Internal Memo

Ethics Project

Name

Institution

Ethics Project

When starting or operating a business, there are a number of legal and ethical issues that must be addressed for the business to run smoothly. In the technology industry, some of the most trending ethical issues include tracking, hacking and child abuse among others. However, there are others that are usually overlooked and cost the parties involved immensely.

To start with is the failure to secure business trademark and breach of patents. It is important to understand that trademarks are used by customers to distinguish the products that belong to a particular company. However, it has come to be realized that a number of businesses tend to use trademarks belonging to other companies in order to increase their sales devoid of their consent. There are a number of consequences this has to the company. To start with is that it is likely to taint the company’s reputation if it is realized. Secondly, the victim company of this malpractice is most likely to incur loses. For instance, if the company is not able to maintain the level of quality and standard used by the other firm, this will certainly hurt the customers (Gibson, 2017). It means that lost quality will lead to decrease in customer base.

The second issue that is mostly overlooked by many people is lack of clearly defined company’s policies. The management could do this intentionally in order to maintain some loopholes to be used as defenses in case of legal battles by the employees. For instance, considering the issue of employment, a company might be having its own policies. If the employee files a case against the company for instance demanding their retirement package, the company could present a flexible policy in court as a defense of their actions (Gibson, 2017). It means that despite the fact that the employee could be right, it is probably most likely that they are denied justice. This is one of the most unethical trendy practices that are being adopted by businesses not only in the technology industry but also in other industries. There are some businesses that ignore these issues with the intention to deal with them later. This is a series issue in the business realm and should be addressed as conveniently as possible because it could hurt the welfare of the employees and the company significantly. It should be noted that lack of a clear policy could also favor the side of the employee and the company hence incur losses.

Unethical approaches of selecting employees are a common practice in the industry. Despite the fact that it is not specific to the technology industry only, wrong selection of employees has cost companies and victims immensely. For instance, the concept of reasonable accommodation states that no employer shall discriminate against the employee on the basis of their race, nationality, culture, religion among other related social factors (Hill, 2017). However, there are some companies that have not paid keen attention to this and went ahead to hire their kin devoid of merit and appropriate qualifications. The results of this one include low productivity and dismal performance. Other employees are denied a chance not because they do not qualify but because they do not meet the preferences of the employer. This is unfair business practice and reveals lack of responsibility in business practices. Ethical businesses irrespective of the industry acts responsibly.

References

Gibson, K. (2017). Ethics and business an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hill, C. W. (2017). International business: Competing in the global marketplace. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.