Ethical conducts refer to actions that go beyond what is legal and doing what is right. Thus, unethical conducts are actions that do not conform to the acceptable standards of business operations. Companies can engage in unethical conduct in many ways. A good example is the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal that erupted in 2018.
Whether it is a multinational corporation or a small business, the cut-throat struggle for survival or the urge to rule the market attracts a lot of unethical conduct. One case point is the recent Facebook scandal that erupted in 2018 that engulfed the Chief Executive Officer, the company Mark Zuckerberg in a global controversy. Facebook delivered data from 50 million Facebook profiles to Cambridge Analytica, which was used for political advertising purposes (Khanna, 2018). A quiz app on the social networking website collected consumer’s personal data. The act is unethical because it involves digital theft. More to this is that Facebook delivered its consumer’s personal data without their consent.
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Facebook’s CEO apologized for the situation and pledged to make changes and reforms in Facebook policy to prevent similar breaches (Chang, 2018). Amazon took the matter seriously and suspended Cambridge Analytica from using their Amazon Web Service. More to this, many companies, Such as UniCredit, stopped advertising and marketing on Facebook after learning the company was collecting personal information (Neate, 2018).
Laws serve many purposes in the world. Generally, the four principal purposes and functions of law are “establishing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes, and protecting liberties and rights” (Harris & Brickley, 2017). Businesses are required to comply with federal, state, and local statutes and regulations administered by legal bodies. An executive order is a directive issued by the president that has the effect of law. With regard to business, the U.S. President can sign an executive order on business regulations, and this can have a significant impact on the management decision-making process.
References
Harris, B., & Brickley, S. (2017). Business law basics. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.businesslawbasics.com/chapter-3-purposes-and-functions-law-1 . Accessed October 6, 2019.
Khanna, M. (2019). 5 extremely common but very distasteful unethical business practices. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.smallbusinessbonfire.com/unethical-business-practices/ . Accessed October 6, 2019.
Neate, R. (2018). UniCredit cut ties with Facebook over data breach scandal. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/aug/07/unicredit-cuts-ties-with-facebook-over-data-breach-scandal . Accessed October 6, 2019.
