Business Ethics Assignment: Case Analysis Of Johnson & Johnson And Ethical Leadership
Question
Task:
Question:Part 1
a) You are required to write a brief report for senior managers at the case of Johnson & Johnson. This report is written from the perspective of a middle manager tasked to outline the ethical dimensions of the issues from the case. You will need to explore a number of factors including - Why should this be explored as an ethical question? How might the company want to think about the role of business in society? You will also need to outline who the key stakeholders are and in what way they are affected. You should include research into examples of how ethical choices impact on other companies. Finally you should conclude with some recommendations for what the company should do
This part of your assessment should be written as a report, but should be referenced in the normal academic way using Harvard citations and referencing.
b) For this part you should again use your chosen case of Johnson & Johnson – but this time choose TWO ethical theories and demonstrate that you can apply these to the case to show how your chosen theories lead you to a view on the ethics of the case. This is written as an academic paper.
Part 2
Part 2 is NOTrelated to the above case. This section requires you to discuss what make an ethical leader and how you would, as an ethical manager, manage your business and/or others to a high ethical standard.
You will need to think about personal ethics, about the conditions that bring about unethical organisations and practices, about organisational values and methods of compliance. This part can be written in a more reflective style
Answer
1.0 Introduction
The concept of business ethics explored in this business ethics assignment refers to the rules, standards and values a business represent through its actions and decisions in the business environment. It helps define the right behavior, morals and act of sustainability taking place in a business that help link the justice to stakeholders and corporate social responsibility of a company (PARILTI et al. 2014).
The report points out the ethical issue of Johnsons and Johnsons Company and the stakeholders impacted by it. The report on business ethics assignment further describes theories and their application on business. Lastly, the report reflects on the theory of ethical leadership management and its importance in an unethical company.
2.0 Part 1-A Report
2.1 Ethical Issue
Ethical Issues is referred to as an unethical or wrong decision taken by the organization that has negative impact on the customers and other stakeholders. A business faces moral issue over time due to different poor decision and planning (Leonidou et al. 2013). Ethical issues in business is a moral conflict that arises where the moral standards are hampered.
Unethical Marketing- ethical and social responsibility is one of the most important part in marketing practices. Unethical marketing is a negative behavior of the firm such as misleading advertisements, deceptive packaging, exploiting customers’ emotions and others that damage the reputation of the firm and decrease the trust of the customers (Leonidou et al. 2013). The unethical marketing aims at forcefully evoking the decisions of the customers such as tricking customers to purchase the product to gain certain advantage. Johnson & Johnson has been deemed responsible in court for misleading their customers for the use of opioid medicines and was charged $572 million (Hotten 2020). The brand was held for leading the opioid crisis in Oklahoma and United States through false advertisements. The Guardian (2019) stated that Johnson & Johnson run a false and dangerous sales campaign that caused addiction and death among people in America. Oklahoma also accused the brand for creating opioid epidemic in the state.
Emotional marketing- ethics of the company is also seen through emotional marketing initiatives. The words of Consoli (2010) considered in this section of business ethics assignment states that emotions play an important role in business decisions and help in forming a channel of mutual trust and collaboration with the customers. Johnson & Johnson led an emotional marketing to sympathize with the emotions of the customers by reducing their pain through opioid(Rytel 2010). However, they exploited the emotions of the customers by forcing them to use opioid painkillers. The US Department of Health and Human Services declared the crisis caused by opioid as a public health emergency (Business-humanrights 2020). Johnson & Johnson failed to make their customers aware of the over consumption of Opioid and affected large number of people. This shows that emotions of the customers were exploited through Johnson & Johnson opioid marketing.
2.2 Role of Business and Ethical Issues in Society
Corporate social responsibility is a term used by business to show their social phenomenon and the way they value their stakeholders. The CSR activities can help adding both positive and negative values to the business by negatively affecting the society. Johnson & Johnson implements emotional marketing as a part of their CSR activity for adding value to the customers. However, this activity added negative values to the business by hampering the society as a whole with health issues (Shabbir et al. 2019). Johnson & Johnson through their unethical marketing affected the society with serious health issues. Unethical marketing by Johnson & Johnson to sell opioid caused more than 400,000 deaths in United States from 1999 to 2017 due to overdose. Moreover, 6000 people in Oklahoma also died due to opioid overdose since 2000. This information provided in the business ethics assignment shows that the brand and the ethical issues that are seen in marketing affected the health of the society. The deceptive promotions of painkillers by Johnson & Johnson have spread addiction in the society towards painkillers. With reference to the case scenario of business ethics assignment, Shabbir et al. (2019) stated that unethical marketing practices or advertisements influences the buying behavior of the customers and lead them to the consumption of unhealthy products. Thus, Johnson & Johnson through their unethical marketing has interrupted the healthy living of people in US and Oklahoma society by influencing them to consumer unhealthy painkillers.
