Qualitative inquiries and the enhancement - Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss about the Qualitative inquiries and the enhancement. Answer: Identification of stakeholders in the situation: As pointed out by Burton (2017), a stakeholder is an individual, a group or a firm, which has concern or interest in a firm or another individual. The stakeholders could influence or be influenced by the actions and policies of an individual or organisation. However, there are groups of stakeholders, who have different goals and objectives. For instance, some of the main stakeholders include directors, creditors, staffs, government, owners, unions, suppliers, individual and the overall community from the perspective of a business organisation. An ethical dilemma takes place when a moral obligation is needed to adhere to two different courses of action. However, the circumstances of the situation only enable to select one of the two courses (Henderson et al. 2015). An instance would be to report unethical act on the part of an individual involved in some type of fraud or cheating, which is the situation identified from the case study. In this case, the associated stakeholders with the individual might be in the fear of making monetary loss. However, by avoiding the reporting of wrongdoing, the associated stakeholders have been put in jeopardy (Lawson et al. 2015). The identification of major stakeholders is necessary for ethical behaviour and if the stakeholders could not be identified, it might result in unethical decision without the realisation of a moral dilemma in the first place. The case study states that Vicky had paid Becks to purchase the accounting textbook and the latter individual had accepted the same. At the first instance, this might look moral and reasonable; however, it has resulted in unethical behaviour, in which Becks has retained the money of Becks saved in purchasing the accounting textbook. There is no perfect procedure for a stakeholder to deal with ethical dilemmas (Martinov-Bennie and Mladenovic 2015). Irrespective of the selection, it is necessary for a stakeholder to encounter and accept the consequences of the actions taken. The first procedure is to analyse the potential actions to be taken and then picking up the course that would be least problematic from the moral perspective. The second method constitutes of the potential outcomes of actions along with choosing the course of action with the maximum benefits or lowest harm. According to the provided case study, it has been found that Becks and Vicky are two friends, who are pursuing their university studies. In addition, it has been identified that both the individuals intended to major in Accounting. However, due to some family problems, it has been found that Vicky had to return home. Hence, the main stakeholders identified in this situation include Becks and Vicky. This is because Vicky has provided an amount to Becks for purchasing an accounting textbook, which the latter person accepted. However, at the time of purchase, Becks had saved a part of the money obtained from Vicky, which he did not return to the latter. Thus, this case study identifies the two major stakeholders as Vicky and Becks, the accounting students. Ethical issues involved: In the words of Burton (2017), ethical issue could be defined as a situation or problem, which needs an individual or an organisation to select between the options that should be evaluated as right (ethical) or wrong (unethical). The most fundamental ethical issue observed in this case is trust, while integrity could be identified as another issue. In this case, the basic understanding of integrity is to conduct the purchase of book with honesty and a commitment to treat a friend in a fair manner. When an individual perceives that another individual is showing unwavering commitment to ethical practices, it leads to formation of trust between two individuals. Thus, a relationship of trust between two friends needs to be a key determinate in assisting in university studies. Along with this, ethical decision-making process need to centre on protecting individuals and their rights by ensuring that all acts made are just and fair. From the provided case study, it has been found out that Becks has made a profit of $15 by acquiring the text at a lower price in contrast to the text price of the bookshop of $80. Becks has misled Vicky by failing to reveal the cost price of $65, which denotes the amount paid for the textbook. In this context, Apostolou et al. (2015) stated that not disclosing the actual price of an item to an individual could be adjudged as a severe ethical issue. On the other hand, Ames et al. (2017) are of the view that such practice enables the former individual in saving additional money, which would help in future investments. In addition, it could be seen that Vicky has lost the benefit of the minimised price cost saving of $15. From another perspective, it could be stated that Becks has not acted honestly, as he has retained the additional $15 of Vicky. Thus, the behaviour of Becks is not ethical or friendly at all. In