Chapter 1 of our textbook introduced the topic of ethics. If you have been aware of anything in the news over the last few years, this is a tremendously important topic that all business majors need to understand relative to their careers since even if we are somehow able to remain "clean", we can still be seriously impacted by others' errors in ethical judgement.

Assignment

The assignment has two parts. First, pick one of the six business scenarios below to discuss then address at least three of the dimensions (further below) in your original post of at least 500 words.

Select one scenario:

You are working on a project along with several other companies and you notice that one of the companies is doing shoddy, dangerous work. If you report that company, the entire project may be shut down and you will lose 20% of your revenues for the year. Do you report the problem? How? Why?

Your budgets are tight. You procure some business services but the vendor forgets to invoice you - and six months go by. Do you remind them to send the invoice? Why?

Your products have been profitable partly because of misrepresenting their quality. Do you address the quality problem which will negatively affect your profitability and your bonus? How do you address this problem?

Your car line has been popular and profitable, but you were just informed that the emissions data has been intentionally misrepresented. How do you respond to the public, engineering, and NTSB?

You are offered tickets to a rock concert with a potential supplier that is currently tendering a proposal for a big contract. It is your favorite band and you really want to see them. Tickets for this concert have been sold out for months. You know that accepting the gift will not influence your contribution to the procurement process. Do you accept the tickets and go? Why?

A famous athlete (whether you or one your company represents) is offered a multi-million dollar endorsement to promote a product that you dislike and would NEVER use. Do you recommend that your client endorse it or not? Why (what do you tell your client)?

Ethical Dimensions:

If morals are personal in nature (whether religious, political, or philosophical) and ethics are how businesses apply a set of beliefs in short- and long-term decision making, how do you handle situations where one conflicts with another?

Environmental concerns (water, air, noise, space, pollution, etc.,)

Human safety (yours, co-workers, customers, public)

Regulatory compliance / legal constraints

The effect of my intentions based on personal beliefs versus the actual or perceived impact on other persons or businesses that you may not have ever considered

Cultural differences that contain varying priorities, beliefs, or expectations regardless of your personal beliefs (such as child labor, OSHA regulations, tax laws, gifts)

How do you handle the situation that the other party does not have all of the "facts" as we know them?

How do you handle the situation where no one, including you, will know the outcome until years later?

How do you handle the situation where a decision must be made in a short time frame without the ability to have all of the facts?

How do you handle the situation where the potential decision is legal but some, perhaps many, consider it to be unethical?

Is the decision being made still good if the sexes are changed? The skin color? The language? The religion? The law? The monetary outcome?

Is my personal sense of right and wrong, my conscious (whether guilty or clean), an accurate yardstick? Why? How?

Is my personal sense of right and good for others an accurate yardstick? Why? How?

When does one person's sense of correct ethical behavior overrule another person's correct ethical behavior?