Business and Professional Ethics
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note
Title – “Should positive discrimination be allowed in the workplace ?”
Davey, M. (2018). ‘We don’t want positive discrimination,’ say female firefighters. the Guardian. Retrieved 12 March 2018, from https://ift.tt/2HY9mXP
This news article discusses whether positive discrimination should be allowed in the workplace. Particularly female firefighters in Australia have stated that they are not in favor of positive discrimination in the workplace. Rachel Cowling, an experienced firefighter is afraid that the new recruitment procedure as introduced by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade would not involve the stringent physical training firefighters are require to go through to combat difficult situations. She fears that for the purpose of promoting gender diversity the fire brigade would make the recruitment fast paced. However the MFB denied the claims of Cowling and argued that they had been encountering claims of positive discrimination as put forward by the unions for decades[ CITATION Bar15 \l 1033 ]. The Fire brigade department has been warned that they are not compromise their standards for the purpose of propagating any underlying political agenda. However in reply the Jim Higgins, the CEO of the MFB has stated that they have not lowered the standards to make it favorable for the applicants to get recruited. The CEO further stated that the Fire Brigade puts every applicant equal opportunity and puts ever applicant through the same selection process to promote gender diversity in the workplace without compromising the standards.
Arguments in favor of the decision
According to the philosophy of Utilitarianism it can be stated that the actions of individuals should aim to promote the greatest good for most number of people. Thus to determine whether actions of the Fire Brigade is in compliance with the theory of Utilitarianism it is important to assess whether it creates the greatest good for the most number of people. It can be analyzed that providing equal opportunity to all applicants prevents discrimination of any sort and thus creates the greatest good for the most number of people.
According to the Deontological theory of KANT as opposed to the theory of Utilitarianism, it can be said that the actions of individuals should be based on what is morally good[ CITATION Che17 \l 1033 ]. It focuses on the duty or obligations to promote what is morally good. Thus by applying the deontological theory to this scenario it can be said that the act of promoting gender diversity is the moral duty in order to prevent gender discrimination[ CITATION Zam17 \l 1033 ]
Arguments against the decision
However, as opposed by Cowling the act of recruiting more female fire fighters without putting them through the intense and stringent training program just to promote gender diversity will compromise the skill and ability of the fire fighters. If these skills are not developed combating fire in difficult situations will become a challenge to fire fighters and the same is likely to adversely affect the lives of the fire fighters as well as the members of the society[ CITATION Dav18 \l 1033 ].
It can be said that if female fire fighters are recruited more just to promote gender diversity without putting them through proper selection process as alleged by Cowling, it will create positive discrimination. It can be argued that one has the moral duty to prevent positive discrimination. Moreover jeopardizing the lives of the fire fighters and the people of the society at large can be considered to be unethical and immoral.
Bibliography
Barrow, R. (2015). Utilitarianism: A contemporary statement. Routledge.
Chen, D. L., & Schonger, M. (2017). Social preferences or sacred values? theory and evidence of deontological motivations.
Davey, M. (2018, March 12). We don’t want positive discrimination,’ say female firefighters. the Guardian. Retrieved from https://ift.tt/2ImbJqT
Zamir, E., & Medina, B. (2017). Deontological Morality and Economic Analysis of Law. .
-
- Assignment status: Resolved by our Writing Team
- Source@PrimeWritersBay.com
Comments
Post a Comment