Ethical Assessment Paper (50 points)
MGMT 3340, Summer, 2023
Dr. A. Chen
I. Introduction
Should healthcare be a right or a privilege?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, declares that “everyone has the right
to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of oneself and one’s family, including food, clothing, housing,
and medical care.” Hard work and healthy living cannot ensure being healthy. With the high cost of living, many people
cannot live healthily. Many consumers cannot afford health insurance due to increased healthcare costs. Therefore,
guaranteed health insurance is preferred. It is a way of ensuring human rights.
However, there is another perspective. People argue that it is the individual’s responsibility, not the government’s, to
ensure personal health. Many health problems, such as obesity and diabetes, can often be prevented by living healthier
lifestyles. The individual should be responsible for the health costs themselves.
The costs of health care could be another primary concern for us. Critics argue that universal health insurance will
increase costs because more people depend on the government for healthcare. Universal health insurance, in turn, might
cause costs to be passed onto the taxpayers and prompt the government to limit certain types of care. Guaranteed
healthcare for all people may lead people to make riskier decisions because they know that they are guaranteed
healthcare if they get hurt. Health care costs will also increase because of waste and abuse of resources.
II. Questions and Framework for the Paper
What is your opinion on Healthcare System? Should it be Universal or Private?
Please use the following framework to consider the situation and draw your conclusion.
1. The Background and Stakeholders of the Healthcare Industry
In the textbook, we discuss stakeholders. Ethics should consider the stakeholders (pp. 77-84). What are their significant
stakeholders for the healthcare industry or companies? What are each stakeholder’s interests and concerns in the
healthcare system? Please make a table to list them and discuss their concerns.
2. Rules and Principles Used to Make A Decision in the Healthcare System
According to our textbook, there are four principles (rules) for Ethical Decision Making (pp. 94-95): the utilitarian
approach, individual approach, moral rights approach, and proper justice approach. Please also see the enclosed
document on “10 ethical decision rules to bullet-proof business”. (Please read Appendix A.) In this paper, you will
select five different rules from the textbook and the appendix paper. Make a table to list the rules you choose and
discuss the pros and cons of each principle relating to healthcare choices concerning stakeholders.
3. Decisions and Conclusions
Please write a report using the five rules you chose. Overall, you should base on five rules you review, compare them,
and decide on the subject, i.e., should the health care system be public or private?
Write an executive summary for this paper.
Specifically
1. You should define the healthcare system from different stakeholders’ perspectives. (rubric 1)
2. Use five rules to discuss them. Under specific rules, what will be recommendations? (rubric 2)
3. Reach and justify your recommendation and write a conclusion. (rubric 3)
The rubric with three categories will be used to assess your report. They are ethical awareness, ethical issue
recognition, and ethical application.
4. Formatting
In addition to the UCA required rubric, one additional rubric is added to assess the format, and professionalism is
used. This is rubric 4.
III. Grading
You will have a total of 40 points.
Each rubric will be graded individually with 10 points.
The first three rubrics will be based on your answers.
The final rubric is assessed by formatting rule or Rubric 4. Any missing place is one point until you lose 10 points
for rubric 4. Please read the details listed below.
IV. Assessment Rubrics
Rubrics 1-3
UCA CORE – Responsible Living Rubric A (Ethics)
BBA Learning Objective 3a
Specific Skill
or Knowledge
Area Related
to the Goal
Student Learning Outcomes
4 3 2 1 0
Ethical
Awareness
Analyzes core
beliefs and their
origins with depth
and clarity.
Discusses core
beliefs and their
origins, but with
minimal depth
and/or clarity.
Describes basic core
beliefs and/or their
origins but lacks depth or
clarity.
Identifies only
basic core
beliefs.
Assign a zero for p
erformance that d
o
es not
m
e
et a
Ethical Issue
Recognition
Articulates BOTH
the ethical issues in
complex contexts
AND their
interconnections.
Discusses ethical
issues in complex
contexts but does
not fully describe
their
interconnections.
Describes basic ethical
issues in their context,
but poorly describes
their interconnections.
Identifies
some basic
ethical
issues but
does not
identify
their
interconnec
tions.
Ethical
Application
Applies ethical
concepts
accurately in
formulating a
position and
defends the
position by
evaluating
alternative
courses of action.
Applies ethical
concepts accurately
in formulating a
position but does not
fully defend the
position by evaluating
alternative courses of
action.
Applies ethical concepts in
formulating a position but
cannot identify alternative
courses of action to defend
the position.
