Introduction to Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Introduction to Business - Essay Example Firstly it is the case that there is a strong public debt burden in the United States which can be attributed to the inability of the government to reign in its spending. Building on this point it is the case that according to the U.S. Treasury department approximately 23% and 21% of U.S. treasury securities are held by the central banks of China and Japan respectively. The solution to this problem would be for American voters to press their politicians to practice fiscal discipline. A second major problem facing the American economy which has negatively affects the economy recently is the American trade deficit which according to the CIA World Factbook (2010) reached a record $840 billion in 2008, in simple terms more is coming in than is going out. While many people would take a mercantilist viewpoint and argue that people should â€Å"Buy American† a simple solution would be for American manufacturers to simply look at what foreign products are filling this consumer gap domestically and look to find new ways to better serve their domestic customers. As a last major problem affecting the Ameican economy would be the sub prime mortgage market and credit default swaps that have helped fuel the economic downturn from 2007-2010. In terms of how credit default swaps work, they act as a type of insurance policy that backs investments and the way that they have arguable exacerbated the financial crisis is that the instruments help encourage investment in riskier investments. As far as sub prime mortgages are concerned it is the case that house prices growing every year it made sense for lenders to support buyers whose credit history was questionable (Owing to the fact that the buyers would see favorable returns in their housing prices). However when the bubble burst and the lenders sought their compensation from buyers it was the case that many people defaulted. The obvious solution for this circumstance would be for stricter regulation on

How Personal Can Ethics Get Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How Personal Can Ethics Get - Essay Example 953). Two very different individuals may carry with them two entirely different perspectives of the world. These perspectives possess a viable potential to influence the individuals’ preferences concerning a variety of considerations in the organizational workplace. One area of an organization which is undoubtedly influenced by personal differences and (related differing preferences) is ethics. S.J. Reynolds (2006) finds that â€Å"individual differences can interact with issue characteristics to shape moral awareness† (qtd. Trevino, Weaver, & Reynolds, 2006, p. 954). As such, two different people may perceive an ethical dilemma differently. For example, one person may perceive the existence of nepotism in the workplace as a coincidence in which an employer’s relatives happened to be best suited for a job. Another person may perceive the existence of nepotism in the workplace as a breach of ethics in which fair hiring principles are abandoned in favor of personal interest. Whereas the former may derive their opinion from a personal experience in which a family business proved fruitful, another may harbor grievances concerning high levels of unemployment effecting his or her family, community, or self. The former maintains an ethical preference for directly helping one’s friends and family, while the latter maintains an ethical preference for indirectly helping one’s friends and family by maintaining fair and equal hiring practices. An organization containing both hypothetical individuals is subsequently shaped and form by the shifting dynamic of their conflicting ideals. Discuss how organizational policies and procedures can impact ethics. The ethical preferences of members of an organization are shaped by individuals’ predisposed positions on varying issues as well as externally imposed policy and procedure. As such, an organization’s policies and procedures can impact criterion for ethical dilemmas as well as e thical results substantially. Wotruba, Chonko, and Lo (2001) identify three primary functions executed by codes of ethics in an organization. First, codes of ethics can demonstrate a concern for ethics by the organization. In this manner, an organization may elect to create a code of ethics in an attempt to convey a general awareness and reverence for ethical observation and conduct in the workplace. For example, a company might create a code of ethics which is read and understood by its newly hired employees during their training in an effort to effectively communicate that the company is aware of ethics and embraces ethics as a high priority in the workplace. Second, codes of ethics can â€Å"transmit ethical values of the organization to its members† (Wotruba, Chonko, and Lo, 2001, p. 59). This function is substantially more specific than the former function, which seeks to convey a simple, general awareness of ethics as an existent priority within the workplace. Instead, ethical values transmitted to members of an organization by the organization are designed to create a better understanding of what an organization is and what values it holds most dear. For example, a service-oriented organization might include â€Å"putting the customer first† as an ethical priority in the w