The effect and influence of ethics on decision making in modern business organisations - A case study of the defunct News of the World Newspaper

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, it would give me great pleasure to show my gratitude to my professor, for his propositions, remarks, understanding and patience. It would also be an honour to express gratitude to my parents, my mother, my father, my sister and my brother for their endless support in my life and allowing me to make all my decisions. I would also like to take the opportunity to show appreciation to my co-workers for their expert cooperation on every occasion. I would also like to be grateful to the Department, managers of the university, instructors and students who have supported me throughout this research.

I certify that the work presented in the dissertation is my own unless referenced

Signature..........................................

Date.....................................

DECLARATION

I declare that the content presented in this thesis/dissertation is, in my understanding and opinion, original and has not been presented for scholarly assessment in the past, either completely or partly, for an academic degree at this educational institution or elsewhere. I would also like to admit that I have studied and understood the principles, prerequisites, processes and guidelines of the University regarding the higher academic degree research award and to my dissertation. I would also like to declare that I have abided by the University's principles, prerequisites, processes and guidelines.

Signed __________________ Date _________________

ABSTRACT

Since demand for ethical behaviour has become (and is likely to continue to be) crucial, Professionals and their organisations are looking for ways to help journalists develop skills in ethical dedision-making, and they are looking for ways to instill those techniques in students who are preparing to enter various areas of the profession. Research on time in the organisational behaviour field is relatively new and has been found to have a significant impact on an individual's decision-making. In particular, research demonstrates that the time span between making a decision and the onset of its consequences influence individuals' evaluation process and they may even compromise their own principles when making a decision. In today's corporate environment where time is a limited resource, individuals may be influenced to compromise their ethical standards and ultimately impact him/herself and other stakeholders. The focus of this dissertation is on the effect and influence of ethics on decision making in modern business organisations. For this purpose, the case study of the defunct News of the World Newspaper has been taken into account and utilized to establish valid analysis and conclusion for the study. Moreover, a secondary research methodology has been undertaken for the purpose of conducting evaluative study on the subject.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTii

DECLARATIONiii

ABSTRACTiv

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Problem Statement1

Background of the Research1

Aim of the Research4

Research Objectives4

Layout of the Report5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW7

General Ethics7

Ethics and business10

Ethical Decision-making12

Moral Recognition14

Moral Judgment/Evaluation14

Moral Intention and Behaviour16

Ethics in Journalism and Media16

Visibility of Ethics in News Corp18

Theory of Ethics20

Utilitarianism20

Deontology24

Egoism25

Libertarian Theory26

Social Responsibility Theory27

Civic Journalism28

Ethical Work Climate28

Ethics in Newspaper Journalism29

Popular Value Systems and Ethical Principles31

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY34

The Research Process34

The study design35

Retrieval35

The search strategy36

Sampling37

The sampling ...