States a
position but
does not
adequately
apply
ethical
concepts.
These are the guidelines for formatting the paper:
(There is a penalty associated with each of the following lists. If you miss one, you lose one point until you lose all points
in this category).
Rubric 4
1. You need a title page. It should have the paper’s title, class name and CRN number, your name, and a date. It should
have a proper font size and center your content.
2. You need at least three section titles and subtitles. The titles and subtitles should be boldfaced.
3. You should use double space for the main text. It should be left justified. The font size should be Arial 12.
4. You will have at least two tables in your report. The content in the table should be single-spaced.
5. You should have a reference page with at least five references. You will lose 1 point for each reference missing.
6. You should name your file alex.chen.ethics_assessment.docx. Three components of your file name are your first
name, last name, and ethics assessment. The file type should be Docx (the Microsoft word format).
7. The length of the paper is 1,500 words, with more or less than 300 words. If it is overly short, less than 1,000 words,
you will lose 3 points.
Appendix A
10 ethical decision rules to bullet-proof business
NOVEMBER 28, 2016
tags: applying ethics to business, Business ethics, ethical decision rules, ethics and the bottom line, ethics, and trust, teaching
ethics in business schools
Many years ago, I was shocked to learn that ethics is not a mandatory class in most business schools. Surely, if they
quantified the cost of ethical lapses like mortgage bundling, Enron, sexual harassment suits, etc., they would see that
ethics are about the bottom line. Surely, they could see that a proactive ethical practice can create value. Attract and retain
employees?
Apparently, I am an incorrigible optimist.
Recently, I was chatting with a university finance professor who told me he wasn’t sure there would be enough content for an ethics
course lasting an entire semester. I couldn’t believe it, so I pressed on a bit. How could he say that when there are PhDs in ethics?
He countered that that is more philosophy… not business. Undeterred, I asked him if couldn’t ethics be taught along with critical
thinking. Decision making? Value creation for sustainability? He seemed unmoved.
At the heart of the matter is the perception that ethics is just “doing the right thing” or signing a code every year – sometimes more
for the protection of the organization than the alignment of behaviors. Yet ethics are a habit – a systematic assessment of all aspects
of your business. They involve self-interest, risk assessment, and economic efficiency as much as goodwill. At a minimum, you
should find ethical discussions at the board table, at senior management meetings, in human resources, compliance, risk
management, and in the public relations department. Shouldn’t there be a common framework that reflects the values of the
organization to guide these discussions?
An ethical practice applies to every aspect of a business.
In 1995, Larue T. Hosmer[1] synthesized ten decision rules established by the great moral philosophers that – applied in sequence –
provide deep insights into organizations. By systematically taking into account the legitimate interests of all stakeholders, you can
identify opportunities to build trust in your organization. The analysis does not require funding or elaborate strategies. Just the
discipline and the courage to start asking the right questions. Wouldn’t an exploration of these rules along with case studies (the
news is full of them) be sufficient for business students?
Ready? Explore Hosmer’s ten ethical principles.
1. Self-interests (Protagoras). Do your actions in the long-term serve your interests and those of the organization? Where
does short-term thinking create pitfalls? Is immediate activity balanced with progress on long-term plans? Does
compensation reward short-term performance and long-term accomplishments? Are funds frittered away at the expense
of larger long-term investments? What could improve?
2. Personal virtues (Plato and Aristotle). Are your actions honest, open, and truthful? Are there any actions you wouldn’t
want to see reported in the media? Do you report regularly on meaningful metrics? Do you share information freely? Do
you encourage constructive feedback? What barriers exist to greater openness with all your stakeholders? How could
you overcome them?
3. Religious injunctions (St. Augustine). Are your actions kind? How do you treat your employees? Describe your
community relations. What actions show kindness to your customers? Can you identify opportunities internally or
externally to be kinder? Are there people or communities that need your services that you are not serving? How could
this change?
4. Government requirements (Hobbes and Locke). Are your actions legal? Are you complying with the bare minimum
standards or do you strive to meet the full intent of legislation and regulation? Where do you see room for improvement?
5. Utilitarian benefits (Bentham and Mill). Do your actions result in greater good than harm to society? Do your
operations cause harm in any way? Do your actions benefit many or few? How sustainable is your organization? What
could you do to enhance well-being among employees, customers, communities and other stakeholders.
6. Universal rules (Kant). Would you be willing to see others in a similar situation take the same actions you are taking?