2.3 Five Stakeholders
Carroll and Buchholtz (2014) define stakeholders as groups that form an important part in the success of the business and help the firm in the achievement of their goals. Moreover, the stakeholders are also impacted by the activities or decisions taken by the business. Stakeholders are important for the business because they give financial and practical support to the business and are interested in the decisions of the company.
The unethical marketing issue caused by Johnson & Johnson will affect the stakeholders and their perception about the company. The brand has defended itself on various grounds by showing evidence on sale of their painkillers in US and others. However, their activity has affected number of stakeholders.
Customer- the unethical marketing could have affected the customers negatively by causing health issues in them due to overdose or addiction to their painkillers. The deceptive marketing of Johnson & Johnson made customers consumer consume their painkillers and this has caused health issues or even deaths among the customers. This shows that the ethical issues have negatively affected the customers largely by making them lose their loved ones. The investigation carried on this business ethics assignment signifies that there have been more than 400,000 deaths in USA and 6000 deaths in Oklahoma due to consumption of opioid (Hotten 2020).
Investors- the unethical marketing will tend to de-motivate the investors by reducing their initiative to invest in the company that is facing such high lawsuit. It is important for Johnson & Johnson to prove themselves right by presenting evidences and avoid making such unethical decisions in future to attract the investors.
Owners- the owners of the company have been affected negatively by the lawsuit charged on them. The owners had to pay an amount of $572 million to the court as fine for causing the opioid addiction crisis in US and Oklahoma (Hotten 2020). The brand has to take careful marketing in future to avoid such loss.
Suppliers- the suppliers are people that supply raw materials to Johnson & Johnson for producing the drugs. With the impact of lawsuit the suppliers will become unhappy has may back off in doing business with the company with the threat of suffering a part of the lawsuit.
Government- the ethical issue of unethical advertisement has increased the responsibility and tension among the government to control business practices and products coming in USA and Oklahoma. The Controlled Substances Import and Export Act do this in US where food and drugs trade is imported in a controlled manner (Naabt 2020).
2.4 Examples of Good and Bad Ethics
Ethics in business forms an effective part of marketing and advertising where companies indulge in activities that convey and true message to the society (Bhattacharya 2016). The growing awareness of the customers about ethical and unethical advertising campaign has increased pressure among the companies to take responsible marketing initiatives. This is because it directly affects its sales and reputation of business in the market (Parke et al. 2014). Therefore, a responsible marketing outlook is important for companies.
Many large organizations has indulged in unethical marketing campaign designs that resulted in hampering their reputation and market image such as Volkswagen (Hotten2020a). Volkswagen engaged in implementing marketing campaign that mislead the customers by promoting low emission vehicles that actually cheated the test by automatic detection. This is an example of bad ethics where unethical practice hampered the image of the car brand.
Example of good ethics is Starbucks that has initiated responsible marketing in selling its coffee through Fairtrade Foundation (Bbc 2020). Starbucks implemented the campaign for contributing to positive environmental movement by selling certified coffee.
2.5 Recommendations
Given the previous impact of actions taken by Johnson & Johnson to lead a deceptive campaign and the impact it had on the stakeholders, the report on business ethics assignment recommends on the steps taken by the company managers:
- Johnson & Johnson should comply by the Fairtrade Act or Controlled Substances Import and Export Act before using harmful elements on drugs (Naabt2020).
- The brand should state all the content of the drug truly with its benefits and side effects to avoid keeping customers under deception.
- To be sustainable company, Johnson & Johnson should work in collaboration with scientists that can help add adequate and safe amount of opioid in manufacturing painkillers.
