Ethics in Social Networking and Business †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Ethics in Social Networking and Business. Answer: Introduction Platform based peer production system or as commonly known as common based peer production can be defined as a socio economic activity. As opined by Kostakis, Niaros and Giotitsas (2015), such system of producing goods and services involves the usage of the latest technology and internet services. The platform based peer production system has been able to grow and develop in the technological environment. The basic principle of this system of production is that it brings together hundreds and thousands of people who aim to work together for the purpose of effectively sharing knowledge, information and cultural goods. However, organizations that have been built on such platform based peer production system do not have a rigid managerial hierarchy and are not subject to very competitive market pricing. According to Bauwens and Niaros (2017), the presence of several factors including innovative software and unique technologies have contributed to the growth of companies based on the Platform based peer production system. However, in this essay it will be discussed whether proponents of this system are right in claiming that companies based on platform based peer production system have positively affected the society or those who believe that the operations of such companies are inherently unethical. Aforementioned discussion will be done in light of the companies Uber and Deliveroo have been chosen as they are companies which are based on platform based peer production system. The common based or platform based peer production model was first developed by Yochai Bnekler, a Harvard Law school professor (Benkler, 2016). The business models of companies such as Uber and Deliveroo, have provided enormous scope of growth and expansion, however such companies have been facing some labor issues. According to a report by Forbes, the companies Uber and Deliveroo have been involved in a lot controversy regarding whether the operations of the company (Forbes.com 2018). The companies have faced allegations that their operations are not in compliance with the ethical standards. Uber has been received several accusations of sexual harassment of the employees and customers. Uber has also been accused of illegally acquiring medical records of Rape victims in order to put down their claims (The Conversation, 2018). The HR department of Uber has also faced allegations of having unfavorable work environment for women. Having been involved in such immoral, unethical and activ ities has adversely affected the reputation of Uber. However, it does not seem to affect the bottom line of Ubers operations. The CEO of Uber, Travis Kalanick had announced that the company would undertake an investigation to find the people who were responsible for the allegations of sexual harassment as faced by the company (www.theguardian.com 2018). After the results of the investigations had been revealed 20 employees of Uber were terminated for indulging in inappropriate sexual conduct, some of whom were senior officials. However the identities of the employees had not been disclosed. The management of the company had initially assessed that improving the PR of the company would be effective to cleanse its image however, it has not been sufficient to get it out of the controversies (Constantiou, Marton and Tuunainen 2017). The transport department of London has decided to withdraw the license of Uber which will make Uber non operation in the territory of London (The Conversation, 2018). Ubers business model primarily focuses on the growth and expansion of the company which reflects its imperial ambitions. The economic business model of the company does not have scope for allocating funds to improve the safety of the customers and the drivers alike and adopt of a CSR policy. The business model of Uber is very similar to that of Amazon. Both the companies primarily rely on the investments made by the investors to fund growth and expansion of the same in new markets (Graham and Woodcock 2018). Amazon had been able to achieve monopoly in the retail sector by making huge investments in the initial phase. Becoming a monopoly in the retail market has allowed it to earn huge profits. Amazon however, had a competitive advantage over the retail stores as it did not have to incur cost of establishments and maintenance of the shop fronts, which the other retail stores had to incur for conducting business. However there is one primary difference retail industry and the taxi busi ness. As opined by Massotte (2017), the retail industry makes use of economies of scale to operate in the national and then in the international markets. The taxi industry however operates in a different way and thus has remained localized. The major costs involved in the taxi industry are costs of cars, fuels and drivers. However Ubers business model does not recognize such costs and only focuses on the allocation of funds for evolving in new markets. The goal of evolving in new markets is achieved by subsidizing the wages of the drivers and reducing the passenger fees. Uber has been able to grow and emerge in new markets due to the investment of $11.5 billion dollars which was raised from investors and banks. However, the company has not been able to make substantive profits ever since it started operating. In the year 2016, the company sustained loss of three billion dollars. Uber thus has to pay back the sum either by equity or debts. Thus it can be said that the ever growing debts of the company does not allow the company to afford compliance with ethical standards. Uber is required to provide safety to the customers and employment protection to the drivers so as to function properly in a regulated market. If the company continues to face competition from the local competitors the company will not be able to achieve monopoly and has little hope of repaying the sum to the investors. Deliveroo is another company, which is based on platform based peer production system and has been involved in controversies for not complying with ethical standards. Deliveroo managers have claimed that the couriers who are engaged in delivering takeaways are not to be treated as employees of the company but merely independent suppliers. Managers have suggested that as couriers who make deliveries are treated as independent contractors, they do not have any employment rights. Such suppliers are differentiated from the staff and the employees who constitute the team. As opined by (Sabin 2016), treating the drivers and suppliers by Uber and Deliveroo has allowed the companies to avoid the obligations of paying a minimum wage to them. The business