Universal Ethics Case Study
FACTS
Luke is an employee for ABC company and is working on a project to build an adult entertainment retail store for the company. Owen, Luke's brother lives on the corner of the neighborhood where Luke will be working. The project is expected to significantly bring down the property values for surrounding neighborhoods. Luke is every close to his brother who has received an offer to sell his house at an "okay" price, but Owen wants to wait to see if he will get a better offer in the future. ABC company does not plan to publicly announce the project for another month and Luke is trying to figure out if he should tell Owen about the upcoming project so he can sell his house before its value decreases.
ISSUE
Should Lewis tell Owen about …show more content…
If Lewis were to tell Owen about the project, Owen would be the only stakeholder to positively benefit from the information. However, if Owen were to know a lot more stakeholders would be negatively affected. ABC company could potentially lose the development, and Lewis could would lose his reputation with the company or maybe even his job.
Another way Lewis could approach his dilemma would be the use the universal ethics theory. The universal ethics theory focuses on moral absolutism and the concepts of good and bad. The theory operates outside of cultural and religious norms and focuses on what is universally conceived as right and wrong. In this situation Lewis would have to decide if it would be universally correct to tell Owen about the project.
With the use of this theory Lewis would have to choose not to tell Owen about the project. Even though telling Owen would result in Lewis being a truthful and reliable family member, it would result in Lewis breaking the established rules of the company. As a member of ABC company Lewis is obligated to the confidentiality of the company and its objectives. Telling Owen about the project could result in Lewis losing his job but could also lead the legal problems because he was trusted with sensitive information. Using the universal ethics theory can be difficult, because it is sometimes hard to identify what is right or wrong. In this case however Lewis would be breaking a confidentiality agreement he made to his employer and that can be clearly identified as a universally wrong
Luke is an employee for ABC company and is working on a project to build an adult entertainment retail store for the company. Owen, Luke's brother lives on the corner of the neighborhood where Luke will be working. The project is expected to significantly bring down the property values for surrounding neighborhoods. Luke is every close to his brother who has received an offer to sell his house at an "okay" price, but Owen wants to wait to see if he will get a better offer in the future. ABC company does not plan to publicly announce the project for another month and Luke is trying to figure out if he should tell Owen about the upcoming project so he can sell his house before its value decreases.
ISSUE
Should Lewis tell Owen about …show more content…
If Lewis were to tell Owen about the project, Owen would be the only stakeholder to positively benefit from the information. However, if Owen were to know a lot more stakeholders would be negatively affected. ABC company could potentially lose the development, and Lewis could would lose his reputation with the company or maybe even his job.
Another way Lewis could approach his dilemma would be the use the universal ethics theory. The universal ethics theory focuses on moral absolutism and the concepts of good and bad. The theory operates outside of cultural and religious norms and focuses on what is universally conceived as right and wrong. In this situation Lewis would have to decide if it would be universally correct to tell Owen about the project.
With the use of this theory Lewis would have to choose not to tell Owen about the project. Even though telling Owen would result in Lewis being a truthful and reliable family member, it would result in Lewis breaking the established rules of the company. As a member of ABC company Lewis is obligated to the confidentiality of the company and its objectives. Telling Owen about the project could result in Lewis losing his job but could also lead the legal problems because he was trusted with sensitive information. Using the universal ethics theory can be difficult, because it is sometimes hard to identify what is right or wrong. In this case however Lewis would be breaking a confidentiality agreement he made to his employer and that can be clearly identified as a universally wrong