References 1A
Bbc., 2020. Starbucks offers 'ethical' coffee. [online] BBC News. Available at:
Bhattacharya, C.B., 2016. Responsible marketing: Doing well by doing good. Marketing Intelligence Review, 8(1), pp.8-17.
Business-humanrights., 2020. Updating the Resource Centre Digital Platform. [online] business-humanrights. Available at:
Carroll, A.B. and Buchholtz, A.K., 2014. Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management. Business ethics assignmentNelson Education.
Consoli, D., 2010. A new concept of marketing: The emotional marketing. BRAND.Broad Research in Accounting, Negotiation, and Distribution, 1(1), pp.52-59.
Hotten, R., 2020. Johnson & Johnson Fined In Landmark Opioid Ruling. [online] BBC News. Available at:
Leonidou, L.C., Leonidou, C.N. and Kvasova, O., 2013. Cultural drivers and trust outcomes of consumer perceptions of organizational unethical marketing behavior. European Journal of Marketing.
Naabt., 2020. Controlled Substances Import and Export Act. [online] naabt. Available at:
PARILTI, N., DEM?RGÜNE?, B.K. and ÖZSAÇMACI, B., 2014. Ethical issues in marketing: An application for understanding ethical decision making. Marmara Üniversitesi?ktisadive?dariBilimlerDergisi, 36(2), pp.275-298.
Parke, A., Harris, A., Parke, J., Rigbye, J. and Blaszczynski, A., 2014. Responsible marketing and advertising in gambling: A critical review. The journal of gambling business and economics, 8(3), pp.21-35.
Rytel, T., 2010. Emotional marketing concept: The new marketing shift in the postmodern era. Verslas: teorijairpraktika, (1), pp.30-38.
Shabbir, H.A., Maalouf, H., Griessmair, M., Colmekcioglu, N. and Akhtar, P., 2019.Exploring perceptions of advertising ethics: An informant-derived approach. Business ethics assignmentJournal of Business Ethics, 159(3), pp.727-744.
The Guardian.,2019.Johnson & Johnson to pay $572m for fueling Oklahoma opioid crisis, judge rules.[Online].Available at
3.0 Part B- Theories of Ethics
3.1 Define Theories of Ethics
Ethical theories helps in showing rules and concept of human being to determine what is wrong and right for the humans. In this scenario of business ethics assignment, the two theories that will be defined for analyzing the case of Johnson & Johnson are Utilitarianism and Egoism.
Utilitarianism is defined as an ethical theory that determines the moral aspect of an action by analyzing its outcome. Utilitarianism holds the most ethical choice made that will help generate the greatest good to the greater number of people (Van Dang et al. 2017). A moral framework determines the right intension behind an action or decision. Bentham and Mill founded the theory that focused on maximizing pleasure or an action (FRANZCP 2007). Moreover, the theory helps in displaying the principles of rights and duties of an action and the way the right action can be served in a critical level.
Egoism ethical theory is defined, as a normative theory that help promote own good based on morality principle. It determines the way people ought to behave in accordance to their own self-interest. Psychological egoism is one part of egoism that state the behavior of the people and their reaction in a critical situation by considering their own interests. According to this theory, no one has the obligation to promote the interest of others (Gates 2013). Moreover, the egoism theory states that considering self-interest is the best way to promote general good as well because it motivate the person to work hard for achieving their interest.
3.2 Application of Theories on Johnson & Johnson Case
According to the ethical theory of utilitarianism, moral choice is the one that provides greatest good to maximum number of people. Based on Utilitarianism theory it is seen that even though Johnson & Johnson is making use of harmful opioid in their pain killer composition, yet it is doing to satisfy the needs of the customer and to relieve them from extreme pain. This analysis shows the ethical behavior of Johnson & Johnson by thinking about the poor medical conditions of the people. Although the company did not publish the content of its opioid content or give any warning, yet it aimed at reducing the extreme pain consumers are facing due to their medical conditions. Moreover, it is seen that the action of the company generate collective welfare to greatest number of people and ethically correct, yet it is not suitable to use it as the guided theory (Zadroga 2017). This is because choosing greatest good is unethical, as it leads to other health issues due to side effects and reputational damage of the company.
