A634.6.3.RB_SchreterPaul

            So supposedly Benjamin Franklin had a self-improvement program that included 13 different virtues that he thought guided people to becoming a good people. After taking a virtue test’s, three different virtues came up that the website recommended I work on (Twin Cities Public Television, Inc., 2002). The three that I will talk about include temperance, order, and cleanliness.

            The first virtue that I can improve upon is temperance, where the website mentioned “as a young man, Ben tried not to drink too much. Maybe you should consider being the designated driver next time you go out partying” (Twin Cities Public Television, Inc., 2002). As soon as I read this, I thought no way. It’s said that “habitual light to moderate alcohol intake (up to 1 drink per day for women and I or 2 drinks per day for men) is associated with decreased risks for total mortality, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, congestive heart failure, and stroke” (O'Keefe, Bhatti, Bajwa, DiNicolantonio, & Lavie, 2014). Plus, living in Europe, I like to do as the Romans do and have a glass of wine or other alcoholic beverage on most nights. So why not drink?

            The second virtue is order, which the website stated “Ben followed the maxim ‘a place for everything and everything in its place.’ It may be time to clean out the backseat of that car of yours” (Twin Cities Public Television, Inc., 2002). This is true and is usually something I keep in my everyday life. However coincidentally, I just moved properties and I happen to have a bunch of donations that I’m trying to get rid of in the back of my car. Between work and school, it’s something I’m slowly working on, as it is difficult finding the time and energy sorting it all out (I’m still sorting out my new flat).

            The third virtue is cleanliness, where supposedly “Ben wrote ‘tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.’ You might benefit from spending more time cleaning on a regular basis” (Twin Cities Public Television, Inc., 2002). Similar to the second virtue, this is something that I would like to do and implement more into my life. There was a video I watched about why we should care about making our beds, which has many benefits like feeling a sense of pride, accomplishing the first task of the day, or feeling good after a bad day (McRaven, 2016). Since attending basic military training, this is something that I’ve adopted into my life. That said, I do usually go bigger and clean everything from body, clothes, and habitation. That said, after moving to a new flat I’ve found that things have gotten incredibly messy. With a lot of personal stressors in my life I haven’t been on top of things, but slowly I’m getting my life back together.

            The three virtues that were recommended to be to improve upon were temperance, order, and cleanliness. While I don’t think the first virtue is something I’ll exercise, the other two are ones that I need to improve upon. Right now I’ve got a lot going on so I’ve been neglecting those virtues however there is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel.

References

McRaven, W. H. (2016, February 16). If you want to change the world, start to make your bed every morning. Retrieved from YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTlhfjjEWD0

O'Keefe, J. H., Bhatti, S. K., Bajwa, A., DiNicolantonio, J. J., & Lavie, C. J. (2014). Alcohol and cardiovascular health: the dose makes the poison ... or the remedy. Mayo Clinic proceedings, 89(3), 382.

Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. (2002). Virtue Quiz. Retrieved 2015, from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/exp_virtue.html

A634.5.4.RB_SchreterPaul

After reading this week’s article on marketing, I really don’t see any ethical problems with marketing in itself. If the public is too stupid to come up with their own conclusions, isn’t it their own fault? Even if we did try to employ ethical regulations onto marketing techniques, what would they even look like? This week I’ll be expressing my opinions on what ethical guidelines I think should exist, my thoughts on tracking a consumer's buying habits, and finally, how I would manage the ethical aspects in my own marketing efforts.

            There are certain regulations that I think should exist when it comes to ethical guidelines for marketing campaigns. The first regulation I think would be necessary is no outright lies. For example, if Coca-Cola claimed their drinks cured HIV; this is clearly a lie. Another example might be if McDonalds claimed their meals caused people to lose weight; clearly another lie. The second regulation would be one straight out of the DMA’s Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice, “clearly, honestly, and accurately represents its products, services, terms and conditions” (Direct Marketing Association's, 2014). This complements the first regulation by going a step further. An example of where this might be violated is if a marketing campaign claimed a service had a one-time fee of £19.99, but what they don’t tell you is that there are additional monthly fees of £9.99. This would be a violation of clearly expressing the terms of the service and being dishonest by leaving out important information.

