Week nine.

       It's generally seen that when we're trying to ask for some information or approaching to certain company, it's always required to fill in our personal details, and sometimes certain companies even use some marketing techniques such as giving free gifts away for enticing people by filling in their personal details. But somehow, most of the people are not aware that, our personal details maybe being collected by certain agencies and being sell to the outsiders.

       This is the reason why sometimes we are receiving unknown calls , messages or e-mails from whoever party that we have never submit our information to.
Some people may find it doesn’t really matter that receiving such promotional messages really affect their daily life but through the power of information technology , it is getting more and more easy to get things done when some company intended to send out great numbers of promotional emails and this phenomena is called as “e-blasting”.

       From my personal observation, I’m feeling very much regret that as nowadays when I check my mails that’s too much of promotional e-mails which seriously irritates me which I find it very difficult to identify my important messages. Even though Gmail, Hotmail are trying to improve in assisting the user to identify their primary messages but somehow it still takes time to learn something new as well.

       So I started to figure out the reason why we are receiving unknown e-mails and messages, and it was stated from some website information that there is E-Business existing on Selling Personal Information where it’s very ambiguous that whether it’s ethical or unethical.

       According to smallbusiness.com, there are various types of “professionals” such as data collectors, analysts, buyers and resellers which do their business based on this collection of personal information. It cannot be examined as such act is illegal, because by signing that particular form, it also states that we are acknowledged to allow any action done by the parties whereby these type of terms and conditions apply is always very long and dull where most of the people will never read. Also, certain parties may use some law loopholes to do something unethical but yet legal. This is where the professionals have misused the features of information technology in the wrong direction.

       Besides that, some people may make use of these data information to even fraud which is done by the cheating group.

       I have ever experienced there’s some people that called me saying that they are from some bank where they have  few matching information to ask my confidential information such as banking password. At the very beginning whoever has received such call may think they are really from the bank and giving out their confidential information easily and lost their personal savings immediately by the great functionality of information technology. Again, some professionals could even hack into some database to steal information data without getting caught in another way.
 
       For my personal opinion , these acts are all unethical but somehow people may find it very much profitable and commercial and defense it as something legal as it’s not against law or is already been acknowledged. And this has further deteriorated certain social issue such as fraud and e-blasting.
 
       Furthermore, I would like to bring out “ambush marketing” which I have learnt in my event sponsorship subject. Sponsors are sponsoring certain events which trying to gain marketing benefits, is having the objectives of creating awareness and also generating sales. Furthermore, ambush marketing, being defined as an act of misleading the attention of audience as the ambush marketers are the official sponsors or sponsors of a bigger scale of event by playing some techniques to gain a better benefits and outcome .It could be done by two categories which is the sponsors of an event or any outsiders which are not the sponsors of the event. Take Olympic games as an example , the lower level of sponsors with Silver level packages may go beyond the benefits to Platinum level package such as doing something without any permission as the event organizer may not being able to manage the whole crowd situation.

       In a general sense, audience may conclude the marketing efforts being done by the ambush marketers as they are the real sponsors but somehow they are not. This is the objective where the ambush marketers intended to achieve. The customers don’t really care or will never take further action to figure out who is the real official sponsor of the event. For example, there are some ambush marketers giving out free t-shirts having their own logo by setting up a booth at that particular event where this benefit is not being offered by event organizer and most of the time audience will only take it as granted.

       As these techniques are being established recently so there is no distinct law stating that these acts are all illegal. From the case study of Olympic games, the sponsors have learnt a lot lessons which consumers don’t really care , even government or event organizer themselves also cannot do anything much by preventing these issues.
 
       Again, this reminds me of being ethical is also paying the personal responsibility of doing the right things when it comes to such scenario which the right or wrong differs depends on different culture value of peoples. It may be treated as unethical but somehow people which intended to play tricks are still being able to defense through certain law loopholes.

       Also, the comic which Ms. Diana has shown us through the her lectures as the employee being sarcastic when their employer is ordering them to be plenty of anonymous account to post positive review to that particular company which misleads the crowd but somehow the intention of doing it isn’t truthful. Thus, at the end when peoples get to figure out the truth that that company or the ambush marketers are trying to use tricky techniques to mislead the crowd attention, this may results in a negative image in a long term aspect, and this has proven that there is no sustainability for the outcome of the actions being taken.

Week Six.

Gangsterism in Malaysia

               According to The Star newspaper in Malaysia at 6^th September 2013 (Friday), it has brought out the issue of gangsterism in Malaysia, and also throwing a question as what causes people to gangsterism ? Obviously it's known that there is much unethical act being done by gangsters. But somehow what do they gain by it? Regarding to this issue the media has made some investigation through interviewing two former gangsters.

          Ramu is one of the interviewee throughout the case and he is joining into the gangster as he was in poverty and he thought of being one of the gangsters could make him rich. He do also describe the activities that he have been through such as running drugs by earning RM15,000 per trip and also handling table talks. But there was two incidents happened as his father died and he became the head of the family and there is a fight but due to some family matters he is unable to join and after all his friends were all caught and imprisoned.  As a result, Ramu decided to quit.

