Choose one of the ethical issues from the list below to research and write about. It is recommended that you choose a topic you are familiar with or have thought about previously. For example, you might choose an issue that either worries you or enrages you; you might choose one that you have worked on; or you might choose one that relates to recent events in your community.
Possible Issues
Corporate executive compensation
Corporate contributions to political campaigns
Affirmative action
The media and its responsibilities
Domestic surveillance
Whistle blowing in government or in a business
Religion in the workplace
Pornography
Consumer tracking
Ethical problems of gambling
Progressive taxation rates
Immigration
Women's equality
In your paper, you will apply the ethical theories and perspectives to the issue you select. You do not have to use all six, but you should apply at least two ethical theories and at least one ethical perspective in your paper. Make sure you write primarily on ethical topics and concepts; do not get distracted by doing analyses that apply political, economic, religious, or legal perspectives. Describe, compare, and apply the ethical theories and perspectives to the topics. Explain how the theories and perspectives would analyze the issue. What are the ethical issues? Where are there breaches of ethical behavior? How could each theory help people think about what would constitute virtuous or ethical behavior?
The paper must be eight to ten pages in length (excluding title and references pages) and formatted according to APA style. You must use at least five scholarly sources from the Ashford University Library other than the textbook to support your claims. You can also use the Sociology Research Guide located in the Ashford University Library. Cite your sources within the text of your paper and on the reference page. For information regarding APA, including samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center, located within the Learning Resources tab on the left navigation toolbar in your online course.
Ethical problems of Gambling
Introduction
Gambling takes so many forms that include lotteries, casino or sports gambling. In this context, gambling will focus on that which is done among friends and co-employees in a workplace. This type of gambling is referred to as recreational gambling. A good illustration of this is the workers making a bet with the fellow employees in office pools. Recreational gambling may involve two colleagues having a friendly bet on the winning team in a match. Matches like football attract so many fans who take interests in them and consequently prompt them to make small bets. They make bets with money in most cases so that the side that wins takes the money. These become a grievous source of problems to the ethics in a workplace. It compromises the standards of the workers such that they act irrationally in most cases.
Thesis statement
How the classical ethical theories relates with gambling being practiced in work places.
Virtue Ethics
This form of ethics is more person-oriented than the action itself. It focuses on the character of the persons who is
carrying out the action, more than the ethical rules and duties that guide the employees' morals. It is more concerned about the characteristics and behaviors that one is supposed to show in a work place. Persons in the work places often bet illegally. In that sense, wagering behaviors vary drastically because the gambler is not operating under any rules. The cardinal virtues that should always be esteemed high by the workers include prudence, justice, fortitude/bravery, and temperance. In this area of gambling especially the recreational one, temperance is key and the idea of being hopeful for next time even if the result turns out negative.
The behaviors are easily altered whereby the bet may favor a worker, and the other worker on the defeated side may act irrationally by beginning a fight. The fight is promoted with a bid to recover the money that was betted, especially when the workers are under the influence of alcohol. The worker will be deemed to have acted virtuously by accepting the defeat and releasing the money they had betted. They demonstrate good traits and morals on occasions like this. Most workers act irrationally in most cases especially when the bets do not favor them. Such workers are judged to have not acted virtuously. The justifications and decisions lie within the individuals, and the constituents of virtues are relative. One may consider one moral aspect virtuous while another employee thinks otherwise.
Utilitarianism and Deontological Ethics
These are two major ethics theories that try to give specifics, as well as justifications of moral rules and principles. A utilitarian approach to morality has an emphasis that a moral act is not intrinsically right or wrong (Mosser, 2013). As far as gambling is concerned, the justification on whether failure to keep promises once colleagues betted is intrinsically determined. What matters most in this approach is the overall good that is more of an emotion, which the moral action will cause. Sticking to failure to keep promises, the parties that did bet may turn up fighting if they did honor what they laid down in the beginning. Gambling amounts to happiness to the party that wins, and sadness or anger to the one whose side lost.
The principle of utilitarianism has it that morality is never an end, but a road to it. Gambling in workplaces may often result in people terribly injuring themselves. One limitation of the utilitarianism is that it can justify such instances of fights even if they are categorically immoral. For this reason, a second kind of moral theory becomes relevant, deontological ethics.
The principles that surround this type of ethics condemn acts like lying, murder or promise breaking. Lying is associated with gambling in that many deny betting at all when the results of what they betted for do not favor them. Deontological ethics qualifies such activities to be intrinsically wrong, and the workers have the duty to be careful with them. Activities with negative consequences should be eliminated in all ways so that all parties involved may benefit.
Most fans of sports gambling are not real fans. This is because their loyalty and commitment to the sports team are never sustained. The sports gamblers in work places generate interests in sports teams that win. If the teams start losing, they lose their loyalty and endeavor to start an identity with the winning team. They will only maintain their relationship with a team if the team is not a frequent loser. A loyal lover of the team, on the other hand, will continue being a supporter of that team regardless of whether it wins or not. Workers are so quick to quit supporting any team that does not make them gain money.
Conclusion
Employees in work places provide an evidence of these three theories as they engage in recreational gambling: virtue ethics, utilitarianism, and deontological ethics. The ethical problems associated with sports are numerous and can only be eliminated if guidelines and rules are established to guide this aspect. In fact, recreational gambling is on the rise and interventional strategies must be employed to deal with the issues.