Summary of the Situation
The conflict under consideration emerged between Nike’s managers and some of its workers in 2018, and it was directly connected to workplace writing. In this case, female employees were concerned about the departure of three women who were highly experienced in the business over the previous year (Campbell). These events encouraged them to conduct an anonymous survey among other women in the company to reveal the causes of discrimination and harassment at work (Campbell). Its results appeared to be alarming and were sent by email to Nike’s CEO, Mark Parker (Campbell). This action was followed by the firing of some male specialists involved in the matter, while the ethical aspect remains unclear.
Utility-Based Systems: An Ethical Response
From the perspective of utility-based systems, this case can be considered harmful to the well-being of the affected persons. In this situation, they are the male employees demonstrating inappropriate conduct in the past (Campbell). In this case, the underlying principles related to the promotion of happiness were violated since the selected method of addressing the challenges was not the best possible approach to other circumstances. Thus, the scope of damage caused to the image of the culprits was incomparably more significant than that of female workers in the past. As per this system, an ethical response would be discussing the challenge with the people involved in the problem rather than the decision-making of observers.
Rule-Based Systems: An Ethical Response
The examination of the case on the grounds of rule-based systems of ethics shows that any principles implied by similar procedures did not guide the actions taken by the initiators of the survey. Hence, they were unethical because the women ignored the actual admissibility of performing the developed task without informing the CEO of the emerged difficulties (Campbell). In this way, conducting an anonymous survey among the female employees was not an acceptable measure as its managers did not regulate it. From this point of view, the possible response would be the intention to learn about the previously adopted means for conflict resolution, which Nike’s leaders officially acknowledged.
Rights-Based Systems: An Ethical Response
Another approach to the presented ethical dilemma was right-based systems when conducting the surveys. As follows from the case, the initiators were explicitly violating the conventional rights of the male employees by excluding them from the consideration (Campbell). In other words, they showed disrespect towards the company’s values, which are diversity and equality (Campbell). On the other hand, even though it is clear that the men caused the problems, they were supposed to be granted the possibility to participate in the discussion. Therefore, an ethical response per the examined system would be the inclusion of all people and the consideration of opposing views.
The Possible Course of Action
Considering the above analysis, the most ethical way of dealing with the described situation would be to combine the methods implied by each related system. In other words, the attention to the company’s rules, the well-being of all people without exceptions, and respect for their rights will benefit a better outcome. The activists conducting the survey should have learned about the procedures accepted by Nike in these cases in the first place. Subsequently, their actions would involve all people in the study for precision and, most importantly, informing the CEO of the initiative before implementing it.
Work Cited
Campbell, Alexia Fernández. ” Why the Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Nike is so Significant.” Vox. 2018. Web.