Business Ethics
Business ethics is defined as the study of what is right or wrong in the context of the business . Various theories of business ethics provide insights on the morality of the actions taken. According to the theory of amorality, a business may be conducted without reference to the ethical standards and practices; which is justified on the basis of competitive pressure . The theory has been criticized and is not acceptable in the current business world. According to another theory of business ethics; the theory of moral unity; business actions are judged on the basis of general ethical standards set by society and not on the basis of special permissive standards .
The corporate ethics are a result of the cumulative effect of various factors such as family background, religion, personal standards, organization culture and code of ethics and the impact of the external environment such as government rules and laws .
The recent data breach at Target is an example of a business organization which did not conform to ethical practices and its negligence caused a lot of loss to many people from the USA who were regular customers for the brand. Target, the online retail store got an overwhelming response to its Christmas sale during the 2013 holiday season. Thousands of customers did online shopping through the Target website. But it was later discovered that their systems were breached and hackers gained access to sensitive credit card and debit card information of nearly 70 million people .
Target was reluctant in changing its credit card security system and the explanation given by the company in this regard was that most of the people were unwilling to upgrade to more secure credit cards . A malware detection tool designed by PC security firm Fire Eye (installed on the Target system) had successfully spotted the exfiltration malware sent by hackers and had instantaneously sent a security alert to the management team at Target Headquarters .
Target had installed a malware detection tool designed by the PC security firm Fire Eye. Fire Eye spotted the upload of exfiltration malware by hackers to escape data and alerted the security team based in Minneapolis (Target HQ) but no action was taken . Target did not pay attention to two critical security theft alerts from Fire Eye on November 30, 2014 and December 2, 2014 respectively .
The actions of Target can be considered unethical on the basis of the theory of moral unity according to which Target should have adopted the best ethical practices by upgrading its security systems and card security mechanisms. Also, the actions of Target relate more to the theory of amorality which implies that Target ignored the security of its customers and preferred business profits for its convenience.
References
Barrett, Chad. Target: Costly Security Breach (2013-2014). 20 February 2014. Web page http://businessethicscases.blogspot.in/2014/02/target-costly-security-breach-2013-2014.html. 7 June 2014.
"Business Ethics." n.d. University of Houston-Victoria. PPT. 7 June 2014. <http://www2.uhv.edu/chapao/MGMT4322/Summaries/Chapter%207%20Summary.pdf>.
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"Ethics PPT." n.d. University of Houston. PPT. 7 June 2014. <http://www2.uhv.edu/chapao/MGMT4322/Ethics%20PPT.ppt>.
Heller, Laura. Target: Timeline of a data breach. 16 February 2014. Web page. 5 May 2014. <http://www.fierceretail.com/story/target-timeline-data-breach/2014-02-16>.
Riley, Michael, et al. Missed Alarms and 40 Million Stolen Credit Card Numbers: How Target Blew It. 13 March 2014. http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-13/target-missed-alarms-in-epic-hack-of-credit-card-data. 5 May 2014. <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-13/target-missed-alarms-in-epic-hack-of-credit-card-data>.
Shaw, William. Business Ethics. USA: Cengage Learning, 2007. Print.
