Moral Imagination for Business and Professional- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theMoral Imagination for Business and Professional Ethics. Answer: Moral imagination is thinking of the full range of possibilities in a certain situation so that an ethical challenge is solved. Acting morally may require more than ones character having strength. It needs other factors like empathy and alertness so that one distinguishes whatever is morally relevant in situations. In moral imagination, a person is able to be ethical in a challenging situation by coming up with alternatives which will not compromise ethics. People should be able to look beyond money and think of the impact of how some decisions can bring a negative effect to other people (UT McCombs, 2014). Moral imagination is combined with creativity and moral courage to enable people act ethically in organizations and society as a whole. A well-publicized ethical decision that can be considered to be faulty was that of Turing Pharmaceuticals, which happened in September 2015. The former CEO of the company, Martin Shkreli became one of the most hated CEOs after increasing the price of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 for one tablet. Some argued that this price gouging by the CEO of the company was the consequence of a beneficial free market. The decision saw specialists of infectious diseases protest over the dramatic increase in price of a drug that had been in the market for 62 years. The drug is needed to treat a parasitic infection that is life threatening. Turing Pharmaceuticals had acquired the drug, which was known as Daraprim, in August 2015. This led to annual treatment costs of patients risking to very significant amounts (Pollack,2015). The CEO of Turing pharmaceuticals was a former manager of a hedge fund. Once further investigations were done, the CEO was later arrested for security fraud as a hedge fund he had went on to lose millions and he had swindled a number of people. The CEO raised the price of the drug so that he could use proceeds in covering up what he had previously done. The decision by this CEO shows that he chose the path of being unethical so that he could succeed. He wanted to make money quickly, it led him to swindling other people, and when it failed, he preferred to increase drug prices without being considerate of the fate of patients (Pollack, 2015). This CEO lacked moral imagination and there were no mistaken assumptions when he was making the decisions that he took. Moral imagination requires one to reject false dichotomy, which is the notion that being unethical will help one in succeeding quickly. In this case, the CEO did not reject false dichotomy but acted on the greed he had. He was avoiding debt after losing the money of his clients and resorted to rather unjust means of acquiring money. The CEO did not really care about patients and think about how some of them would struggle to get the money that was required to purchase the drug. He did not think how medical costs would run into thousands of dollars for patients and that it may pose a financial challenge to some people (Schwartz Hoffman, 2017). He also failed to value human life by not thinking about the fact that some patients may die because of missing the life-threatening pill, as they could not afford it. Moral imagination means that one accepts ethical problem solving. Ethical problem solving also leads to trust within the organization and among an organizations stakeholders. The CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals did not take ethical decision making as an option that he would use. He failed to consider reputational risk and the organizations stakeholders when he took the decision to drastically increase drug prices. He failed to look at the possible ethical alternatives that he could take to solve his personal issues and instead opted to use his company in making an unethical decision (Krumholz, 2014). Price gouging in this case was not justified, as the CEO should have first made a consideration of the patients who needed the drugs. Moral imagination means that we speak with other people with the aim of finding ethical approaches to difficult decisions. The CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals kept his problems to himself and chose not to speak with anyone concerning what he was going through and also on the decision, he wanted to make concerning the Daraprim drug. Speaking to other people before making the decision to increase drug prices would have led to brainstorming of alternatives and coming up with a better decision (Niebuhr, 2013). Moral imagination also means that people have the courage to do the right thing. In this case, the CEO lacked courage needed to make the right decision. He instead chose to look at his own needs without considering other people (Whitaker Godwin, 2013). This made him make selfish decisions, which in turn gave the company a bad reputation. Overall, the CEO would have found ways of sorting out his initial issues in an ethical manner rather than make decisions that would lead to the downfall of both his businesses. Moral imagination is very important especially in business and organization settings. In the process of making unethical decisions, drastic mistakes can be made that may make the lives of many people very difficult. Moral imagination should therefore be embraced in all spheres of life. References Krumholz, L. (2014). Toni Morrison: Writing the Moral Imagination by Valerie Smith.African American Review,47(1), 219-221. Niebuhr, R. (2013).Moral man and immoral society: A study in ethics and politics. Louiseville, Westminster John Knox Press. Pollack, A. (2015). Drug goes from $13.50 a tablet to $750, overnight.New York Times,20, 2015. Schwartz, M. S., Hoffman, W. M. (2017). Ethical Decision Making Surveyed through the Lens of Moral Imagination.Business and Professional Ethics Journal. UT McCombs School of Business. (2014, January 31). Moral Imagination. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6EsLpZNgC4list=PLzSEbSKjmJsFsP7FWBNBz_fdP-ZsEkUOMapp=desktop Whitaker, B. G., Godwin, L. N. (2013). The antecedents of moral imagination in the workplace: A social cognitive theory perspective.Journal of Business Ethics,114(1), 61-73.