DRUG TESTING LAWS. American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/other/state-state-workplace-drug-testing-laws
Windham-Bradstock, C. 2019. Navigating Workplace Drug Testing Has Never Been More Challenging — Or More Critical. Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2019/02/20/navigating-workplace-drug-testing-has-never-been-more-challenging-or-more-critical/#370e11091dd7
Reidy, J. & Hewick, D. 2018. Are Employer Drug-Testing Programs Obsolete?
Two experts debate the issue. SHRM
https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/0618/pages/are-employer-drug-testing-programs-obsolete.aspx
Hansen, C. 2019. Positive Workplace Drug Tests Hit 14-Year High, Driven by Marijuana Use. U.S. News & World Report https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2019-04-11/positive-workplace-drug-tests-hit-14-year-high-driven-by-marijuana-use
Gluck, S. Employee Drug Testing Pros and Cons. Small Business Chronicle
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/employee-drug-testing-pros-cons-1276.html
Adapted Deliberative Dialogue Process modeled after the Kettering Foundations Framing Issues for Public Deliberation
a) Identifying Issues
(i) What are the main issues driven by this topic?
(ii) How are these issues relevant to interested stakeholders?
(iii) How are these issues important to the larger business community?
(iv) How are these issues important to society in general?
(v) Is there a dominant issue to be resolved?
b) Discussing Concerns
(i) What are the underlying concerns associated with these issues?
(ii) What concerns are most important to you, your colleagues, and the larger communities?
(iii) How are your concerns, the concerns of stakeholders, and the concerns of the larger community related?
(iv) Whose concerns have not been addressed? What are those concerns?
c) Exploring Solutions
(i) What are possible solutions to these issues?
(ii) Are these solutions related or unique?
(iii) Which stakeholder groups would these solutions appeal to?
(iv) Do these solutions address the underlying concerns?
(v) Does a particular solution standout?
d) Selecting a Solution
(i) What are the potential financial consequences of this solution?
(ii) What are the potential environmental consequences of this solution?
(iii) What are the potential social consequences of this solution?
(iv) What stakeholder groups will benefit from this solution? Which ones will be negatively affected?
(v) What compromises will be necessary for this solution to be successful?
e) Enacting the Solution
(i) What is an appropriate timeline for enacting this solution?
(ii) What are the tangible steps necessary to enact this solution?
(iii) What potential business/organizational practices and/or policies will be necessary to enact this solution?
Post-Deliberation Questions:
1. Has your opinion of the main issues changed over the course of the deliberation?
2. Have you developed additional insight into the business implications of this topic? Have you discovered additional business implications or re-thought your previously stated business implications?
3. Have you gained additional insight regarding relevant stakeholders?
4. Do you agree with the solution that was offered as a result of the deliberation? Why?
Additional Discussion/Essay Questions
1. Should businesses drug test employees? If so, how often?
2. Should the use of legal drugs be treated the same as alcohol use?
3. What are the business implications of drug testing in a tight labor market?
4. Can a business differentiate between who is drug tested and who is not in a single organization?
5. Is drug testing an invasion of privacy?
