Purpose of the Paper:

The purpose of this term paper is for you to apply some of the basic theories that we have learned in class and apply them to a real world case of your choosing.

Topic of the Paper:

I want you to analyze a business ethics problem that has affected a company in the past 10 years using Rest’s 4 Steps towards Ethical Behavior listed on pages 49-56 of the textbook (on Blackboard). The ethical problem must be one that was publicized enough that there are adequate news articles, financial statements, interviews, and scholarly articles available to compile the information necessary for Step 2 (see below).

In Step 1: you will analyze why the event is an “ethical” issue, not just a professional or engineering problem. You should also analyze the impediments to recognizing the ethical nature of the issue in the situation. Were there examples of any of the forms of moral disengagement listed on pages 50-52? Did the company realize that this was an ethical issue?

In Step 2: you will apply the Moral Reasoning framework on pages 45-49 to determine whether the activity you describe is ethical or unethical. This is also where most of the factual summary should go. You should present the most accurate, clear, and relevant evidence you have. In Step 2, you may only use the theories in Chapter 2 (i.e. utilitarianism, rights, Kantian rights, justice, care, or values) to determine what the moral standard is or should be. Also note in this section whether any biases affected the application of moral reasoning in the case. Step 2 should be the longest section of the paper.

In Step 3: you will describe the decision that was made in the case, whether ethical or unethical. You should also describe whether and how corporate culture affected the decision and whether and how moral seduction was used to justify the fraud.

Finally in Step 4: you must describe the implementation of the ethical conduct or what the implementation would have looked like if the company had chosen the ethical decision. This is your chance to “be the CEO”. If the company did the “right” thing, tell me what it practically looked like. If the company did the “wrong” thing, describe to be what the company should have done instead that would have been ethical.