According to ethical egoism the moral decision is to pursue the own self-interest. This means the personal views is the one that matters in a decision-making and it is the only correct decision (Nobis 2020). Keeping this in view,the decision-making of Johnson & Johnson is ethical because it took decision based on their own self-interest to gain profit and increase sale. Based on this theory the business is aiming to achieve their financial goals.
3.3 Critique
The Utilitarianism theory considered in the present context of business ethics assignment that the business is seen to base the decision on has various advantages and disadvantages. This theory will help Johnson & Johnson to focus on the happiness of the society and it teaches harming others is wrong and immoral. Moreover, it is the easy theory to implement by looking at the function of the society. As Johnson & Johnson looks for majority people, implementing the people is the easiest thing to achieve. Moreover, it is a universal solution to give happiness through decision-making. This is what Johnson & Johnson has focused where it aimed at reducing pain and increasing happiness among people. However, the Utilitarianism view fails to consider other factors other than happiness for morality. As in the case of Johnson and Johnson where it considered at maximizing happiness through reducing pain, however, it did not consider the side effects of consuming excess opioid by the people.
This is an unethical impact that the medicine had on people (Baugher and Weisbord 2009). Moreover, Utilitarianism is an unrealistic perspective such as balancing the happiness for people by consumption of Johnson & Johnson medicine would mean to support harm caused by the overconsumption of medicine.
Ethical egoism theory help in generating opportunities for self-improvement and self-awareness. In case of Johnson & Johnson, the company focus on improving themselves to generate ethics and allow them to bring new health innovations (Rachels 2012). Moreover, there is less risk of manipulation in practice or decision-making based on ethical egoism and decision are made in controlled circumstances (Nobis 2020). However, based on this theory Johnson & Johnson would lose the empathy towards society and become a self-centered company. Moreover, it would breakdown customer relationships with the organization and damage reputation of the business.
3.4 Recommendations
Johnson & Johnson will face difficulties in future if it follows Utilitarianism and Egoism ethical theory. This is due to the disadvantages the theory cause to the company over time. Creating drugs with harmful product like opioid is not ethical and this will harm the market reputation of the company. Thus, it is recommended herein business ethics assignment that the company form strategies that can make use of advantages of both the theories such as happiness and self-awareness at the same time. This will help the company form collective welfare by forming individual as well as common good. Moreover, the happiness theory should consider the other factors also such as harmful health impacts of opioid along with relieving pain.
References 1B
Baugher, D. and Weisbord, E., 2009. Egoism, justice, rights, and utilitarianism: Student views of classic ethical positions in business. Journal of academic and business ethics, 1, p.1.
FRANZCP, M.R.M.B., 2007. A Critical Reflection on Utilitarianism as the Basis for Psychiatric Ethics.Journal of Ethics in Mental Health, 2(1), 1-4 Gates, D.C., 2013. Self-Interest, Ethical Egoism, and the Restored Gospel.Business ethics assignment BYU Studies Quarterly, 52(2), pp.151-176.
Nobis, N., 2020. Ethical Egoism. 1-4
Rachels, J., 2012. Ethical egoism. Ethical theory: an anthology, 14, p.193.
Zadroga, A., 2017. The origin of moral norms in business ethics and marketing ethics: personalism versus utilitarianism. Seminare.Poszukiwanianaukowe, 38(4), pp.95-101.
Van Dang, C., Tran, T.T., Gil, K.J., Shin, Y.B., Choi, J.W., Park, G.S. and Kim, J.W., 2017, June.Application of soar cognitive agent based on utilitarian ethics theory for home service robots.In 2017 14th International Conference on Ubiquitous Robots and Ambient Intelligence (URAI) (pp. 155-158).IEEE.
4.0 Part 2- Ethical Leadership
4.1 Ethical Leadership Management in Unethical Organizational Culture
Ethical leadership forms an integral part of an organization because it help raise the organizational culture and values of employees. I think ethical leaders display a high sense of integrity and trustworthiness in the environment and encourages subordinates to follow common vision (Carmichael et al. 2011). In an ethical leadership culture, the decisions are made in a fair and moral manner.
According to Kang (2019) stated that leadership and culture is related to the ethical behaviors of the low-level employees. Ethical leadership would mean ethical beliefs towards others in an organization. An ethical leader in an unethical organization would allow for common decision and reduce immoral decisions. This is because it creates ethical culture where morality is kept above in every decision. I have seen that moral manager make use of collaborative decision-making and belief in valuing its subordinates. It considers ethical standards to achieve organizational outcomes (Moore et al. 2019). Thus, through morality an ethical leader can help manage an unethical business effectively.
