Anonymous
MG 201 – Business Law
Essay 1 – Business Ethics
Ethics are a very important part of society and play a big role in determining what is
right and wrong. Ethics can be described as moral views and principles that govern actions.
Therefore, business ethics are the morals and principles that businesses use to make decisions
and maintain social responsibility. It is important for a business to practice good ethics because
according to chapter 2, “good ethics is good business”, also the market will respond negatively
to unethical behavior (Lieberman, 2.1). Chapter 2 then states businesses that pay attention to
ethics do better in the long run (Lieberman, 2.1). However, sometimes situations like the
temptation of maximizing profits or an agenda to push certain political views are just too much
for a business to turn down and they choose to violate ethical behavior. This can be seen in
many different cases but usually will result in a negative effect on the business.
As of recent, a company that has acted in an unethical way is ESPN. ESPN is a U.S. cable
and satellite sports television channel. They also have many other channels under the same
company (ESPN Inc.) such as ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+, ESPNews, ESPN Classic, and even more.
They broadcast all sorts of sporting events from all around the world. When they aren’t
broadcasting sports, they are broadcasting talk shows such as SportsCenter, First Take, His and
Hers, and many others. These talk shows are supposed to be about sports and news related to
sports, but political and social news seem to be a very hot topic a lot of the time; this is where
the poor ethics take place. ESPN is punishing and firing employees who have differing political
views and are outspoken about them, while not punishing employees who share their common
political views. Although they haven’t gone through a legal scandal or violated the law in any
way, their recent practices have been demonstrating poor ethics. This can be seen when
distinguishing the difference between ethics and the law. Then a closer look at major ethical
concepts such as, Michael Josephson’s Core Values, The Stakeholder Theory, and killing the
messenger, will help reveal their unethical practices.
To understand the unethical practices of ESPN it is important to first distinguish the law
from ethics. According to chapter 2, “what is legal is not necessarily ethical. Conversely, what is
ethical is not necessarily legal” (Lieberman 2.1). There are many legal tricks and “loopholes”
that a business can discover and exploit that are not ethical in any way (Lieberman, 2.1). Ethics
deals more with the way people should act whereas the law is how they must act. In learning
module 2 we studied the case of The Queen vs. Dudley and Stephens where, basically, two men
killed another man in order to save their own lives. In this case, depending on the ethical
philosophy, the two men who acted ethically were punished and sentenced to time in prison. In
converse, the Arthur Anderson case was one where the supreme court over turned the
conviction and yet they still lost many clients and market share due to their practices
(Lieberman, 2.1). Here the law was not broken but they were being unethical so the company
suffered. ESPN is a private organization and they may hire and fire whoever they choose while
remaining in compliance with the law. However, the manor of which certain firings have
occurred has been unethical, as will be shown later.
Michael Josephson’s core values are a set of six values that relate to ethics. Josephson
decided on these six by values from his studies where he asked, “what values people hold dear,
what values they wish to be known by, and what values they wish others would exhibit in their
actions” (Lieberman, 2.2). These six were the most consistent responses: trustworthiness,
respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship and, therefore, became his core values.
These values also are the most universally shared morals among different groups of people
(Lieberman, 2.2). The six values directly relate to ethics and because ESPN is violating certain
core values, they are violating proper ethics. The two values mainly violated are respect and
fairness. This can be seen in their punishing and firing of employees who make “conservative
statements” while letting employees who make “liberal statements” go unpunished. In 2016
ESPN baseball analysist Curt Schilling was fired for creating a Facebook post where he gave his
opinions on transgenders (USAtoday.com). Also in 2016 host Mike Ditka was removed from a
Sunday Night Football show after giving an interview where he criticized Obama and openly
showed support for Trump (daileycaller.com). In April 2017, longtime reporter and host Linda
Cohn was suspended for agreeing in an interview that there is some political bias at ESPN
(USAtoday.com). Then, just a couple of weeks ago, Jemele Hill, host of the talk show His and
Hers, posted a tweet where she called President Trump a “white supremacist”. Not only was
Hill not fired or suspended, ESPN did not even tell her to publicly apologize for her tweet
(USAtoday.com). This is a clear violation of the core value of fairness. Multiple employees are
engaging in the same activity of publicly stating their opinions on political topics, however,
ESPN is punishing certain employees based on their opinions which is completely unfair. They
are also not showing the value of respect by disrespecting their employee’s opinions and views
on non-work-related matters.
