Business ethics Essay

Ethics is something that is very important to me. I would like to think that everyone has manners or even common sense when it comes to other peoples’ feelings, or physical pain. But I cannot think like this. If I were to have my own business I would have a code of ethics that would be followed very strictly. I simply will not tolerate any form and unethical behavior in the workplace. The first research situation states: â€Å"A researcher studying dorm life on campus discovers that 60 percent of the residents regularly violate restrictions on alcohol consumption. Publication of the finding would probably create furor in the campus community. Because no extensive analysis of alcohol use is planned, the researcher decides to keep his findings quiet. † I believe that this researcher did do the right thing. If the researcher would have gone public with this information it could potentially put a lot of the students in danger. The publication of the fact could cause riots, or fights within the campus. Plus the students did not know that the researcher was gathering information about the alcohol consumption, which would violate one of the six ethical issues. Deception would be considered misleading the students about the nature of the study, meaning the researcher told the students one thing but did not tell them about the research on alcohol consumption. Another thing that the researcher could have possibly caused is physical harm. By keeping the information gathered to him or her, it did not cause uproar in the campus community. The researcher could have also revealed which groups of people, or even single people, are consuming the alcohol which could lead them to feel depressed, or cause people not to talk to them, and maybe even cause them to transfer to another school. Even though the researcher could have used this information to his or her advantage, this is not what he or she intended to research therefore the information gathered should not be used for anything. In my opinion, this particular researcher has done a great job with their ethical behavior. According to the six ethical issues the researcher has followed each one to prevent any type of unethical behavior. This procedure is very acceptable, and I do recommend this to anybody who plans on doing any type of research. The second research situation is: â€Å"A research questionnaire is circulated among students as part of their university registration packet. Although students are not told they must complete the questionnaire, the hope is that they will believe they must-thus ensuring a higher completion rate. † I do not agree with this at all. This is very unprofessional, and the researcher or organization behind this survey will not receive the expected results. First of all you have to tell the students what the survey is about, why it is important that they fill out the survey, how this will benefit the students directly, and that it is not a requirement, but on a volunteer basis so that they do not feel like they are being forced to just simply write something on the survey that may not be entirely true, creating invalid information. At my workplace I sell mobile phones for AT&T. When a customer comes in to activate a new line of service or upgrades their existing device they are sent a survey on how the experience was in the store. It is my job to explain what the survey is about and why they are receiving this survey. I also have to make sure the customer understands that it is not required of them and if they do not feel comfortable taking it they do not have to participate. The survey is also completely anonymous, unless the customer requests their name to be a part of the survey, again this is optional. Another thing I always do is make sure I tell them how this survey can benefit them. I tell them it is simply to improve our service through customer feedback. By doing these few extra steps, we have gotten so many more surveys posted than ever before. If a survey is just randomly there, the customer is not going to know what it is for. They aren’t going to realize that by filling this survey out it could very well potentially help them. Odds are that about 90% of people will not take a survey if it is not explained to them. If a researcher wants results, he or she will take the time to do these few extra steps to get the correct information needed for the research.