Ethics of Organizational Decision to Profit from Public Water

Topic

Ethics of Organizational Decision to Profit from Public Water

Instructions

The objective of this assignment is to develop and present an informed opinion about foundational issues in business ethics. Using moral reasoning and ethical principles, the assignment should describe key moral issues.

Workplace Ethics

Pick on ONE of the Business Ethics Dilemmas (Refer to Page 10 of the Unit Guide) and discuss the ethical framework on the following levels:

  • Individual Level
  • Organisational Level
  • Corporate Social Level with a view of how the external stakeholders view

Requirements:

  • Explain issues you see in the identified ethical dilemma (eg: you may have chosen about Water Issues and in particular about bottled water).
  • You will then analyse this issue at all the above levels.
  • Critically analyse (do not describe superficially) the ethical issue(s) (As a group, question your moral stance and challenge what are the views of individuals and organisations today on ethics)
  • Use research – read the text, plus a minimum of 6 x good journal articles (not Google or Wiki) to support.
  • Keep the report within 2000 words.
  • Must use Harvard Style Referencing
  • Ensure your report flows well in reading.
  • Professional report style submission.

Who owns the water that goes into plastic bottles?  Environmentalists advocate outlawing the commoditization of water, especially where local water supplies are packaged and sold for a profit that the local residents do not share in.  Adding unnecessary resource utilization to a product that comes out of a tap, as well as the marketing hype that surrounds bottled water raises many ethical questions.  What impact does bottled water have on the environment, water sources, and what ethical dilemmas arise from this?

Answer preview

Although tap water provided by the government is majorly safe, affordable, and reliable, bottled water companies consider the public service as a central commodity for competition. Several ethical issues arise from these industrial operations. One of the issues arises from the fact that the tap water is in line with public service provided by the government, and yet the bottled water companies use it for their own profitability. Another issue is related to the fact that there are some areas that face water rationing following shortage, which is partly contributed to the enormous use of tap water by the bottled water companies.

Word count: 848