Assessment 1

MGT230 Ethics, Sustainability and Culture

Question 1: Is MGT230 relevant to your chosen career? Explain your response.

For most students, career seekers and employees the appeal of a better workplace and
potential managers and employers, a variety of factors will be included or will affect this
potential. The most important one in my opinion will be the ethics of the organisation, the
culture that the organisation adapts within the workplace and we can include the
sustainability of the company. So for me this subject is a very relevant topic that I can focus
on for better understanding of the real world and how to protect myself against unethical
behaviours that I might face during my career. As an accountant, following these ethics will
be critical for me to be a successful accountant. Going against corporate ethics will
potentially lead to complete failure, and thats the case with any type of jobs.
One thing we can add to this is corporate social responsibility (CSR). A clear and strong
understanding of this term will help any job seeker or employee to think broadly and be more
innovative with his career thinking.
Moreover, sustainability which is an essential part of this subject will help the company and
the employers to practice in a way that satisfy and meet the needs of the current employees
without holding back the future generations to meet their essentials as well. Finally, I can say
that MGT230 is a very important subject for me to help me create a successful, sustainable
and ethical career.

Question 2: Of the theories studied in week two, explain which ethical theory appeals
to you most and why?

The ethical theory that appeals to me the most is the good will theory from Kants ethics. In
this theory Kant said nothing is good in itself except a good will . So the basic idea in this
theory is that the possession or the control of a good will of a person is determined by the

moral law. The main thing that this theory focuses on is that there is proved to be good
unless it is practiced with a good will, which is a pretty obvious thing. Lets say intelligence is
broadly known as a positive and good thing to have, but as Kant said if a person is willing to
use his intelligence and smartness to act in an evil way that may harm and damage things,
then this term will be a negative thing. Going through what is the meaning of good will in
Kants opinion, a good will is to act within the sense of moral obligation which is for me a
very critical way to think with. Acting out of moral obligation or duty is the main thing that we
look at in this theory, so the consequences of an action is not such a thing that Kant talks
about. People dont do an action because they see that it will have positive consequences, in
contrast they look at the moral duty of if this action is morally right or wrong? Thats the kind
of question that we should look at when we think of an action.
Finally if I want to apply this theory to my career I can say that thinking with a good will and
acting within my moral obligation and duty is a key for being a trusted accountant that
doesnt practice for his career for the money or look at the consequences and see if its
positive.

Question 3: What is one of the criticisms of your chosen theory?

G. W. F Hegel is one of the philosophers that criticised and presented objection to Kants
ethical theory. One of his criticisms was that the ethics that Kant presented does not provide
details about the action that people should act within because Kants moral law is only a
principle of non-contradiction. He added that Kants ethics are missing so much information
that doesnt make it a supreme principle of morality. To prove that G. W. F Hegel and his
colleagues presented a variety of cases that show that some of Kants ethics lead to wrong
answers.
Another philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche also criticised Kants ethics by saying that mortality,
God and immortality can be shown through reason. Also he claimed that the moral intuition
has no normative force in ethics.
So we can see that mainly the criticism against Kants ethics was that the reason of doing
things and the will to do it overlooks the significance of feelings and emotion in moral
understanding, especially when it comes to our personal life and relationships.

Question 4: How can you, as a future business professional, affect society in positive
and negative ways?

First lets start with the definition of society which can be defined as the aggregate of people
that live together in one community. In saying that, individual are the component of a society
so if the individuals are egotistical then the entire society that they live in will be likewise. So
when an individual start to think in changing to be a better person then the society will be
affected in the same way.
As myself one of the individuals in a society I can affect my society positively by using many
methods. For example, when practicing my career I shall be a trustful person that acts in a
way that put the trust in my customers, improve my business by acting ethically and follow
the standards.
Nevertheless, I can also affect the society negatively by simply acting against the law, doing
illegal business, practicing unethical tasks that may harm or damage my reputation and the
entire society image. Create a culture based on fear, lies, and unethical standards.
So finally I would say that this subject will teach me how to act ethically, how to know the
standards, how to be socially responsible and have moral responsibilities or duties that I
should act upon.

References:
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