acethic

[acethic]

ACETHIC Finals Reflection

The latter half of the term involved my group doing our group case study on “Dealing with Discontented Apple iPhone Customers”. It was through this case that we were exposed to concepts such as utilitarianism, distributive justice, virtue ethics, moral imagination, and deontology. These concepts, once applied to our case study, greatly helped in understanding several ethical point of views. It was through this that I realized that the approach to ethics is not as straightforward as one would like it to be. Of course, there is still the distinction between what is right and what is wrong but in reality, there are several other factors that should be considered when making ethical decisions. I don’t think it your decision any less ethical if you choose to recognize this reality. This goes to show just how much thought should go into making these decisions as they are ones that should not be taken lightly nor impulsively. Moreover, it goes without saying that it in the business world, it is easy to lose this sense of ethical responsibility to ourselves and to others. Cases such as the Discontented Apple Customers, alongside earlier cases such as Enron, highlighted how easy it is to disregard our ethical responsibility in the name of more profit for the business. If nothing else, this also goes to show the importance of reintegrating or emphasizing once more the role of ethics in the business world. Yes, you may be able to make a bigger profit or benefit your company in the now but your actions will catch up to you in the long run and the fallout from which may be more harmful. 

A huge bulk of this latter half was dedicated to the E-Service Learning in line with COSCA and our partner communities. I am no stranger to activities or outreaches like this because I did the same throughout my time in grade school, high school, and even as a frosh in NSTP. I was genuinely excited for this activity; however, my reservations lay within the time management aspect of it all. I was concerned that I was not be able to take this activity as seriously as I would have liked knowing that requirements for other classes were starting to pile up. Despite this, I decided to give my best effort anyway after getting to know my tutees and seeing how excited they were to learn from me. It was fun being able to teach them basic accounting, topics I had honestly not thought about in over 2 years. However, it was challenging to deal with obstacles such as connectivity issues that really hindered most of our sessions. Personally, it was also a challenge trying to teach accounting mainly in Filipino because of the technicality of certain terms and processes. I tried, however, to find a middle ground wherein I would explain the technical parts in English but translate it into Filipino in a more conversational manner so it would also be easier on their part to understand. These obstacles aside, it was a genuine pleasure to teach my tutees because of their eagerness and willingness to learn. It made me all the more want to overcome these obstacles so I’d be able to teach them properly.

All in all, I’ve learned many things in this class. These are not limited to theoretical concepts and principles but also how to apply these in real life where it really matters.  I think the most important learning remains to be the significance of ethics, whether it be in the business world or in our daily lives. It’s something so easily overlooked because we believe that it’s something that comes naturally to us; that, to do good is something inherent in all of us. However, I learned that most of the time, doing good and doing what is right is a conscious and continuous choice that we make. 

[acethic]

ACETHIC Midterm Reflection

Going into the term, I was curious about this class because I’ve never had a class that focused specifically on ethics, business ethics at that, before. Of course, ethics was always incorporated into certain accounting subjects but it was always somewhat of an afterthought. Now, I was introduced to ethics at the forefront and I was able to learn specific concepts and principles.

From the beginning of the term until its halfway point, the class was mostly tasked with reflection papers or groupworks that focused on certain ethical problems. Personally, I enjoyed the reflection papers because they were real life and practical applications of ethics in the business world. Cases such as Arthur Andersen and Enron or the 2008 Financial Crisis were real life instances wherein ethics played such a huge role as to the buildup and fallout of these times. It was interesting to try and understand the ethics of the people involved and see where they were coming from. Certainly, I had differing views from how these issues were handled and it was challenging to try and reconcile these views. Moreover, cases such as “A Student’s Dilemma” were relatable despite their theoretical nature because I was able to place myself in the position of the student undergoing the ethical dilemma. All in all, these cases helped me apply the concepts and principles I’ve learned in class. 

At this point, the highlight of my learnings focused on the reintroduction of ethics and how it is important in relation to business.