The actions of ESPN are also in violation of The Stakeholder Theory and, therefore,
social responsibility. In chapter 2 we learned that The Stakeholder Theory is “a corporation’s
social responsibilities go beyond just staying within the law”, simply put organizations “must
pay attention not only to the bottom line but also to their overall effect on the community”
(Lieberman, 2.4). “Public perception of a company’s unfairness, uncaring, disrespect, or lack of
trustworthiness often leads to long-term failure” (Lieberman, 2.4). Clearly ESPN is not
considering their overall effect on the community. It was shown earlier that they are not
treating their employees fairly and, therefore, this will most likely lead to long term failure.
They are also not maintaining social responsibility according to chapter 2, “A socially
responsible corporation is likely to consider the impact of its decisions on a wide range of
stakeholders, not just shareholders” (Lieberman, 2.4). The shareholders are not considering the
impact of their decisions towards stakeholders such as conservative employees and viewers.
Killing the Messenger, as we learned in chapter 2, is an unethical technique that
businesses sometimes use and ESPN is a good example. Killing the Messenger is when an
organization silences or “shuts down” an employee for exposing problems that are being
covered up or just exposes bad news in general (Lieberman, 2.4). “Managers like to hear good
news and discourage bad news” (Lieberman, 2.4). ESPN has done this by suspending anchor
Linda Cohn for agreeing in an interview that ratings have dropped due to their political bias.
Another indirect form of ESPN Killing the Messenger is by not releasing certain results from
their own political bias survey. They surveyed adults on whether they thought ESPN has a
liberal or conservative bias. The results were 63% believed there was a liberal bias while 30%
believed there to be a conservative bias (newsbusters.org). ESPN refused to publicly announce
the 63% liberal bias but did publicly announce that there was a 30% liberal bias. ESPN
essentially rigged their own survey results to give “good news” and “shut down” the “bad
news”.
Now, although ESPN has not broken the law or gone through any type of legal scandal
for their actions, they have still behaved unethically which was proven through analyzing
several major ethical concepts. For this they have received a lot of public scrutiny from viewers
and ex-employees. The public is left to wonder; what are their standards? Where is their
consistency when it comes to what an employee can and can’t get away with? ESPN has not
broken the law nor should there be legal action taken against them. Instead they must
formulate a code of ethics and strictly stick by it. They need to formally state that employees
who publicly voice political opinions will all be punished or not punished at all. Either one will
be acceptable as long as they remain consistent and set standards as oppose to letting certain
employees get away with the same thing actions that got other employees fired.
Works Cited
Lieberman, Jethro, Don Mayer, George Siedel and Daniel Warner. The Legal Environment and
Business Law. 1st Version. 2012. Print
Curtis, Charles. “A quick guide to the political statements that have gotten ESPN employees in
hot water”. USAtoday. 17 Sept. 2017. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/09/espn-politicssuspensions-history-jemele-hill-linda-cohn-curt-schilling-britt-mchenry-keith-law
Maxson, Jay. “ESPN Hides Overwhelming Truth About Liberal Bias”. NewsBusters. 9, June 2017.
https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/jay-maxson/2017/06/09/30-percent-label-espnconservative-network-ignores-liberal-bias
Datoc, Christian. “ESPN Removes Mike Ditka from ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’ Days After ProTrump Interview”. DaileyCaller. 03 Sept. 2016. http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/09/report-espnremoves-mike-ditka-from-sunday-nfl-countdown-after-pro-trump-interview/
Business Ethics Essay Rubric
Description: This rubric will be utilized in grading the Business Ethics essay submissions.
