Understanding Utilitarian Ethical Theory (Essay Sample)

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Business Ethics
Jessica would show her innocence in court by reiterating that she did not reveal the identities of the men she engaged in sexual escapades after work. She would argue that the stories on her blog were creative and not real cases. For the case to be made illegal Jessica would not have her image on the blog and also not publish the stories. By so doing, her name would not be dragged into the mess she is in at the moment because no evidence would be available to press charges on the congress member of staff. No evidence to proof Jessica’s after work sexual escapades would make her firing illegal and she would probably have her job back.
In terms of the ethical firing of Jessica, there are two sides to the story. For starters, it was ethical to fire Jessica under the utilitarian ethical theory. The reason is the California congress cannot afford to have their name tarnished in sexual matters. It was for the greater good that Jessica was fired because probably she had a lot coming in the store. Probably she would make the congress reputation diminish and make it hard for them to redeem themselves to the former glory they have strived much to maintain. However, a contradictory approach to the universal principles theory comes into play. Jessica has a right to live her life after work how she sees it fit and the California Congress has no right meddling in her private life. Her social life does not hinder how productive she is in the workplace from the case and therefore scrutinizing an individual’s life just to find unacceptable social norms and use them as a reason to fire is not right. Those in the California Congress probably have worse social activities but since they are done in so much secrecy there is no proof. It would be prudent to establish boundaries on how much you can scrutinize a person’s life.
Gina has an advantage in showing that her firing was illegal. Gina has been coming to Tim’s gym as an aerobics instructor for two years without failure as per the agreed contract which has an exception for Wednesdays. Such a gesture on her side gives her a plus to show that Tim who opts to fire her is illegal. She can even argue that the gaining of weight over the period which is what makes Tim skeptical about her capabilities has not interfered with the responsibilities bestowed upon her. If the case was to be legal, Tim has to present proof of how Gina’s weight gain has a negative impact on the revenue garnered by the gym which may involve loss of several clients. So far no client has left due to reduced capability on Gina’s side caused by her weight gain.
The firing of Gina ethics lies in a tangle between universal principles and virtue theory. According to Tim, the virtue theory makes it right to fire Tina because he has lost confidence in her capabilities as far as being an aerobics instructor. All Tim considers as the reason for more clientele is Gina’s fitness which he doubts due to the weight gain. He is of the notion that clients will start leaving his gym due to loss of confidence in Gina being an aerobics instructor. However, the universal principles ethical theory lies favors Gina to being an aerobics instructor since her weight gain has in no way hindered her capabilities to perform duties delegated to her. Gina weight gain being attached to not maintaining her initial pace in the trade is discriminatory of Tim. It was discriminatory of Tim to suggest that losing clientele would be as a result of Gina’s weight gain. Other factors may be the presence of new gyms which have lower rates than those offered by Tim’s gym.
Cristi would argue in court of her innocence claiming that the scrutinizing her private life is an act of injustice. Everyone has their deep secrets and wrongs they have done in the past and they should not be judged using the occurrences in the past. What mistakes may occur during the teaching period are what should form the basis for firing a person since no person is perfect. For the case to become a misjudged firing, there should be no evidence in literature or even online that Cristi engaged in any social escapades which can be considered inappropriate when dealing with children who are naïve in this matters. Cristi also has to confirm beyond reasonable doubt that she was not the one in the pictures and videos rather it was mistaken identity.
In terms of ethical firing, the utilitarian theory comes in handy. Cristi’s firing is for the greater good especially for the girl students who are vulnerable when it comes to the behavior Cristi posed during her college days. The students may find it hard to concentrate during Spanish lessons because the image they saw of Cristi may still linger in their minds hence lead to poor performance for the subject. The school’s leadership firing d