Question

Describing in three to four sentence what is going on in the following scenario

List all stakeholders who are and or could be affected. In addition, state how they are and or could be affected by the issues involved.

Answer YES or NO and provide an explanation for each of the below theories. Give an explanation from all theory's perspectives.

• Utilitarian Theory
• Deontology Theory
• Kant's Categorical Imperative Principle
• Social Contract Theory
• Virtue Ethics Theory

SCENARIO

You are the senior software engineer at a start-up company developing an exciting new mobile app that will allow salespeople to generate and email sales quotes and customer invoices from their smartphones. Your company’s sales force has led a major corporation to believe your product will be available next week. Unfortunately, at this point the software still contains quite a few bugs. The leader of the testing group has reported that all of the known bugs appear to a minor, but it will take another month of testing for his team to be confident in the product contains no catastrophic errors. Because of the fierce competition in the mobile app industry, it is critical that your company be ‘first to market’. To the best of your knowledge, a well-established company will release a similar product in a few weeks. If its product appears first, your start-up company will probably go out of business.

Answer 1

Utilitarian Theory:NO

According to Utilitarian Theory the locus of right or wrong is placed according to the outcome of the task. Here in the given scenario if the start-up releases the app containing bugs, after all it will only effect the reputation of the start-up and it's customers will start losing trust in the company on the other hand due this release the well-established company which was going to release the same app will be benefited by this move of the start-up. Hence the start-up should remove all the bugs and then release the app.

Deontology Theory:YES

According to this theory, the moral worth of an action is determined by the human will, which is the only thing in the world that can be considered good without qualification. Good will is exercised by acting according to moral duty/law. Deontology states that an act that is not good morally can lead to something good, such as shooting the intruder (killing is wrong) to protect your family (protecting them is right). Here in the given scenario if the start-up releases the app containing bugs, and can assure its customers that an improved version of the app will be out shortly and dose so, they can go for it.

Kant's Categorical Imperative Principle:YES

According to Kant's Categorical Imperative Principle, a moral law that is unconditional or absolute for all agents, the validity or claim of which does not depend on any ulterior motive or end. Here in the given scenario start-up can go for either of the choices without thinking of the result.

Social Contract Theory:YES

Social contract theory, nearly as old as philosophy itself, is the view that persons' moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live. Here in the given scenario by this theory both the companies should go together in this release benefiting both the sides via a social contact.

Virtue Ethics Theory:NO

According to this theory, that emphasize the role of character and virtue in moral philosophy rather than either doing one's duty or acting in order to bring about good consequences. Here in this scenario without thinking of the consequences or duty the senior software manger of the startup should declare the release of the app.