4.2 What are the ways to Maintain Integrity and Compliance in Unethical Business Environment discussed within this business ethics assignment?
Integrity forms an integral part of ethical leadership theory and plays an important role in maintaining a moral environment. Integrity relates to honesty and moral principles in business decision by committing to ethical standards. Leaders that display integrity is seen to be respectful, fair, committed and complying to values.
Compliance form an integral part of integrity behavior and important for an organization because it protects the business from lawsuits, form effective decisions, maintain work morale and correct behavior and increase customer attention (Moore et al. 2019). All this adds to positive business outcome and performance.
According to me, an unethical business environment can maintain integrity and compliance in a number of ways as discussed in the next section of business ethics assignment:
- Maintaining an up-to-date business ethical code of conduct and standards.
- Training and educating the managers about important business laws and compliance that is important to be implemented in decision-making.
- Timely monitoring of compliance based on recent legislation and standards.
- Identify responsible people important for compliance.
- Reward ethical conducts and take action against people those who violate standards and laws (Kaptein 2008).
4.3 Own Experience and Knowledge
With 2 years’ experience in manufacturing field I have come across circumstances where the managers engaged in unethical conducts towards the society through their decisions. There are lack of knowledge among many managers when taking manufacturing decisions and this has been the major reason behind poor unethical decisions. I worked as a manufacturing assistant in processed food manufacturing company where I never came across any discussion regarding the ingredients of the food. The major focus has always been to earn profit or to reduce cost. Moreover, sustainability was maintained in regards to packaging of the product rather than in manufacturing decisions. Receiving health concerns from people was faced by the company number of time, however, relevant actions were missing.
If I were in a managerial position in the company, I would improve on various compliance and integrity grounds. I will gather information on legal laws on using harmful materials and adhesive and educate the manufacturing team about the importance of complying with these standards (Kaptein 2008). I will form a team with adequate knowledge on compliance and standards in product development to implement a careful behavior towards food product manufacturing. Moreover, integrity will be an effective part of my ethics behavior. Through packaging, I would inform the ingredients along with possible side effects and allergies that would arise from the consumption of the food products (Schaubroeck et al. 2012). Regularly upgrading myself on legislation and standards would help maintain correct practice and company’s ethics.
4.4 Conclusion
Therefore, it can be stated in this business ethics assignment that having a strong code of conduct and ethical leadership is an integral part in unethical organization. It forms an important aspect in ethical conducts and part of ethical learning process. Ethical management and principles will help manage the unethical marketing practices in Johnson & Johnson as well by keeping a control on the compliance behavior among managers and the employees. Moreover, making use of advantages of both Utilitarianism and Egoism ethical theory would further help in maintaining ethical conduct in business. Ethical management help in maintaining compliance, professional competence, confidentiality and integrity. Both ethical management and theories both will help to achieve organizational efficiency and effectiveness. Making use of these theories will allow Johnson & Johnson to overcome lawsuits in future and present itself as an ethical company in the market. Ethics is a complex process that should flow down every process of the business over time.
References 2
Carmichael, J.L., Collins, C., Emsell, P. and Haydon, J., 2011. Leadership and management development.Oxford University Press.
Kang, S.W., 2019. Sustainable influence of ethical leadership on work performance: empirical study of multinational enterprise in South Korea. Sustainability, 11(11), p.3101.
Kaptein, M., 2008. The relationship between ethical culture and unethical behavior in work groups: Testing the corporate ethical virtues model. Business ethics assignmentEthical culture and unethical behavior in work groups. 1-37
Moore, C., Mayer, D.M., Chiang, F.F., Crossley, C., Karlesky, M.J. and Birtch, T.A., 2019. Leaders matter morally: The role of ethical leadership in shaping employee moral cognition and misconduct. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(1), p.123.
Schaubroeck, J.M., Hannah, S.T., Avolio, B.J., Kozlowski, S.W., Lord, R.G., Treviño, L.K., Dimotakis, N. and Peng, A.C., 2012. Embedding ethical leadership within and across organization levels. Academy of management Journal, 55(5), pp.1053-1078.