            With regards to being tracked with buying habits, I see absolutely no wrong by this and even encourage it. Google already does this and states “many websites, such as news sites and blogs, partner with Google to show ads to their visitors. Working with our partners, we may use cookies for a number of purposes, such as to stop you from seeing the same ad over and over again, to detect and stop click fraud, and to show ads that are likely to be more relevant” (Google, n.d.). What makes this a good thing is that their focus is to make the ads more relevant to me. As a male, I have no intentions of ever buying women’s underwear or sanitary products, so I rather not watch advertisements that deal with those categories. Instead, I rather see things that I was actually interested in, like new games or new technology products. This week's article brings up the following point, “making a consumer need a product he or she might not have thought about without being exposed to promotion just to make profits is widely considered as unethical” (SAYED & GHAZALY, n.d.). I completely disagree with this statement as most companies are for-profit companies. So, of course, that’s the idea. In addition, what’s wrong with introducing a product that the consumer may not have known they wanted otherwise? That’s like saying we shouldn’t have advertised cars when they first came out as people were probably perfectly happy to travel by horse or foot! Of course consumers need to be exposed to products they might not have known otherwise; this then gives the consumer the freedom to make their own decision with regards to what they want to do.

            Lastly, I would manage my own marketing campaigns by following similar guidelines outlined in the DMA handbook. One such principle was already mentioned before by clearly stating what a product is, does, and what the consumer would be agreeing too. Another principle that I would like to follow: “delivers its products and services as represented” (Direct Marketing Association's, 2014). This compliments the previous principle by delivering a product that we said we would deliver. If the product was advertised to work a certain way, then the delivered product needs to work as advertised.

            This week I discussed some of my opinions on what ethical guidelines I think should exist, what I thought about being tracked for advertisement purposes, and finally how I would manage my own marketing team. While I’m no marketing expert nor have any experience in such field, I do have my own opinions on the matter and don’t think the reading material has much weight with the points their trying to convey. While the articles intentions may mean well, I question the solution they seek and the world that they envision for the future.

References

Direct Marketing Association's. (2014). Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice. Retrieved from Direct Marketing Association's: http://thedma.org/wp-content/uploads/DMA_Guidelines_January_2014.pdf

Google. (n.d.). Advertising. Retrieved 2016, from Google: https://www.google.com/policies/technologies/ads/

SAYED, H. E., & GHAZALY, I. E. (n.d.). Is Marketing Evil?Marketing Viewed as a tool. Retrieved from Ethics-Based Marketing: http://www.ethicsbasedmarketing.net/2.html

A634.4.4.RB_SchreterPaul

            For this week's blog, I’ll be reflecting on my ideas behind affirmative action, which up to a point I had fairly strong views, to which I then read LaFollette’s work and now have slightly less strong views. Affirmative action can be defined as “the practice of giving special consideration to minorities and women in hiring and school placement” (LaFollette, 2007). I will be referencing affirmative action with regards to schools. There are two reasons why I’m against affirmative action, first it’s that I believe it’s reverse discrimination against whites and second people should be judged on qualification and not race. I will then explain alternatives that are more gender-neutral, but will naturally give those that didn’t have privileged families to also stand a fighting chance of personal success.
            The first argument that makes me against affirmative action is that I believe it’s reverse discrimination. Some say that “people should be judged by what they do now, not by what their grandparents did” (LaFollette, 2007). I agree with this statement as I’ve grown in a community and society where all races should be treated equally. In addition, the idea that “whites should compensate blacks for the substantial and ongoing harm to them. Since the harm was intentional, there is reason to think whites also owe blacks punitive damages,” only further divides the two races apart (LaFollette, 2007). Besides, at what point then could we stop treating the two races as two completely different tribes? I don’t care for what my ancestors did or how they were treated, what I know now is that the blacks and the whites that serve with me in the military are all equally my brothers and sisters. I don’t see why we can’t have this mindset for outside the military as well.
            The second argument is that I believe people should be judged on merit, not race. Ashley, a member of our class, was part of a school’s admissions team that did just this. She mentioned that she “[assessed] our applicants on their GPA, course selection, test scores, extracurricular activities, resume, personal statement and letters of recommendation – not on the color of their skin or their family’s origin. We do embrace diversity, but at the same time we want to enroll the top, academically gifted students into our institution.” This shows that schools want to hire the best and those who are most likely to succeed within their programs. With this being said, there are ways to give minorities a better chance at success without being discriminatory against whites.
            There are multiple ways to give minorities a chance at success who normally wouldn’t have it otherwise. There are many needs-based scholarships out there, where those who are academically gifted but was raised poor, are given the opportunity to go to university. The financial burden is often a concern for minorities as they might not come from wealthy families; this type of scholarship removes that burden. An alternative would be to provide funds to all students. For example “the Kalamazoo Promise provides college scholarships to graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS), a midsized urban school district in Michigan that is racially and economically diverse” (Bartik & Lachowska, 2014). What the KPS school system has found after making this offer was a 0.7 average GPA increase in African American students (Bartik & Lachowska, 2014). This increase is huge and offers black students a legitimate opportunity in schools not because of their race, but because of their self-determination and personal abilities to achieve success on their own.            
            The two reasons I’m against affirmative action is because I believe it’s reverse discrimination and that it judges people based on race and not merit. I believe that alternatives can be found to include needs-based scholarships, which will naturally equalize the racial distribution of all accepted applicants. Opportunities shouldn’t be given to someone based on race, but rather potential for success.

