Business Ethics Case Study
This is an ethical analysis of the article Menu science: The subtle ways restaurants get you to spend more, by Stephanie Bank. The article talks about the various unethical ways through which restaurants persuade people to pay more than they should for the food. According to Stephanie, some of the tricks include adding ballooned descriptions on the menu items. Ballooning or shortening the details on the menu to make customer choices difficult, price descriptions that are meant to trigger the customer to purchase expensive items on the menu (Bank 2018 p.3). Also, ordering menu items in such a way as to take advantage of analysis paralysis so that the customer can order expensive items.
Ideals, Effects and Consequences
Justice theory of ethics requires that the restaurants should earn what is due to them without necessarily hurting the customer. The customer should be able to pay for the quality and quantity of the food ordered without unnecessary difficulties. In the present case, the ideal situation is that restaurants are businesses whose owners and directors want to make the h profit out of it. While this is good, it is morally wrong for theuge profit to be made by taking advantage of customer ignorance. The means employed by the restaurants are unethical. While the means profit restaurants, it makes customers spend more money than they should, and the consequences are negative. The families lose a lot of money that would otherwise be used in other ways to better the family and society.
Moral Rights Violations
The customer has a moral right to pay what is due to the restaurant without excessive extortion. This right emanates from the justice theory of ethics that demands fairness. The principle of beneficence requires the restaurant owners to enforce this right to pricing their items to reflect the actual costs. The principle of Maleficence requires the restaurant owners to desist from any act of extortion or unfair costings (Teays 2019 p.138). Restaurant owners have violated these principles and the moral right to fair compensation due to the customers.
A Utilitarian Approach
Given this situation, a utilitarian would wish to do the highest good to the most significant number of people. The utility here is the pricing of the food. The affected person is the customers who are being overcharged at the advantage of a few restaurant owners and shareholders. In light of this, a utilitarian would ensure that the prices are fair by scrapping the tricks used above and allowing more customers to purchase food at a reasonable price. This would please them and their families as they can save money to take care of other responsibilities. A utilitarian would shun the present practice.
A Kantian Approach
Kantian ethics is a deontological ethics theory that relies on categorical imperatives as the justification of actions and decisions. According to the theory, an action is morally right if it follows a maxim and wills that maxim to be a universal law. Here, a Kantian would recommend setting up regulations that govern hotel pricing. As long as these regulations are complied with, then a Kantian would be okay with whatever trick the restaurant employs (Bowie 2017 p.12). In the absence of these rules, a Kantian would recommend abstinence from the overpricing practice because the restaurant has a moral duty to be fair to their customers.
Sources
- Bank, Stephanie. “Menu Science: The Subtle Ways Restaurants Get You to Spend More.” The Globe And Mail, 2018, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-menu-science-the-subtle-ways-restaurant-get-you-to-spend-more/?cmpid=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=PM2018.
- Bowie, Norman E. Business ethics: A Kantian perspective. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
- Teays, Wanda. “Applied Ethics: Principles and Perspectives.” Doctors and Torture. Springer, Cham, 2019. 131-147.