In mid-1990s, WebTV-now known as MSN TV provided consumers with internet connections through their TV sets. At the beginning, the service grew pretty quickly, attracting mainstream subscribers who practically shield themselves from technology. To WebTV’s surprise, it became the undisputed consumer: clients who refused to offer new revenue avenues insisted on streaming the company services leading to continuous problems to loyal customers. Therefore, in 1997 when Microsoft bought WebTV, it scrapped that brand (Top 25 Biggest Product Flops of All Time).
Discussion
The project got scuttled when Microsoft took over because WebTV did not take into consideration ethical issues which their product exposed to other loyal consumers. It is right that genuine ethical issues are sought from those issues that involve customs, personal taste and etiquette. Again, a distinction between responsibility and involvement is always essential. A consideration of the future implication arising from problem elements is critical at this stage. The company ought to have applied resolution principles based on the analysis done on the preliminary concepts. It is wrong to deal with issues where we cannot have positive impacts and arriving at further decisions through being morally courageous other than revisiting and reflecting on the decision at a later stage for debriefing and reflection.
Recommendations and conclusion
The project by WebTV ought not to have been scuttled in case the company ensured factoring ethical considerations into each decision which they arrived at (Johnson, 2012). The lenses or frames highlight some situational elements for careful examination and address. Combined together, these frames enhance moral sensitivity which would have made it easier for members of WebTV to identify and address moral issues (Johnson, 2012). Gathering relevant facts such as history of the issues, motives, key players, and behavioral patterns is necessary to firms.
The first lens stresses on the purpose, where the end results are examined. Proposed actions are expected to serve worthwhile goals (Johnson, 2012). Answers to the question of purpose could have been arrived at by gathering data and making judgments. The firm ought to have tested performances on right versus wrong issues. These tests can be achieved through the use of four available tests such as legal tests, stench test, front-page test, and the mom test. These tests give in-depth view of how the matter can be handled (Johnson, 2012). Important as well is testing right versus right issues in cases where the issue pits two or more essential values against themselves. Here the dilemmas fall into three paradigms or categories such as justice vs. mercy, short-term vs. longtime, and truth vs. loyalty (Johnson, 2012).
The second lens focuses on principle, where the analysis mode used ought to have applied consistent and relevant ethical standards in addressing the problems beforehand (Johnson, 2012). These guidelines include code of conduct, personal aspirations and ideas, ethical principles, legal requirements, and norms of good practices (Johnson, 2012). Lens number three stresses on the impact of actions on the people who are at risk of being affected. Analyzing such impacts needed an understanding of the perspectives of others coupled with careful reasoning (Johnson, 2012). Finally, the last lens analyses the element of influence and power for taking actions. Making ethical decisions as per the analysis shown in the preceding lenses would not be possible without legitimate ability and authority for acting on them (Johnson, 2012). WebTV perhaps lacked the authority and influence to sway the public in understanding the pros of their product despite the actions of its unethical subscribers.
References
Top 25 Biggest Product Flops of All Time. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2016, from http://www.dailyfinance.com/photos/top-25-biggest-product-flops-of-all-time/?photo=2#!fullscreen
Johnson, C. E. (2012). Organizational ethics: A practical approach. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
