Ethics Individual Paper

            Beliefs, values, and principles are the aspect of what makes a certain individual themselves. My beliefs - though they might have been altered throughout the years - have guided me throughout my journey in life, and surely those values and principles have made me who I am today. The most important values that I’ve implemented in myself would be empathy, loyalty, integrity, perseverance, and kindness. These are my guiding principles that I truly believe in, they make and shape the decisions that I take, and the story that I make.

 

            Empathy to me means the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, the ability to put myself in other people’s shoes and to look and live this life from another person’s perspectives, I think this is critically important on how to interact with someone else, the ability to see another’s perspective in how they look at life will impact the way we look at our live and hopefully it will give us a better understanding on ourselves. Loyalty is the quality of being loyal and faithful to your commitments, it’s having faith in someone or something that you personally believe in. Loyalty to me is having a few number of trusted companions that will fight to the death with you, than to have thousands of civil union that would only spectate when you are in your troubled times. Integrity is about being honest and morally upright, it’s perhaps the most important principle of being a leader because it demands truthfulness and honesty. Integrity means telling the truth even if it’s the harder thing to do, integrity believes that it’s always better to be honest than to delude others, because then you can truly face your problems upfront and solve it for the better. One of my most favorite principle is perseverance, It’s about steadfastness in doing something despite the difficulty in achieving success. It’s the most important quality to have for a successful life. Perseverance means that giving up is not an option, it means that you won’t stop until you get what you aim for. In a society where instant gratitude is perceived to be great, perseverance is now rarely seen, which makes it even more critical for an individual to implement in order for a successful life. The last but not least, is kindness. I know it might sound cliché, but becoming aware of how you treat others is crucial in seeing how you would relate to others and to yourself. Kindness is the tool you use to impact someone else’s life, it’s that one thing that would never be too much for humanity, it’s how you will be remembered. Maya Angelou perfectly said “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” and that is the reason for kindness.

            I personally believes that every single interaction with people or even with ourselves is a place for ethical environment. Every moment has it’s own necessity of a particular principle or value like being empathetic to a friend that is going through a rough time, or using your integrity to not cheat in a test even though it’s hard. Hence, ethical environment is present in everyday life. Furthermore, an ethical person is someone who have the principles and values instilled in their character, principles like honesty, integrity, loyalty, etc; that they use in the respected manner in their every day of life. An ethical person should have a good nature and common understanding in using their great understanding of moral to treat other people with their respected beliefs. An ethical person is someone who abides by his or her own principles, and also the law.

 

Analysis

 

            My group and myself are focusing on the topic “Uber’s battle in Indonesia”. We are bringing up the issue in regards to Uber’s expansion to international countries, and in this case, specifically Indonesia. Last year, more specifically on the 22nd of March, 2016; the traffic in the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta was brought to a complete stop due to chaotic situation on ‘unfair’ ride-sharing apps. Local taxi drivers demonstrated their grievances by blocking the city.

Their actions came in response to the unfair operations and the Indonesian government’s failing to regulate or outright ban the ride-sharing services. Local drivers assert that an actions must be done and address this issue because Uber does not feel the impact of heavy tax demanded by the government

 

The legal issue

 

            Uber has been operating in Indonesia since August, 2014.  However, its operations have brought chaos in that it started Ride-Hailing Services in Indonesia without official permit.  Jakarta officer reported that Uber does not have an official permit to carry out its services in Indonesia and so it operates illegally. Uber is involved in illegal issue in that as a tax company, it should have a license for public transportation. Since the company has failed to follow the legal standards, it has violated the law which mandates the use of yellow license plates.  Before starting its operations on public transportation, it could have visited the Transportation Agency to seek for a permit. This is a big problem with the Uber Company because other partners are authorized and they comply with the country’s law.  Uber legal issues are evidence due to unfair taxation. It operates without legal regulations from the government. However, the Indonesian government is also involved in legal issue because it fails to enforce law and to offer permit to the company. The government also has the responsibility to ensure that licensed cars have Yellow License Plate. On the same note, drivers are treated as contractors but not as employees and for this reason, they are denied insurance, pension funds and job security.

 

 Ethical issues

 

By violating the legal law, Uber is involved with ethical problem. First, its operations are referred to as ‘illegal taxi’ and this causes social chaos and disruption. The society is despondent with these operations and consumers feel unsafe. Not only consumers are affected but also the economy in that Indonesians’ taxi drivers feel that there will be no growth of the business in the future.  Uber should understand that its operations should align with society norms in Indonesia rather than existing as an alien. They fail to follow the company’s standards and society norms have created distrust. Other prong is that there is big difference between U.S and Indonesia culture.  For example, in U.S the crime rate is higher than in Indonesia and this creates the mentality that the Uber Company will increase crime.

 

Ethics Decision Model

 The main problem with the Uber Company is that it is operating illegally in Ride-Hailing Operations. In this case, taxi companies, taxi drivers, government and society are affected. Tax companies   are affected in that it is their responsibility to ensure that taxi drivers have the necessary skills on traffic laws. However, Uber’s taxi drivers do not have license nor do they understand the country’s obligations and safe services required. This means that the companies will not achieve the required expectations. Taxi drivers are also involved in that they are denied they rights such as employees’ benefits and security. Due to poor working conditions and lack of regulatory compliance, they are unable to manage risk and the possibility of being involved in legal cases is high. Society is affected in that there is a differing value between local dwellers and Uber workers. Failure to follow the social norms in Indonesia creates a distrust and disunity. Last, the government has a work to do to ensure effective operations.  Indeed, it has worsened the situation by failing to offer regulations to the Uber Company.

 

 In addressing this problem, fairness, responsibility and respect should be the core values to implement. First, fairness is important because it will create a transparent government which regulates all business operations without discrimination. On the same note, government has failed to do its work or to show its responsibility in areas such as background checks and insurance.  Thus, they need to be responsible and ensure that Uber drivers follow the regulatory compliance. Finally, Uber Company should show value and respect the society norms in order to eliminate the social

 

 According to Utilitarian approach, ‘effectiveness is achieved through best actions. Therefore, human being should execute the good things in order to produce the best result. In this case, the approach is very helpful in addressing both legal and ethical issues. Thus, government should be in the front line to demonstrate two important core values namely; fairness and responsibility in addressing the issues. In applying the utilitarian analysis, the government should create rules and regulations which all taxi drivers should follow. On the same note, it should create direct legal regulations and put enforceable laws which ride-sharing operators should comply with. To implement this decision, the government should hold a constructive discussion with Uber and allow them to understand the rules and regulations. This will contribute to better results since Uber will prefer following the law rather than terminating the operations. In addition, Uber will value ethical and legal considerations while in legal boundaries.

 

 

Reference

The attached slide

UBER’s Battle in Indonesia.