Hereby, Vasu, a young boy being poor in his studies and is involved in some harmful activities and has been thrown out from the school. With the consequences of no jobs available in KL and being poverty, again he involved in the wrong direction again. He has to pay RM101 every month and the extra money that he has earned, he spent it on drinking and having fun. Vasu has been through a wasted life throughout the years. Also, he used to be some Datuks and Tan Sris orang upah (hired help) by protecting their work sites. If they got caught, the gang leaders or the VIPs will usually bail them out. Vasu then raised to become one of the trusted lieutenant until his leader is been kidnapped , murdered and being buried in an estate , his wife and children are both suffering during the whole incident , Vasu decided to quit and left , and become a man which runs his own business. In a nutshell through both cases, it shows that poverty driving them to gangsterism.

There are also some articles which states that gangsters are nowadays getting brutal. In the old days of Vasu and Ramu , joining to be a gangster just require a drop of blood into a cup but nowadays m the youngsters are required to even pull off a snatch theft, robbery or even drive a knife into someone to become a qualified members of the gang. They’re even involved in activities such as chopping off someone’s hand and killing someone by frequently hitting him with a helmet ruthlessly.

Hence, they are also students having no choice to join the gang. Weapons such as high-powered rifles and bullets are also found in a vacant house and it’s dangerous. There are also criminals produce hundred numbers of fake credit cards and passport to run some business. Significantly , these are all unethical acts being done.

According to http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gangsterism (2004) it states that, gangsterism is subscribing to a course of action reminiscent of organized crime. Acting or conducting business in a way that is violent and totally without conscience. Acting like a gangster/thug/hoodlum. Running business or holding a high government position with the help of hired guns, intimidation and the occasional assassination.

After observing the issue upon gangsterism as stated in the references that I have acquired from The Star newspaper which falls on 6^th September 2013 , hereby I would like to further discuss about the current issue due to our country (Malaysia) national development from the social , and a little of political and economic aspect.

According to http://www.ask.com/question/what-is-the-definition-of-social-issues (2013), it defines social problem as Social issues are moral problems that affect a member or members of a society directly or indirectly. Some of these issues include poverty, divorce, bullying, incest, civil rights, corruption, pornography, abortion, abuse, crime, and education. And what are the root factors which causes all these negative consequences which generate a big impact towards the whole society?

As stated by the case mentioned in the content of this report ,  Gangsterim , which includes running violence activities to obtain certain items , can be caused by one of the social problem , poverty. In my personal opinion, this is caused due to a lower education level of the minority and improper distribution of welfare caused by the government among the whole society. Government provides insufficient effort to take care of the minority of poverty, and also without making sure that every resident in Malaysia is 100% guaranteed that they do own the opportunity to be educated. In these circumstances , the residents in Malaysia failed to own the opportunities to be educated upon being ethical in different scenarios. When it comes to certain hard situation in our life, it requires a positive mind-set and   better personal development skills in order to remain determined by choosing the right path while making some important decision. Also , the wrong message brought by the people telling that being one of the gangsters allows them to earn more money in a more efficient way even deteriorate that particular social issue. Also, it’s generally known that when some people is been caught for their crimes, most of them are back in action in no time at all as they usually bailed out by the gang leaders or the VIPs. Each time they were freed, they came out feeling bolder and this has negatively built the notion of they could get away easily. This is one of the factor which stimulates the unethical act as the gangsters are knowing that they are being able to be released easily from the country's law and regulations through improper methods.

The imbalance distribution of welfare which caused by the government do also causes the imbalance mentality of certain people as they find it very unfair of being treated in different way. And sometimes the poverty group in the society has been ignored due to the lack of concern by the government side.

It’s logical that the government charging income taxes and some other taxes from the consumer or working group , but in a normal sense these taxes is supposed to be used to take care of the minority group to increase the average living standards which benefits the whole society. But if these aren’t been done effectively, it may leads to the dissatisfaction of the paying groups. From the history of Malaysia, we can also see that only when people among that particular country are united, it leads to a successful development at the same time. Due to these reasons, I strongly recommend our government should focus more effort on taking care of the minority group such as the disabled group, the senior citizen and poverty group, instead of giving free vouchers and free subsidiaries to the better standard living group. These don’t benefit much towards the minority group in a more effective way. Also, human resources are always the most important assets in any industry, in order to value these “important assets” for a better development; our government should build a better education system and also allowing the younger generation own the opportunity to be educated. Thus, certain personal development skills such as self-confidence and communication skills should be included into the syllabus during a child growing period. These are the soft skills which possible to minimize some social issue as well. Only when the average standard living is higher , less poverty group exists in our country , some social issue is caused by poverty such as kidnapping , stealing , robbery , gangsterism due to lack of cost of living .

I would like to talk about another issue which is dilemma , the topic as Ms.Diana has brought out in the class , in my personal observation , as all the business organization are under such a competitive environment , they are generally facing cost constraints while offering a lower pricing strategy to their customers. When it comes to much constraints and limitation, there is a higher tendency where the business organization begins to act unethically to achieve their company objectives. 

Also, for the act of whistle blowing, it isn't easy to do it so which results in dilemma. But somehow some business organization even adds on something into the food which is even harmful in the future. 

