Mountain Top View Ethical Framework
Eric DeJesus
English Department, Southern New Hampshire University
BUS-206-T6000 Business Law I 21EW6
Dr. William C. Anderson
August 1, 2021
Ethical test
For a company such as Mountain Top View dealing with retail customers both through
the storefront and online, I would recommend the WH framework for business ethics. Put
simply, WHO would my decision affect, and what guidelines to follow for HOW to make the
ethical decision. Using this framework, the company can follow the most appropriate guideline
for the situation once the stakeholders have been established. Dynamic Business Law (Kubasek
et al., 2020) states that a stakeholder is the group of people affected by a firm's decision and can
include owners, employees, customers, managers, the community, and future generations. It is
important to think broadly when determining stakeholders. Decisions may have far-reaching
impacts that should be considered.
Once the stakeholders are identified, an ethical test can be applied. Tests such as the
golden rule; treat others as you wish to be treated, universalization; how would the world look if
everyone copied our decision or public disclosure; your actions are visible to the public. In the
Mountain Top View data breach, the stakeholders are the owner Clare, the IT manager Steve, and
the affected customers. If Steve had used the public disclosure test and considered how his
actions to cover up the data breach would be perceived, he would have disclosed the breach to
the owner. Steve's actions indicate he wanted to identify and close the gap without disclosing
the breach to the public. While the WH framework can be applied to most ethical situations, it
can be complicated to implement without clear and precise policies and procedures for
employees and managers to follow.
Citations
Kubasek, N. K., M Neil Browne, Dhooge, L. J., Herron, D. J., & Barkacs, L. L. (2020). Dynamic
business law. Mcgraw-Hill Education.