References

Bartik, T., & Lachowska, M. (2014). The Kalamazoo promise scholorship: College funds boost grades of African American students. Education Next.

LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics. Malden, MA: WileyBlackwell.

A634.3.4.RB_SchreterPaul

    Many generous, talented, and good natured people manage to make it to the top of the power chain and yet when they get there, become corrupt with the greed and enter a free fall. An article by Kramer mentions that many “corner-office titans graced the covers of business magazines, and the public seemed fascinated with their willingness to flaunt the rules and break from the corporate herd with incredible daring and flair. But like Icarus, they flew too high. Scandal set in, and these once feted and envied leaders found themselves falling hard and fast” (Kramer, 2003). So what is it that causes people with power to corrupt so absolutely?

    It’s said that “the psychological experience of power, although often associated with promoting self-interest, is associated with greater self-interest only in the presence of a weak moral identity” (DeCelles, DeRue, Margolis, & Ceranic, 2012). Moral identity is the “degree to which being a moral person is important to a person’s identity” (Sam A. Hardy, 2011). So if being a moral person is important for the individual, they are less likely to only be motived by a self-interest. This then makes it a responsibility of the community to try and shape its members to not only fit a moral standard but to want to fit that standard. But moral identity isn’t the only determining factor that may make a powerful individual corrupt

    It’s shown that those in power also tend to be cautious about subordinate’s favors. Psychological evidence shows that those in power are more likely attribute “cynical attributions for favors received” (M. Ena Inesia, 2012). It’s said that “power leads to more instrumental attributions for a seemingly generous act and demonstrates that these power-induced instrumental attributions diminish the desire to reciprocate and the tendency to trust the favor-giver” (M. Ena Inesia, 2012). In other words, those in a powerful position tend to not reciprocate as they are more likely to believe they are being manipulated in some way because of their power, regardless of the actual intent of the favor-giver. This is more likely to destroy relationships as most people follow a general rule of thumb that we should all “do unto others as others do unto us.”

    Discussed were two possible ways that power could corrupt an individual who makes it to the top. Not only has it been shown that corruption is most likely to happen to those with a weak moral identity, but to also affect everyone in the sense that they may feel like they’re being manipulated because of their power. As a result communities and education systems need to be sure to bring awareness to these issues so that leaders are more likely to exhibit behaviors that fall more in line for the benefit of everyone’s interest, not just their own.

References

DeCelles, K. A., DeRue, D. S., Margolis, J. D., & Ceranic, T. L. (2012). Does power corrupt or enable? When and why power facilitates self-interested behavior. The Journal of applied psychology.

Kramer, R. (2003). The Harder They Fall. Harvard Business Review, 58.

M. Ena Inesia, D. H. (2012). How power corrupts relationships: Cynical attributions for others' generous acts . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 795–803.

Sam A. Hardy, G. C. (2011). Moral Identity: What Is It, How Does It Develop, and Is It Linked to Moral Action? Child Development Perspectives, 212.