Take the perspective of an employee, a customer, a supplier, a partner or a competitor: Do you like how you’re treated?
What could change?
7. Individual rights (Rousseau and Jefferson). Do your actions respect the rights of others? How diverse is your board?
Your leadership team and workforce? Are jobs and premises accessible for people with disabilities? Do you respect
intellectual property? Where could this improve?
8. Economic efficiency (Adam Smith). Do your actions maximize profits – within legal and market constraints? Do you
take into account external costs? Are employees engaged and eager to find savings and improve processes? Does
everyone know how they contribute to results? What impedes maximum efficiency?
9. Distributive justice (Rawls). Do your actions harm the underprivileged in some way? How are profits and rewards
distributed? How are promotions handled? Does your success alleviate or exacerbate inequities? Externally, are some
profiting at the expense of others? Does the community benefit from your presence? Where do “fairness gaps” exist?
How could they be addressed?
10. Contributing liberty (Nozick). Do your actions interfere with the rights of others for self-development and selffulfillment? Are employees being coached to their full potential? What development opportunities do you offer? How do
you encourage uniqueness? Creativity? How could your organization contribute to the self-fulfillment of employees,
customers, investors, or other stakeholders?
Taking a deep dive on ethics not only builds trust within and beyond an organization, it can create new relationships, engage
employees, improve processes, enhance your reputation and spark innovation. Are we only giving lip-service to these critical
dimensions of business?
In this era of “post-truth” (I hate to even write that), where we favor fake news rather than real journalism, we need to vastly improve
our understanding of ethics and its importance to business. We can start in the class room.
Do you have an example to share? If so, please leave a comment.
[1] Hosmer, L. (1995). TRUST: THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL
ETHICS. Academy Of Management Review, 20(2), 379-403. doi:10.5465/AMR.1995.9507312923
https://accoladecommunications.ca/2016/11/28/10-ethical-decision-rules-to-bullet-proof-business/
____________________________________
The question of whether healthcare should be a right or a privilege is a complex ethical issue that has been debated for a long time. This paper aims to assess the ethical dimensions of the healthcare system and determine whether it should be universal or private. By considering the stakeholders involved, applying ethical decision-making principles, and evaluating the interests and concerns of each stakeholder, a conclusion will be reached.
II. Questions and Framework for the Paper
The Background and Stakeholders of the Healthcare Industry
In analyzing the healthcare system, it is crucial to identify the stakeholders and understand their interests and concerns. The table below lists the significant stakeholders and their respective concerns:
Stakeholder Interests and Concerns
Individuals Access to affordable healthcare, personal responsibility
Government Public health, social welfare, cost management
Healthcare Providers Quality of care, fair compensation, patient outcomes
Insurance Companies Profitability, risk management, coverage options
Employers Employee health, cost of providing healthcare benefits
Taxpayers Efficient use of tax dollars, equitable distribution of funds
Rules and Principles Used to Make A Decision in the Healthcare System
To analyze the healthcare system from an ethical perspective, five decision-making principles will be applied. The table below outlines the selected principles and their pros and cons in relation to healthcare choices and stakeholder considerations:
Decision-Making Principle Pros Cons
Utilitarian Approach Maximizes overall societal welfare Potential disregard for individual rights
Individual Approach Emphasizes personal autonomy May lead to unequal access to care
Moral Rights Approach Protects fundamental human rights Potential conflict between rights
Proper Justice Approach Ensures fair distribution of resources May limit access to certain treatments
Rule from Appendix A Provides systematic ethical analysis May not address healthcare-specific concerns
Decisions and Conclusions
Based on the analysis of the five decision-making principles, it is recommended that the healthcare system should be universal. While individual responsibility and preventive measures play a role in promoting health, guaranteeing access to healthcare is essential to uphold human rights. By considering the interests and concerns of stakeholders and applying ethical principles, universal healthcare demonstrates a commitment to societal welfare, protection of rights, and fair distribution of resources.
Executive Summary:
This ethical assessment paper examines whether healthcare should be a right or a privilege. By considering the stakeholders in the healthcare industry, analyzing their interests and concerns, and applying ethical decision-making principles, a conclusion is reached. The paper recommends the implementation of a universal healthcare system to ensure access to healthcare as a fundamental right, while addressing concerns related to cost management, quality of care, and individual responsibility. This approach aligns with principles of utilitarianism, protection of rights, and proper justice, supporting the overall well-being of society.
