Business Writer

An I ssue of Ethic s A business comprises a network of economic relationships, such as those between employees and employers, consumers and manufacturers, manage ment board and stockholders, and members of operating communities and corporations. Apart fro m such relationships, businesses also include moral relationships and obligatio ns. This includes the effects of pollution and depletion of natural resources on society at large, th e quality and character of the work environment, and the safety of consumers. This moral dimen sion of business is known as business ethics (Hoffman, Frederick, & Schwartz, 2014). Irrespective of the size, type of trade, or the extent of organizational success, business ethics is one of the most important facets of any business’s long -term success. Although the definition is simple, individ uals and businesses often face complex situations that question their innate se nse of right and wrong. Such situations are called ethical dilemmas. This paper looks at how ethical ideas apply in a healthcare or ganization when they are faced with a dilemma of wanting to sell information that they had promised to keep private. For example, consider the situation given below: Nashroit, a leading health care service provider, needs fi nancial aid to extend its operations throughout the United States. One of the leading pharmaceutica l companies, Shagrac, has offered Nashroit its services along with 10% of its net profit to Nashroit in exchange for patients’ information. Obtaining patients’ details will help Shagrac market its products better, and thereby increase its sales. For Nashroit, the partnership would help increase its revenue an d assist its expansion. However, Nashroit has a written commitment to privacy on its Web si te that reads: “We will not sell your personal information to a nyone, for any purpose. Period.” An ethical dilemma arises when the kind of information requ ested by Shagrac is unclear. While AN ISS UE OF ETHI CS 3 Copyright © 2016 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document is prohibite d.

clinical and medical data may be safe to share as it can be used for further research, there is also a chance that the company may misuse personal informati on such as identity, credit card, and insurance details. Co st and Benefit s of th e Nashroit Situation A cost–benefit analysis of the situation is important to as sess its ethical nature. Nashroit can put its information asset to good use at a minimal cost . In turn, Nashroit will be able to expand its operations and serve a larger community; Shagrac will be able to use the information to develop and market better products. From the patients’ perspective, sharing their information could lead to identity theft, breach of privacy, and other suc h complications. This in turn can cause customers to leave and shift their loyalties to o ther institutions. Regulators and the government could levy fines or press legal charges. Shareholders and partners would suffer from the loss of profit and reputation. The institution’s repu tation would be tainted in the eyes of the public—its potential customers (Mc Pherson, 2014). Analyzing th e Situation U sing Hoo ker’s Rational Analy sis of Ethical I ssue s According to Hooker (2012), ethics is more than just a mat ter of opinion. Ethical issues can be evaluated in an objective and rational manner. Nashroit’s decision to sell customer data can be analyzed using Hooker’s three ethical tests: 1. Th e G eneralization Principl e The reason for an individual’s or a business’s action s hould be consistent with the assumption that everyone with the same reasons acts t he same way. Any act that fulfills this principle passes the generalization test (Hooker, 2012). Analysis : An industry standard is that most health care providers declare that they will not se ll or disclose any personal information AN ISS UE OF ETHI CS 4 Copyright © 2016 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document is prohibite d.

about their patients. However, their privacy policies do indic ate the kind of information that can be collected such as a do main used to access the Internet or t he kind of device used to browse the Internet (Health Care.gov, 2015). In this case, Nashroit can share such details with Shagrac. Also, since most of the privacy policies do indicate that persona l details will be revealed only through patient consent or because of legal obligations, Nashroit can share customers’ personal data if patients opt in to sharing. 2. Th e Utilitarian Principl e An individual or a business should choose an action that ma ximizes the net expected utility for all affected parties. An action is ethical whe n no other alternate action generates greater total net utility (Hooker, 2012). Analysis : Irrespective of its moral obligations, a business also needs to worry about its revenue generation and sust enance in the long run. Therefore, ethics is feasible when it creates a win -win situation for all the parties affected by a specific decision. If Nashroit sells patient data to Shagrac, Nashroit will be able to serve a larger community by expanding its operations. Its stakeholders would be nefit fro m the increased revenue. Shagrac would be able to use the data to develop and market bette r products to patients.

In the long run, Nashroit, Shagrac, and the patient community would benefit from this deci sion, provided Shagrac only has access to clinical data that will help in research and not personal information. Thus, according to the utilitarian principle, Nashroit would not be ethically violating its privacy policy if the customer data was aggre gated, stripped of personal details, and then legally sold.

3. Virtu e Ethic s An individual or a business should choose an action that is consistent with the virtues and AN ISS UE OF ETHI CS 5 Copyright © 2016 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document is prohibite d.

qualities that are essential for humanity. Trust, honest y, truthfulness, and transparency are some of the virtues or values that companies might want to ad here to (Hooker, 2012).

Analysis: Through its privacy policy, Nashroit has committed to not misusing any of its customers’ personal information. Selling customer information to Shagrac would mean disseminating data that customers may not be co mfortable sharing with. This would make Nashroit deceitful and untrustworthy. Also, accord ing to virtue ethics, Nashroit cannot ethically sell any data even if the company’s other social media sit es omitted a mention of data sharing in its privacy policy and there is a single login for all com pany sites and the data in them was shared with corporate headquarters.

Th e Role of L ead ership in En suring Ethical Behavior If Nashroit’s leadership decides to change the company’s privacy policy to state that they intend to share visitor data, the company will not be able t o ethically share data collected previously. To share previously collected data, the company will need to inform previous customers about the change in policy and secure consent fr om them. The leadership or the management of any company plays a hug e role in ensuring that appropriate ethics are ma intained at the workplace and durin g all business transactions. It is vital that the organizational leaders lead their employees by example and mentor them to make the right decisions that not only benefit themselves, but also t he organization and society at large.

Building on a foundation of ethical behavior helps produce lon g -term positive outcomes for a company, including the ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals and creating a good reputation. Operating a business in an ethica l way from top -down helps build a stronger relationship between employees and the manage ment (Horto n, 2016). Simply gaining consent to share or sell information would make Nashroit’s decision more ethical. AN ISS UE OF ETHI CS 6 Copyright © 2016 Capella University. Copy and distribution of this document is prohibite d.

References Health Care.gov (2015). CM S privacy notice for healthcare.gov. Retrieved from https://healthcare.gov/privacy/ Hoffman, W., Frederick, E., & Schwartz, S. (Eds.). (2014). Business e thics: Readings and cases incorpora te morali ty. West Sussex: John W iley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=dz N9AgAA QBAJ&oi=fnd&pg= PT10& dq=business+ethics&ots=lnLreI - Er2&sig= NLo8I9vd3VRyWbygej9nR Fk0J FY#v=onepage&q&f=false Hooker, J (2012). Ethical decisions: Rational analys is of ethica l issues. Retrieved from https://ethicaldecisions.net/how -to-analyze -an -ethical -dilemma/ Horton, M. (2016). Why are business ethics important? In vestopedia. Retrieved from http://investopedia.com Mc Pherson, H. (2014). Data privacy—protecting this asset is a pri ority. IS ACA Journal, 3. Retrieved from http://isaca.org/Journal/archives/2014/V olume -3/Pages/J Online -Data - Privacy -Protecting -This -Asset -Is-a-Priority.aspx