models of the aforementioned companies treat the drivers and the food suppliers as independent contractors for the purpose of saving millions of dollars in Holiday pay and sick leave. The management of Deliveroo has been provided with a list of dos and donts as the workers who had employed by the company in the gig economy claimed to take legal action against the company (www.theguardian.com 2018). Such couriers who make deliveries and takewayas have demanded that a clarification must be provided regarding the differentiation between the employees and independent contractors. The couriers have demanded more employment rights including the right to receive a minimum wage, holiday and sick pay (Recruitment-international.co.uk, 2018). According to the reports issued by the law firm Leigh Day, over two hundred Deliveroo workers have claimed that they should be recognized and addressed as employees as they are required to carry out a shift trial, wear uniforms during the duty hours and are paid wages is much lesser than the minimum wage rate (www.theguardian.com 2018). It has been claimed that the movements of the couriers are constantly monitored by their employers an d such couriers are subjected to performance reviews by such couriers, however, the company does not acknowledge and recognize them as employees of the organization, they have no say over the terms of their employment. The operations of the companies like Uber and Deliveroo, which are based on the platform based peer production system, can be analyzed by the application of several ethical theories. According to the theory of Utilitarianism, it can be said that a act is considered to be right and ethical if it aims to create the greatest benefit for the most number of people. As opined by (Eggleston and Miller, 2014), the actions of individuals and companies must ensure to maximize the good consequences over the bad consequences. The theory of Utilitarianism focuses on the utility of actions. As opined by (Hall and Page, 2015), utility of any action is calculated by summation of the consequences of the actions undertaken by individuals. For the purpose of assessing whether the operations of the companies Uber and Deliveroo are in line with the ethical principles of Utilitarianism, it is important to identify the stakeholders involved. The drivers and the customers are the stakeholders for Uber and the couriers who take deliveries are stakeholders for Deliveroo. It can be said that Uber has failed to create the greatest good for the customers and drivers. The acts of sexual haras sments faced by customers of Uber provide evidence that ethical standards are not met by the company. The act of not recognizing the drivers as employees in order to avoid paying them employment benefits is also unethical since it does not create any benefit for the drivers. Thus according to the principles of Utilitarianism, the operations of the company Uber are Unethical. In case of Deliveroo the same can be said. The company Deliveroo like Uber does not recognize the couriers as employees in order to avoid paying employment benefits to them. Thus this can be viewed as unethical as no benefits are provided to the stakeholders. The theory of Virtue ethics is another theory that can be applied to assess whether the operations of the companies in concern are ethical. As opined by (Van Hooft, 2014) , the theory of virtue ethics is a normative theory which focuses on the virtue and moral character of a decision as opposed to duties and consequences of actions. Upholding the virtue or moral value is the fundamental aim of this theory just like consequences of actions are focused on most by consequensialists (Annas, 2015). As opined by (Carr 2016), virtue can be inherent quality of a person, the same can be acquired over time as well. Thus if the operations of the company Uber and Deliveroo are to be analyzed from the perspective of the Virtue Ethics it can be said that not recognizing the drivers and couriers as employees just to just avoid paying them employment benefits is prima facie unethical. It is no ethical to regard the couriers who make deliveries as independent contractors as their movements are tracke d and they have to wear uniform during shift hours. However their wage rate is lower than the minimum wage rate as set government. According to Letwin et al. (2016), deontology theories primarily focus on the duties of individuals. Such theories of deontology assess an action on the basis of whether it is right or wrong. Unlike the theory of consequentialism, deontological theories do not consideration the consequences of actions. Moral status of an act is determined by the intention of the agent performing it rather than the consequences of the act (Lefkowitz 2017). Thus by analyzing the operations of Uber and Deliveroo by the principles of Deontology it can be stated that the operations of the companies are inherently unethical. It is the responsibility of Uber to provide employment protection to the drivers and safety to the customers, however its business model cannot afford to allocate funds to comply with ethical standards. In case of the company Deliveroo, it can be said that it is the duty of the company to provide employment benefits to the courier as they significantly contribute to the success of the company. They are the ones who perform the main operations of the delivering the food. Thus it can be said that it is unethical to label them as independent contractors in order to avoid paying them employment benefits. Conclusion Thus in conclusion it can be said that the companies based on peer production system such as Uber and Deliveroo have immense opportunity for growth and expansion in new markets. However the business models of Uber and Deliveroo can afford to allocate funds in order to comply with ethical standards. The companies Uber and Deliveroo thus have been involved in a lot of controversy. Uber has faced allegations of sexual harassments of employees and customers and accusations of suppressing records of such sexual harassments. The Company Deliveroo has also been involved in a controversy as the couriers who make the deliveries have been labeled as independent contractors to avoid paying them any employment benefits. After analyzing these actions by several ethical theories it can be said that they are inherently unethical. Reference List: Annas, J., 2015. Applying virtue to ethics.Journal of Applied Philosophy,32(1), pp.1-14. Bauwens, M. and Niaros, V., 2017. The emergence of peer production: challenges and opportunities for labour and unions. Benkler, Y., 2016. Peer production and cooperation.Handbook on the Economics of the Internet,91. Bennett, W.L., Segerberg, A. and Walker, S., 2014. 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