Kantian Deontology Theory Essay Example

Introduction

Kantian deontology theory or utilitarianism is the ethical principle that is based on the view that an action is only good if the principle or intention behind it is good and follows the moral law. His theory states that the rightness or wrongness of an action is not dependent on the action's consequences but on whether they are able to fulfill the intended duty. It means that we as humans are obligated to work under a set moral principle or guideline regardless of the outcome. The principle of morality is known as the Categorical Imperative (Zwolinski & Schmidtz, 2015). Indeed, the IT industry particularly has many cases of sexual harassment. The fact that these actions cannot be equated to the final results does not make them right at any point. It means that the IT specialists, particularly in Silicon Valley, may have good results but their morality questions their ability to fulfill their intended duty (Lee, 2017).

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Uber, in particular, has grown in stature to be one of the most respected taxi hailing services all over the world. Their innovative approach to offering transport through technology particularly its ride-hailing app has transformed how people travel. However, even with that success, there was a storm brewing back at the headquarters. The company's former CEO, Travis Kalanick is alleged to have ignored a reporting of sexual harassment at the company, has acted in an unethical manner many times and has brought a bad image to Uber. He was a popular sexual predator, and his macho and egoistic tendencies went beyond ethics and morality. Together with other executives, they were absent from duty many times and his ego was getting the best of him. In the end, his actions forced the shareholders to push him out of the company for his unethical actions. Ethics and morality are a core factor in leadership and show the true intent of a leader. According to Immanuel Kant, Kalanick's actions were not intended on fulfilling the intended duty even as the company soared. Morality and ethics define an individual and Kalanick failed to follow the deontological ethics that are based on strict adherence to morality and values (Lee, 2017).

Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a huge topic of contention in many organizations all over the world. Sexual harassment is coercion or bullying of a particular sexual nature that is inappropriate. It is also the inappropriate and unlawful promise of a gift or reward in exchange for sex or sexual favors. Sexual harassment is an unlawful and illegal practice in many jurisdictions; however, there is no clear legal connotation regarding offhand comments, teasing or other incidences since they are seen not to impose any general code in regards to civility. Sexual harassment in the workplace happens where a hostile environment is created frequently by an employment decision. However, sexual harassment is different depending on jurisdictions and more importantly, the culture of organizations as well as legal definitions of the same (Urena, Ortega, & Felix, 2014).

Indeed, as a human resource manager in a public office, it is imperative to understand the rules that govern the organization, particularly regarding sexual harassment. Organizations have different understandings and principles about sexual harassment although they are all in agreement that it is unlawful. The standard workplace rule about sexual harassment is that it is illegal irrespective of the organization. Sexual harassment affects all genders; however, women have borne the bigger burden of this ill for the longest period. The standard practice that follows sexual harassment is that most firms end the contracts of employees who have been identified as sexual harassers. Furthermore, there could be court action against these individuals, especially where the actions were serious (Urena, Ortega, & Felix, 2014).

Mandatory Vaccination for Children

Vaccination is the action of prescribing a particular drug (vaccine) as a precautionary measure against catching a particular disease. Ideally, vaccination for adults is not a must, however, for children and babies, vaccination is done as a must in most countries. Immunization is the resultant effect of vaccination as it is when a vaccine stimulates the immune system and makes it ready to protect against future infection. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul were of the opinion that vaccination, especially for children, should be left in the hands of the parents. The parents should be given the freedom to choose whether to vaccinate or not to vaccinate according to the legislators. Their ideas sparked much debate about the vaccination and how vaccines were said to cause particular harm to children as well as other issues regarding the topic (Parker, 2015).

Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is the one that carries with it the best result and greater good for the bigger population. Vaccination being mandatory should not be an issue of debate as it is an ethical element that is all about looking at the best interest of the children all over the world. Furthermore, disregarding vaccination as a mandatory practice and giving parents full discretion for vaccination will cause more harm than good. For one, vaccination has been able to drive diseases such as polio out of many countries. Having it done conditionally will see the return and rise of diseases that endanger the lives of children. Furthermore, immunization is important as it is all about making children have better immunity to cope with diseases in the future and without this practice, we will have a weaker generation in the future. The moral obligation is to have vaccination as a mandatory practice and not give parents the discretion of choice.

