Ethical Challenge Analysis of Google Essay

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Ethical Challenge Analysis: GoogleNature of the Ethical DilemmaAt the heart of Google’s culture is the motto “Do no evil.” This motto is the motivating value for many of the company’s workers, so it was no surprise when workers protested Google’s contract with the Pentagon to provide AI analytics for the Pentagon’s drone technology as part of Project Maven. Employees were upset that their company appeared to be violating the core value of “do no evil”—their reasoning was that Pentagon drones would likely be used in warfare, and would likely lead to the killing of innocent men, women and children, as routinely happens according to various news reports. Employees protested. Google’s CEO therefore had a choice to make: commit to the Pentagon contract and betray his worker’s sense of the company’s most important value, or abandon the partnership with the Pentagon and satisfy employees. Being a public company, Google’s CEO was also aware that shareholders had a stake in the equation: government contracts can often be lucrative and good for business—so turning one down would mean a loss of revenue for the company, which could hurt shareholder value. Then again, if he really stood by the company’s motto, he also had to think about stakeholders in places like the Middle East, where drones were often used to deliver explosive payloads. What if, thanks to Google’s work, these drones did end up killing or wounding innocent civilians? Google’s CEO, therefore, had multiple considerations to make: employees were not happy about the contract, but having a good relationship with the Pentagon could be good for business; shareholders had to be thought of, but so too did the possibility that there could be real life or death implications for people in other parts of the world based on Google’s work on Project Maven. Should the CEO betray the company’s culture and employees’ sense of the company’s main value by abandoning the principle of “do no evil” in order to satisfy shareholders and develop a business relationship with the Pentagon?Primary StakeholdersThe primary stakeholders in this issue were the employees, the CEO, the Pentagon, shareholders, and the communities that might be impacted by the use of the drone technology in other parts of the world. The employees’ interest in the issue was that the decision to work with the Pentagon on Project Maven appeared to them to violate the code of ethics that they signed onto at Google, which was to “do no evil.” In short, they felt that the company was asking them to violate the very principle that the company sought to promote in the workplace culture.The CEO’s interest in the issue was that, as head of the company, he had to make the final decision. He could understand the employees’ point of view, but he also had to consider business strategy, shareholders, and what the real values of the company were. This issue would set a precedent one way or the other, so it was important to make the right call.The Pentagon’s interest in the issue was that it wanted to work with Google to get the project up and running.

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Tasked with providing defense systems for the country, it wanted Google’s analytics team to provide services that would make this possible. The Pentagon was eager to work with the best, and its choice was Google.Shareholders are always pleased when a company obtains contracts that will help to increase revenue, because it means there is more profit to go around. Therefore, shareholder interest in this issue was mainly financial and focused on their return on investment. If the contract was retained, it would likely mean a greater return on…

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…to end the contract was the right one because in so doing the CEO showed that everyone deserves to be treated fairly and equally, no matter how small. If the workers and communities were upset by the contract, they deserved to be heard. Google’s motto is, after all, to “do no evil,” and the only way to do that would be to listen to what these stakeholders in particular have to say. There would always be new opportunities later on to satisfy shareholders and potentially the Pentagon.I would thus say that the CEO made the right decision about abandoning the contract. It might hurt the company’s profits in the short-term, but by working out the relationship with the Pentagon, the company could keep that line open and seek out different projects that were seen as non-lethal in nature. By keeping employees and communities happy and showing that it stood by its own principle, the company saved face and reaffirmed its commitment to its core value.Main Lesson for ManagersThe main lesson for managers that can be taken from this situation is to listen to all stakeholders and reflect on how their views correspond or relate to the company’s core values. If certain stakeholders have a reasonable complaint that the company is violating its own core values, then the manager should consider doing something about that. Companies are not there just to satisfy shareholders no matter how they do it. Companies also bare a social responsibility to workers and communities, and the core values of the company should reflect that responsibility. Thus, a manager should never dismiss a legitimate complaint from workers in such a case. Sometimes they are right, and it is management that has made the wrong decision. Correcting that misstep is vital and managers should take the right step as soon as they….....

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