Does not meet criteria
Meets criteria
Exceptional
The textbook concepts were
applied throughout the
paper with cite to page of
textbook
Points:
20 (16%)
Student does not connect
and apply the ethics issue of
choice to relevant course
concepts/theories from the
text.
Points:
35 (28%)
Student appropriately
applies and analyzes relevant
course concepts, theories, or
materials, and shows some
evidence [citations] that
correlates posts with unit
materials.
Points:
50 (40%)
Student consistently cites
appropriate material in
multiple learning modules to
demonstrate full synthesis
and application of topics and
digs deep in student’s
analysis to reach full
potential of the paper.
Demonstrates a clear
understanding of learning
concepts from the course.
Addresses each element of
PICK Analysis throughout
the paper
Points:
0 (0%)
Student does not utilize PICK
Analysis, and/or fails to
correctly address each of its
key elements.
Points:
25 (20%)
Student addresses some
elements of PICK Analysis
but not all elements, or does
so incorrectly.
Points:
35 (28%)
Student utilizes PICK Analysis
and addresses all key
elements throughout the
paper.
Paper free of grammatical
errors/typos
Points:
0 (0%)
There are multiple typos,
formatting, and/or grammar
issues in paper.
Points:
3 (2.4%)
There are minor typos,
formatting, and/or grammar
issues in paper.
Points:
5 (4%)
There are not typos,
formatting, nor grammar
issues in paper.
Paper is organized and has
clarity
Points:
0 (0%)
Student presents
information in a disorganized
and unclear manner, making
it difficult to interpret the
information put forth.
Points:
5 (4%)
The paper is somewhat clear
and concise, but not
consistently throughout the
paper.
Points:
10 (8%)
The paper is clear and
concise consistently
throughout its entirety, and
is well organized.
Meets page requirements (2
full pages, no more than 3
for paper) using single
spacing, 1”margins and 12
point font
Points:
0 (0%)
There are less than 2 single
spaced substantive pages
submitted.
Points:
10 (8%)
At least 2 and no more than
3 substantive pages
submitted. However, pages
lack substantive information
sufficient to comprise the 2
page requirement (e.g., large
pictures, graphs,spacing
quotes take up too much
space).
Points:
15 (12%)
At least 2 and no more than 3
substantive pages submitted.
Does not meet criteria
Meets criteria
Exceptional
Uses research and data to
support claims as necessary,
which are cited with
footnotes throughout
Points:
0 (0%)
Works cited are not
included. (At least the
textbook should be cited,
and the interview).
Points:
5 (4%)
Works cited are included but
are not clearly noted in
footnotes as required.
Points:
10 (8%)
Works cited are included and
are clearly noted using
footnotes as required.
Submitted timely via
Blackboard in .doc or .docx
format
Points:
0 (0%)
Not submitted in correct
format.
Points:
0 (0%)
Per the syllabus, there may
be up to a 20% grade
reduction per day for late
submissions.
Points:
0 (0%)
Submitted before required
deadline.
Research and read current papers
After
and
scandal
journals
and
search
the
finding
in
a
the
recent
ethical
business
field,
Internet to find legal cases of firms
please use the PICK Analysis
and/or executives of those firms
format,
that have been charged with acting
syllabus,
unethically
socially
situation and discuss the legal
irresponsibly. Choose an ethical
and/or ethical implications of the
dilemma in business that interests
actions as applied to business.
you and draft a two to three page
Then, discuss a recommendation
single spaced paper as follows:
you would suggest about how the
and
as
described
to
in
summarize
the
the
ethical dilemma should be resolved
or should have been resolved,
despite the outcome reported.
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