PERSONAL CODE OF ETHICS

Question 3. - In this week's 3rd question, please share with group members your
thoughts about:
a) what your basic ethical "values" (or "principles") are and what role they play in
your decision-making, and,
b) how thinking through and then articulating a personal decision-making process
might lead to better decisions - when faced with ethical dilemmas.

Question 1. Do you think that Apple has demonstrated global corporate

citizenship, as defined in this chapter? Why or why not?
1. In my opinion, I would say that Apple has demonstrated global
corporate citizenship (GCS), highlighted by two important moves:
responding quickly and effectively to a heavily supported petition
which called for Apple to add more protection to foreign workers,
and by taking both personal and financial responsibility for the
mishaps that had happen to date and joining the Fair Labor
Associationa nongovernment organization committed to
promoting fair labor practices globally. By making these two
strides, initially, Apple does give the impression that they are
demonstrating GCS, though their work most certainly does not
stop here, as the discussion case ended with both Apple and
Foxconn having further steps that need to be taken in order to
fully combat the problems being seen in their factories. To me,
while reading the case, it sounded as if the major problem here
was actually Foxconn, the Taiwanese overseeing firm that was in
control of the three major Apple factories. I say this because the
initial FLA report had discovered that Foxconn actually instructed
employees on how to cheat earlier audits ran by Apple through
the company, using what was called a cheat sheet to respond
to questions about code violations. While I dont think that Apple
is 100% innocent in this situation, as they knowingly and openly
support the usage of outsourcing to lower income areas in Asia, I
do think that Apple had continuously made steps to fight the
problems being posed, thus, in essence, were demonstrating
global corporate citizenship. From what we have read up to this
point, and as mentioned before, this does not, by any means,
indicate that Apple has been perfect in their off shore factory
problems, but they have made respectable steps in the right
direction.

Question 2. What are the advantages and disadvantages to Apple of:

a) using its own company-specific supplier code of conduct, rather than a global
code, such as those discussed in this chapter?
b) using an independent third-party auditor, rather than relying solely on its own
internal audits?
2.
a. In my opinion, one advantage of Apple using its own
company-specific supplier code of conduct, rather than
some other, global and universally agreed upon code,
include the ability to incorporate nearly every aspect of
Apples business into the code, which is something that
could not be done, in my opinion, with a general, industryspecific code, for example. What I mean by this is Apple is
a very large company, as the book points out, was at one
point the largest PTC on earth by market share and were
actually doing more sales numbers than Google and
Microsoft combined, and when a company becomes that
big and that complex, there are many corners and avenues
that an auditing company must truly explore in order to
fully audit such a massive company. And in my opinion,
without a company specific code, a significant number of
these dark corners could go unseen, and virtually,
unnoticedonce again, with such a big company, this
could be catastrophic in the long term. Another advantage
could also be a more cost effective and more
encompassing auditing system may form thru a companyspecific audit, rather than an industry-specific. With
industry-specific, I believe the code may end up being too
general for such a major company as Apple, and would in
turn, force Apple to spend unnecessary money researching
unnecessary aspects, and leave many aspects of the
company untouched or unaffected by the code. A few
disadvantages could include unfair reporting: if the
auditing system is company-specific but also ran by the
company itself, you run the risk of people reporting false
responses or false numbers to ensure that their area of
expertise isnt the worst performing or most in need of
work, as well as under reporting: if a company runs its
own audit once again, many managers may over assume
that they know their specific section too well, and not
actually investigate or survey employees from their unit,

essentially over generalizing their misinterpretations of the

problems within the company.
b. For me, there is truly only one or two disadvantages to
relying on a third-party auditor, so I would like to start with
those: if the third-party auditor has an agenda of its own in
performing the audit, you may end up with results tailored
to a specific section or area of the company due to the
third-party companies previously created biases.
Furthermore, if a corporation goes with a third-party
auditor, and they decide which aspects of the company
need more time than others, then once again, you may end
up with results that are more tailored to what the thirdparty company believes are important, and not necessarily
the most important areas to the overall company. On the
flipside, the advantages could include: lack of bias, more
complete reporting, less generalized reporting, more
reliable reporting, more thorough reporting, and ultimately,
a better, more well-rounded audit should result. In my
opinion, there is almost no reason not to go with a thirdparty auditor, except for if a corporation truly cannot find a
trustworthy and honest third-party auditor.
Question 3. - In this week's 3rd question, please share with group members your
thoughts about:
a) what your basic ethical "values" (or "principles") are and what role they play in
your decision-making, and,
b) how thinking through and then articulating a personal decision-making process
might lead to better decisions - when faced with ethical dilemmas.
3.
a. My basic ethical values, in general, are as follows:
1. Honesty
2. Loyalty
3. Integrity
4. Empathy
5. Excellency
6. Accountability
7. Positivity
8. Class
ii. Each of these 8 aspects play a different, yet equally
important role in my decision-making. Usually, when
I am faced with a difficult task or difficult situation, in
which an ethical decision may have to be made, I
address these 8 aspects and apply them to the

current situation, in hopes of allowing myself to

honestly asses the ethical nature of the task or
situation. What I mean by this is that these play as
my general guidelines to an ethical problem: if some
conflict of ethics arises, I use these as my stepping
stones to navigate through the situation, and
hopefully, conclude on an ethical and just result.
Though it is worth mentioning that all this is easier
said than done, I must also state that this has helped
me through 22 years of life and it doesnt seem to
becoming any less effective as time passes on.
b. To me, this is pretty straightforward: I believe a well
thought out, unbiased, and thoroughly analyzed solution to
a problem will nearly always result in a more ethical and
respectable solution. In comparison, reacting solely on
instincts or emotions, though effective in certain situations,
I have found to be quite misleading in situations revolving
around ethical dilemmas. If a person tends to jump to
conclusions and never really analyzes the reasoning behind
such a conclusion, nearly everybody on earth is bound to
miss some important aspect or factor regarding the
situation, and ultimately, make an ill-informed decision.
Maybe this question simply falls in line with my general
thought process, as I tend to apply this well thought out
and thoroughly articulated decision making process to all
aspects of life, nonetheless, It has been effective in
allowing me to navigate the very murky waters our society
has found itself in over the past few years. So to me, this
is truly the only way to approach ethical dilemmas without
resulting in some biased or misleading response.