this regard, Bebbington, Unerman and O'Dwyer (2014) advocated that such unethical behaviour on the part of an individual might lead to trust issues from the perspective of another individual, which would act as hindrance in future monetary transactions. Moreover, Becks had told Vicky that he lost the receipt, which has helped him in saving additional money for the new textbook. Thus, Vicky would not know that Becks has charged additional amount from her to purchase the textbook; thus, involving in unethical practices. The case study further states that Becks has not provided any information to Vicky about the economic value of the book. This denotes that there is breach of duty on the part of Becks to Vicky by not purchasing the new book at $65 and offering $15 balance in return. Moreover, it implies that Becks has cheated Vicky in purchasing the textbook, which has resulted in monetary loss for the latter individual. Hence, these are identified as the main ethical issues involved in the situation regarding the purchase of the accounting textbook. Alternatives to Becks: As identified from the case study, Becks had received $80 from Vicky for purchasing an accounaccountingtextbook. However, Becks has saved $15 from $80 provided on the part of Vicky and he had not returned the same to the latter as well. This has lead to formation of an ethical dilemma, which might lead to lack of integrity and trust (Shapiro and Stefkovich 2016). However, in order to avoid such unethical situation, Becks could have undertaken a series of actions, which are demonstrated briefly as follows: Providing the correct change to Vicky: According to Slade and Prinsloo (2013), it is necessary to build trust between two stakeholders to maintain ethical integrity. In this case, it has been found out that Becks has made a profit of $15 by acquiring the text at a lower price in contrast to the text price of the bookshop of $80. Becks has misled Vicky by failing to reveal the cost price of $65, which denotes the amount paid for the textbook. In addition, it could be seen that Vicky has lost the benefit of the minimised price cost saving of $15. Thus, the behaviour of Becks is not ethical or friendly at all. Moreover, Becks had told Vicky that he lost the receipt, which has helped him in saving additional money for the new textbook. Hence, Becks could have told Vicky about the real situation and he needs to provide the correct change to Vicky to maintain the ethical dilemma. Purchasing a new brand accounting textbook for S80: According to the provided case study, it has been found that Becks and Vicky are two friends, who are pursuing their university studies. In addition, it has been identified that both the individuals intended to major in Accounting. However, due to some family problems, it has been found that Vicky had to return home. Hence, the main stakeholders identified in this situation include Becks and Vicky. This is because Vicky has provided an amount to Becks for purchasing an accounting textbook, which the latter person accepted (Zadek, Evans and Pruzan 2013). The case study further states that Becks has not provided any information to Vicky about the economic value of the book. This denotes that there is breach of duty on the part of Becks to Vicky by not purchasing the new book at $65 and offering $15 balance in return. Moreover, it implies that Becks has cheated Vicky in purchasing the textbook, which has resulted in a monetary loss for the latter individual. In order to avoid the conflicting situation, the first procedure is to analyse the potential actions to be taken and then picking up the course that would be least problematic from the moral perspective (Weiss 2014). The second method constitutes of the potential outcomes of actions along with choosing the course of action with the maximum benefits or lowest harm. Hence, Becks could have purchased a brand new accounting textbook for Vicky in exchange of $80, which is listed on the part of the bookshop. References: Ames, A., Smith, K.L., Sanchez, E.R., Pyle, L., Ball, T. and Hawk, W.J., 2017. 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Pearson Higher Education AU. Lawson, R.A., Blocher, E.J., Brewer, P.C., Morris, J.T., Stocks, K.D., Sorensen, J.E., Stout, D.E. and Wouters, M.J., 2015. Thoughts on competency integration in accounting education.Issues in Accounting Education,30(3), pp.149-171. Martinov-Bennie, N. and Mladenovic, R., 2015. Investigation of the impact of an ethical framework and an integrated ethics education on accounting students ethical sensitivity and judgment.Journal of Business Ethics,127(1), pp.189-203. Shapiro, J.P. and Stefkovich, J.A., 2016.Ethical leadership and decision making in education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge. Slade, S. and Prinsloo, P., 2013. Learning analytics: Ethical issues and dilemmas.American Behavioral Scientist,57(10), pp.1510-1529. Weiss, J.W., 2014.Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Zadek, S., Evans, R. and Pruzan, P., 2013.Building corporate accountability: Emerging practice in social and ethical accounting and auditing. Routledge.