Asylum for Refugees

The asylum debate has been going on in the world over the last few years based on recent happenings in the Middle East, particularly Syria. People have been running away from their places of residence in Syria in search of better lives elsewhere, and they prefer Europe. Indeed, the European nations have been having a hard time in deciding whether to let in the refugees or chase them away. The US is also having an issue on regulating the number of asylum seekers and whether it should increase the number of refugees. It is a debate that is being watched closely by the world (Koser, 2016).

One side of the debate looks at the humanitarian element. Indeed, refugees escape their homes because they seek better lives than what they have back at home. Most of the time, the refugees only want to have a better future for their families. This is the most humane reason why different nations allow and give asylum to these individuals in their nation. For this reason, there could be needed to allow more refugees into the borders. On the other hand, the debate focuses on whether asylum seekers should be restricted considering they are to some extent burdensome in that a lot of resources is needed to take care of their needs. Also, a nation can only do so much and can only offer help to a select number of refugees. Furthermore, it is unknown the intent of particular refugees particularly those from the Middle East who could disguise themselves as refugees to enter the country but with ulterior terrorist intentions. In the end, I believe that we are in this world to help each other and to increase the number of refugees is the moral thing to do (Koser, 2016).

Misuse of Power - Enron

Enron was an energy trading company that collapsed in 2001 after the existence of a huge accounting fraud scheme was unearthed. It filed for bankruptcy in 2001 after posting losses totaling $74 billion. Indeed, an independent review back in 2002 unearthed how the managers and the executives were reporting inflated unreal profits to the shareholders whereas, on the other side, they pocketed millions of dollars from off-the-book partnerships. The executives knowing the impending doom sold their stock just before the company collapsed. They also encouraged the lower level employees to invest more in the company for their retirement savings just before the collapse of the enterprise (Library, 2018).

Although the executives at Enron were professionals, their actions went against ethics and morality. They deliberately swindled people off their hard earned monies and tried to cover all these up by swindling others to cover their past mistakes. Bounded rationality seems to have been the decision-making model that these professionals used albeit in an unethical manner. Considering that the scandal affected nearly all the executives defines the unity in the rationale that they had towards their unethical practice. Utilitarianism is the best theory to be used for the practices of these professionals. Having full knowledge of the actions and doing them deliberately irrespective of the results and whether they bring harm is a totally unethical practice. Auditing using external auditors was something that should have been conducted, and such issues noticed earlier.

Criminal Justice

Criminal justice is an element that faces issues dealing with ethics all the time. Indeed, most if not all of the criminal proceedings deal with unethical practices. Challenges are existent every day towards the handling of justice as the world is fast changing meanings and elements regarding ethics every day. One of the biggest challenges is defamation and whether it is possible to prove and prosecute cases of defamation especially done through online sources. Another ethical challenge I have found is regarding the mandatory rape element, particularly for young individuals.

Defamation is a case that is increasingly gaining more traction especially with the growth of social media. Social Media has been in existent for the last twenty years. However, there are issues regarding the use and application of social media that have created ethical challenges towards how they should be handled specially in criminal justice. Many social media organizations have had massive complaints and criminal procedures leveled against them regarding how particular information was disseminated or how an individual or a group of individuals used these applications thus causing unethical results. The changing face of technology is causing such issues to have major legal challenges, and there has grown a debate regarding these issues (Qing, 2015).

The ethical issue is whether the blame lies on the social media organization for allowing content and keeping it available to be seen by people or on the individual who posts the defamatory material. Criminal justice has had a hard time making such cases. Organizations such as Facebook have had many cases launched against them regarding the issue and have been liable in some of the cases whereas there are other instances where the person posting such material is made liable thus posing a challenge.

References

Koser, K. (2016). 6. Refugees and asylum-seekers. Very Short Introductions.

Lee, D. (2017, June 24). A plea for 'decency' in shaken Silicon Valley. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-40390420

Library, C. (2018, April 23). Enron Fast Facts. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/02/us/enron-fast-facts/index.html

Parker, L. (2015, February 6). The Anti-Vaccine Generation: How Movement Against Shots Got Its Start. Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150206-measles-vaccine-disney-outbreak-polio-health-science-infocus/

Qing, Z. F. (2015). Ethical Issues of Nanotechnology in the Workplace. 3rd Annual International Conference on Philosophy: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow (PYTT 2015).

Urena, J., Ortega, R., & Felix, E. R. (2014). Correlation of Dirty Dating With Cyberbullying, Sexual Harrasment, and Quality of R...