Custom essays on The ethical dilemma between Flagler and Wal-Mart

This is a statement which fairly well coincides with my opinion on business ethics and on the consequences of unethical behaviour. Although ethical approaches in different cultures and even organizations might differ, there are generally accepted ethical business practices, referred to as “the magnificent seven” (Kinicki and Kreitner 19). These practices are dignity of human life (the respect for the lives of people), autonomy (the liberties of every individual are equal), honesty (telling truth to those people who have the right to know it), loyalty (honoring contracts, promises and agreements), fairness (just treatment for all people), humanness (choice of actions to accomplish good and to avoid doing evil) and the common good (trying to act in order to maintain the largest good for the largest number of people). Actions of Flagler Productions violate almost all of these principles, namely the dignity of human life – because the videos will affect the lives of people involved in these clips, loyalty – because the company is violating their handshake agreement with Wal-Mart, humanness – because showing these clips will do evil to many Wal-Mart employees, and common good – because damaging Wal-Mart’s reputation will likely cause the reduction of their revenues, and as a result, harm to many innocent employees. Thus, actions of Flagler can be classified as unethical.
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I absolutely disagree with this opinion, because according to this approach, companies can use any methods of earning revenue without thinking of the consequences. Using the same method of thinking, one can state that Wal-Mart can use intimidation for Flagler executives in order to avoid losing revenues and public damage of reputation. However, it is clear that such approach is absolutely unethical. Flagler Productions worked with Wal-Mart during 30 years, and the company’s top managers were aware of their dependence on Wal-Mart. Even if their cooperation was ended abruptly, this does not justify the actions of Flagler. Customers concerned about their privacy and reputation would not risk working with Flagler after their unethical behaviour, and thus Flagler Productions should avoid such immoral approach in their business practices.
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The ethical side of decision-making for Flagler Productions can be evaluated using the ethical decision-tree (Kinicki and Kreitner 351). The “proposed action” in this case is the sale of Wal-Mart videos to the public (or to other interested sides). First question is whether this action is legal. Technically, there was no contract between Wal-Mart and Flagler Productions, and, most likely, Flagler has the ownership rights and can still sell the videos. As it was discussed above, the rights of Flagler Productions for these videos can be limited, but without additional information it is not possible to forecast the exact conclusion for ownership rights, and it is reasonable to support that from the legal point of view, it is ok for Flagler Productions to distribute these videos. The second question is whether shareholders’ value is maximized by the actions of Flagler Productions. In the short-term perspective the company might get significant revenue. The long-term perspectives are questionable: most likely, Flagler Productions might lose customers due to such behaviour; on the other hand, public attention might generate an inflow of customers and compensate for the negative impact of Flagler Productions’ business decision. Thus, it is reasonable to suggest that shareholders’ value will be maximized by the decision to disclose Wal-Mart videos. The final question is whether the decision is ethical. It is clear that there will be a negative effect on a certain group of customers; moreover, many Wal-Mart employees and Wal-Mart itself as a business agent will be affected by this decision. Moreover, the damage caused to Wal-Mart might affect the whole economy, because Wal-Mart is a powerful economic agent. Thus, basing on the ethical decision tree model, the actions of Flagler Productions are unethical, and the company should not sell these videos to anyone.

Works Cited
Kinicki, Angelo and Robert Kreitner. Organizational Behavior: Key Concepts, Skills, and Best Practices. McGraw-Hill, 2010.
McCallister, Erika. Guide to Protecting the Confidentiality of Personally Identifiable Information. DIANE Publishing, 2010.