BUS 206 Project 2 11/24/2023 Ethical Test or Framework After experiencing this breach in security, it would be best to use an ethical test or framework that will help the people within this company make the best decisions possible. As a general idea, those within the company should be mindful of the W (who; aka, the stakeholders) H (how; aka, the guidelines) Framework. This framework is a guide using ethics that can be applied to management decisions. It considers who the decision(s) will affect as well as how managers should make ethical decisions for the business or company. Another method that could be used is the Universalization Test. This test is another guideline, but it takes a very big focus on the stakeholders. It asked owners/management to think about how the world could be affected by our decision(s). Basically, is this action going to make the world a better place? This is another type of test that leads back to the importance of a business doing 'good' in the world. Both the WH Framework as well as the Universalization Test are good for the Mountain Top View company to use. For example, if the tech who had discovered the breach considered the people who were affected outside of the company, he likely would have notified management and those whose information was stolen would have been notified in more of a timely manner. This tech did not consider the customer's interest in knowing that their information had been accessed by a hacker as it seemed somewhat unimportant to
him as he had fixed the error in the code that was hacked. While only customer's names, addresses, and phone numbers had been accessed, it is still very important to make all those involved in the breach aware. Many may not want their phone number out in public, let alone their addresses or full names. These bits of information can lead to identity theft and notifying the customers of the breach allows them to be mindful and watch out for signs that someone is trying to steal their identity. Steve, the tech who had discovered the hack, could have used either the WH Framework or Universalization Test. If he had used the WH Framework, my main choice in ethical test for this company, he likely would have taken all stakeholders into account when coming upon the breach. This would have caused him to think past those whom he works with on a daily basis and think in more of a 'whole' or 'complete' way. Instead of only thinking of fixing the issue, he would have considered what the company would need to do in regards to the customer's whose information was stolen as well as how to do the informing. CITATIONS:
Kubasek, N. K., Browne, M. N., Herron, D. J., Dhooge, L. J., & Barkacs, L. L. (2023). Dynamic Business Law. McGraw-Hill LLC.