Law and Ethics in Business Environment

The public service announcement (PSA) that junk food is similar to addictive drugs affected the marketing strategies and policies of food producers. Since the announcement condemns consumption of the food, it implied that the food consumption rate would decline leading to low sales. Similarly, the food marketing would be difficult since, in the minds of the consumers, there is the perception that overconsumption creates addiction, and the foods are not appropriate with respect to an individual’s health. As a result, the consumers regulate their consumption to prevent the dire consequences concerning their health conditions. In this regard, the PSA was not appropriate, but rather relevant measures were necessary to counter the effects of junk food.

Marketing and technology are manipulating the US consumer. With the dynamism of the marketing approaches and advancement of technology, producers easily manipulate consumers to enjoy their services without in-depth understanding. The producers’ ways of manipulating the market share and dissemination of information entice consumers without necessarily establishing the importance and demerits of the products. For instance, junk food producers adopt technology to undertake marketing to increase sales. As a result, consumers use their products without knowing the consequences of their consumption (Halbert & Ingulli, 2012).

The approaches to ethical issues are considerably vital for the success of all businesses. In this regard, businesses should employ appropriate approaches to ethical issues that relate with responsibility, freedom, corporate governance, and social corporate responsibility. By adopting social corporate responsibility, the organizations will be able to establish appropriate relationships with the society based on their performance and ability. In this regard, they will earn goodwill, which will improve their performance leading to considerable amounts of revenues. If businesses adopt this ethical approach, they will survive the stiff competition and their possibilities of growth will be high.

In the course of adopting approaches to ethics in business, there exist numerous challenges that require address. Initially, the process of decision-making necessitates the evaluation of various considerations of management, stakeholders, and the community. As a result, conflicts are bound to arise which demand appropriate solutions. Similarly, the process of implementing the approaches necessitates funds which will lower the business returns. In handing these major obstacles, the business needs to evaluate the benefits attributable to the adoption of the approaches which will boost the company’s performance. Thus, the companies need to make adjustments and incur some costs for future benefits.   

In the case of “Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission,” the Citizens United was more persuasive. The argument of Citizens United entailed the urge to involve corporation or unions to undertake expenditures on individual political undertakings. In this regard, businesses were able to support any political endeavors without any federal restrictions. Through this process, business would help individuals with appropriate political visions and market their products. As a result, the political leadership would have influence from businesses, which will lead to suitable business environment. Additionally, the verdict would improve the business general performance.

 The adoption of corporate social responsibility by a company would act as a competitive advantage against its rivals. The radical compliance of the company to social corporate responsibility would improve its rating compared with the rivals. In this case, the company would be able to boost its overall revenue and improve market position. Similarly, the business would select, retain, and train the best employees within its firm due to the business rating in the market. Nevertheless, the surrounding community would benefit from the company contributing indirectly. For instance, Wal-Mart company dynamic involvement in corporate social responsibility has made the company expand immensely and become the leading store chain.      

Electronic employee surveillance at work provides a means of regulating and monitoring employee’s behavior and performance within the organization. This practice provides the organization with an appropriate way of assessing and monitoring the employees’ performance and conduct. As a result, the organization would prevent employees’ fraud and malpractices. Similarly, the company is able to monitor the employees’ usage of resources avoiding inappropriate usage. Thus, the company would avoid the need for direct supervision since it intervenes when necessary. Despite its beneficial use, this practice would violate the need for personal privacy in the institution. This implies that the right to privacy would be violated.

Employees testing refers to the assessment of the employees based on their suitability and capabilities on the current position they hold. This form of evaluation assists the employer to determine whether the employees meet the company’s objectives. Such tests include personality tests, intelligence tests, job-knowledge tests, and situational judgment tests. Through this process, the employees rate themselves regarding skill possession and knowledge to serve in position that they hold. As a result, the employees gain consistent additional knowledge skills, which help them to conform to dynamism of the market. Regarding the employer, he or she can evaluate the employees who meet the needs of the business.   

Current or potential employers use the information obtained from e-activity to ensure the preservation of employees’ privacy. Through this process, employees can address organization demands with anonymity thus maintaining their privacy. Similarly, the organization would be able to conduct its operation effectively according to its objectives. Therefore, it implies that e-activity is beneficial for the business performance while maintaining the need of privacy. An example is the FIFA e-activity, which has allowed both the fans and players to achieve their desired services from the authority through the available employees.

 The privacy of genetic information involves the protection of genetic information in order to avoid discrimination during the process of health coverage or employment. In this regard, individual’s genetic information would not be used as a consideration factor in matters of employment or provision of health coverage. This implies that businesses would avoid biased selection leading to equity for all. Nevertheless, with the advancement of technology, issues of the privacy of genetic information may be hindered since secrecy would be impossible. In this regard, employees would be subject to biasness during employee selection processes. Considering these impacts, it would be essential to formulate policies and laws that would ensure equity for all.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a milestone in the US legislation that allowed equal treatment of every person by eradication of racism. In addition, it advocated for equal opportunities for both men and women. Despite its implementation, it has been difficult to eradicate racism since, by virtue of color, it is easy to select workers in a biased manner during employment. To counter this major barrier, employments processes are based on the skills and knowledge that one possesses regarding a particular specialization. In this regard, the major misconception about the rating of adversity of racism as per the Act was depicted in the social institutions instead of the social systems with the mindset of people that led to racism.

Some of the additional issues that need inclusion in the Civil Right Act of 1996 include matters of privacy and protection of genetic information. With the handling of these issues, employees would be more flexible and have access to equality regarding the services they offer. Considering the importance that the Act has in the production industries, it needs to be enforced in 21^st century to yield equality among all members of the society. Similarly, it prevents employees from the act of biasness in selection.

The life of US citizens can be improved by drawing successful practices from other nations. Some of the important issues should include the adoption of the Japanese culture similar to American culture, which emphasizes on productivity and equality for all. As a result, employees would be able to engage in productive activities that would boost their performance at work and attain better living standards.  

With the incorporation of the inclusive attitude towards the disabled workers in the US workforce, there are both benefits and challenges. Initially, the benefits would be the enhancement of equality for everyone. As a result, the disabled would attain better living standards. Secondly, the disabled would be able to contribute productively to the economic growth of the country since they will not be sidelined. On the other hand, the challenges would include providing them with the essential skills and knowledge to serve in the capacity of able people. Additionally, their disability would create inflexibility in service delivery creating inefficiencies at workplace.

 The consumer demand entails a phenomenon that is already present, and just the act of advertising serves the purpose of reminding. In this regard, the consumer demand refers to the willingness and ability to purchase the available commodities. Thus, the process of conducting advertising reminds the consumers of the existing products and the changes done by the producers. Through this process, consumers can engage in altering their minds to the new products or remain consuming the existing ones. An example is the advertisement of Coca-Cola company which serves the need to remind consumers of its products.

In the move to incorporate self-regulation in the advertising industry, there are anticipated benefits and demerits. Initially, the benefits of the move would be flexibility and convenience of the process. As a result, the market would open up leading to growth of opportunities. On the other hand, its demerits would be adverse since the freedom would mean the lack of ethical approaches and violation of other business rights. This implies that the government needs to adopt policies to manage self-regulation to prevent the severity of the move. Based on these facts, it is essential for the government to regulate the advertising industries to ensure the incorporation of corporate governance.