          

            For my personal opinion , it’s totally unethical but somehow these consequences are all caused by the purchasing behaviour of consumers. When it comes to purchasing decision making , generally people are behave in more sensitive to price so a lower price item is always having a better competitive advantage , and the business organization is forced to face these limitation and constraints. 

Week Three.

First and foremost , I would like to say that the first time that I have really "touch" ethics issue is during my very semester four , while I'm taking my "Managing people in the service industry" subject , which is taught by Dr.Rod . 

I started making some research as my lecturer mentioned in the class that an ethical behaviour is so important when it comes to decision making, no matter in both simple or complex situation. According to the information that I've surf on net, I found out that in general, work ethics can be defined as a group of moral principles, standards of behaviour, or set of values regarding proper conduct in the workplace.  

For my personal opinion, after the first class conducted by my lecturer during the "Contemporary Ethics and Corporate Citizenship" subject, I have a deeper understanding of Ethics as well.

"Ethics is about how we meet the challenge of doing the right thing when that will cost more that we want to pay”, as stated by The Josephson Institute of Ethics.

In my personal opinion, it's true that we might face various type of situation in the future which is unpredictable and all the temptation may challenge our own standard of ethics from doing the right thing during decision making process.  It could be small issue which doesn’t generate much impact to the parties involved such as the daily routine happened in our daily life but what if it's one of the decision making associated with a bigger scale of company?

A simple decision made could generate a large impact to the society, as the level of impact increases, the number and type of parties involved do also varies.

Hereby, I would like to share a big issue in Malaysia which is the Lynas project, which located in Kuantan.

Here is the brief explanation upon the issue stated above:

The Lynas Advance Materials Plant (LAMP) has been built near Kuantan, Malaysia. It has been chosen due to the factor that all the resources which are required to run the plant are lower than the amount of cost which is originally approved in Western Australia. Furthermore, a 12-year tax exemption is provided by the Malaysian government granted by the company “pioneer” status.

This big action has generated a huge response due to the local community in Malaysia especially the residence living nearby the area which is involved in the Lynas Project. As we can see the case of The Chernobyl disaster, the unusual level of radiation has influence the whole human life-cycle, in a long-term duration.

In the perspective of science, the radiation level of Lynas may generate a huge negative impact towards the whole life cycle involving the human being, marine life in the river as well. For example, there will be abnormal babies and dead marine lives due to the unusual radiation level.

Mitsubishi set up a polluting rare earth processing plant in Bukit Merah in Perak. It has resulted to the deformities in babies and great number of pre-matired deaths nearby that area. The plant had been shutdown but somehow , untill today its toxix radioactive waste is still scattered in unknown illegal dumps in the surrounding areas posing a s serious healt hazard to unsuspecting locals.

The reason why I’m bringing out this case study is that this is one of the unethical decision made by the parties involved due to my personal opinion, where the government has generated a large negative impact towards the whole society without paying corporate social responsibility.

In a smaller scale of perspective in the workplace, the facilities provided by the company is purposely for employees convenience for a better outcome , there are facilities such as printing machine and telephone is hard to be check by the company whether that particular employee is abusing the company facility. So this comes to the employee’s personal responsibility of being ethical while using the company facilities in the right way.

But somehow, Ms.Diana has thrown a question during the class that how if a particular party is trying to corrupt me from doing something unethical in a situation by using a value of RM1000? The answer might be no and how if it is a big amount of RM1 billion?

There’s no standard norm of ethical behaviour but from what I have observe is that throughout ethics , it teaches ourselves from being able to set our own set of ethical value upon doing what is right or wrong during some hard situation. Also, an ethical value ensures us from minimizing the negative impact while doing several decisions making towards the party involved.

Also, I would like to share a personal experience which is one of the unethical decisions making that I have made.

It was a Sunday while I was taking KTM (One of the Public Transport in Kuala Lumpur) , the ticketing system is that customer have to either purchase a ticket from the counter or by charge by using Touch n Go , and I’m planning to depart from Bandar Tasik Selatan Station to Mid Valley Station , as I heard from my friend that Bandar Tasik Selatan usually doesn’t check ticket from the people which exit from the station and I was so determined as the moment I enter the Bandar Tasik Selatan Station as there are no people standing behind the checking machine.

 So on the way back from Mid Valley Station I have made an unethical decision that I decided to enter the station without buying the ticket and scanning the Touch n Go, but the moment I reach Bandar Tasik Selatan, it was so unlucky there’s a staff standing behind the machine as well.

It was a bad experience that I’ve been caught as the police ask me to scan the Touch n Go card and my card has been blocked and freezed as I have offended the public transportation law and I am asked to go to KL central to ask the staff there to unblock my card.  It caused me much inconvenience as I supposed to reach home much earlier but it’s lucky to be told that I don’t have to pay any penalty due to the action that I have made.

After this incident , I’m so regret that I’ve made such an action due to my own greedy intention , and I promise myself that I would never make such action anymore.

Also, after having this class my self-awareness upon the importance of ethic value has becoming more and more significant which it could be even applied in my daily routine.