Case Study: Globalization and Ethics

Case Study: Globalization and Ethics

1. Identify main drivers of globalization.

Globalization is the interconnection of the world due to the transfer of investment funds from one to another country’s market across the world (Investopedia, 2014). This definition clarifies that the drivers of globalization may not be limited to a certain domestic market but be present across the world. Some of the primary drivers of globalization are technology, culture, economics and politics. The expansion and advancement in technology has made it possible to make international financial transactions really easy. For example Western Union, Money Gram and PayPal types of money handlers can move your money from one part of the world to the other in seconds. These types of transaction would have taken day if not months to happen a few decades back. There are also many other utilizations of technology that contribute to drive globalization. Culture is another driver of globalization. Over the time, due to the introduction of different kinds of products, a global consumer culture has come into being. For example if we look at the consumption of McDonalds and Coke, we can see that it has become a global phenomenon. The economies of different countries and their needs are also contributing to driving globalization. For example a country may feel that its economy is in need of foreign investment and hence open its door for international companies. World politics is another driver of globalization. The politics of the world have become dynamics and friendships and enmity are made based on the possibilities of international trades with each other.

There are many more drivers of globalization apart from the above discussed. All of these factors have contributed to the enormous spread of the globalization phenomenon.

2. Define main arguments for globalization.

I would like to divide arguments about globalization into two sections.

Arguments against Globalization: It is argued that globalization is an agenda of the rich multinational companies. This agenda is only serving the interests of the developed countries and exploiting the poor countries. Many people believe that globalization is the cause on economic crisis in many countries because rick nations have imposed economic decisions on them that are not in their best interest. Private profits has risen and social security has declined since the rise of globalization.

Arguments in favor of Globalization: Those in favor of globalization believe that globalization is responsible for international economic growth over the last few decades. They argue that globalization has increased job opportunities in the world. Globalization has increased opportunities for different countries to effectively communicate about their mutual interest and devise strategies in the form of international trade unions and blocks.

3. Explain the challenges and opportunities.

There are four main challenges that would be faced by the world due to globalization (Sewell, 1998). It is the shared responsibility of the governments and civil societies to face these challenges effectively so that their negative implications can be countered. These challenges are:

1. The benefits of globalization may be restricted to some countries while others won’t benefit from them.
2. There is a fear that globalization my cause instability in the developing and underdeveloped countries.

• Increased sense of competition may contribute to less care for the welfare of the labors and a decrease in wages.

1. Globalization may not be the only solution that could be used as a replacement for all other means of bringing different countries and economies closer for shared interests.

Some of the opportunities of globalization are stated in the bellow:

1. Globalization has brought new telecommunication systems. This is contributing to the free flow of information. Anyone in the world can access any information that can be used for learning purposes.
2. Globalization has the capacity to bring small and hidden economies to the lime light. New regions are incorporated to the open economy.

• Globalization would not improve the economies of different countries by itself. In fact these countries have to come forward and take advantage of the opportunities offered by globalization.

4. Describe the concept of global economy.

Global economy is refers to the economy of the world as a whole without a distinction to different national economies. The whole economy of the world may be a mixture of the different traditional concepts of economies of the world but it would not be same to any traditional economy as a whole. Global economy may diminish the role of local traditional economies (Porter, 2000).

5. Define ethical issues faced by business leadership.

A business leader has to deal with many ethical issues on daily basis and find out solutions to them. Decision making in ethical issues is one of the challenging task in today’s business leadership. For example a leader has to make sure that the working environment of the employees is in their best interest. But it could involve higher financial expenditure which a leader has to decide about. Transparency is another issue that leaders have to face. For example it might be in the best interest of business to resolve financial issues secretly but is it a transparent way to do it? Apart from these issues there are also other ethical issues that business leaders have to face.

6. Identify potential causes of unethical behavior.

Unethical behavior may be cause by many reasons. These causes may be personal or related to the business environment. For example if a person may be power hungry and make unethical decisions to gain more power in an organization. On the other hand the working environment of the organizational culture of an organization may be based on unethical foundations and an employee, who is very ethical otherwise, may feel it useless to follow ethics in such an organization.

7. Describe different approaches to solving ethical dilemmas.

There is a need to make a thorough analysis of the trade-offs between three factors before an ethical decision can be made. These three factors are the utility of the decision that is to be made at the time of an ethical dilemma. This refers to the value that is going to be delivered to the stakeholders. The second factors is the rights of all the stakeholders. Third is the amount of justice that will be dispensed by the decisions made in response to an ethical dilemma.

A model based on consequential theories or non-conventional theories of decision making can then be selected to address the ethical dilemma. According to consequential models actions are judged by their end results while according to non-consequential models, actions are judged based on factors other than the end results.

8. Examine how managers can incorporate ethical considerations in decision making.

Managers can 56Managers can incorporate ethical consideration in decision making by understanding the corporate social responsibility of organization. When managers are aware of these responsibilities, they would be careful in making decisions related to business operations. They would make sure that they to remain sustainable, decisions have to be made such that the larger welfare of the communities that the business is operated in are taken into consideration.

Managers should also consider the rights and welfare of its own employees as they are the ones who are directly dealing with the business operations. Providing an opportunity to work in flexible hours and other compensations schemes can help manager remain ethical and make decisions that are not only in the interest of the organizational financial goals but also the welfare of its workers.