Business Ethics / Professional Ethics and CSR (MBA notes, assignments, case studies)
George Mackee business challenge: Ethics case study
George Mackee thought of himself as bright, energetic, and [having] lots of potential.
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So why was this happening to me, he thought.
George, his two children, and his wife, Mary, had moved to Hondo, Texas, from El Paso four years ago. He was now the manager of Ardnak Plastic Inc., a small plant that manufactured plastic parts for industrial equipment. The plant employed several hundred workers, which was a substantial portion of the population of Hondo. Ardnak Plastics Inc. had several small plants in neighboring areas. George had a good relationship with his boss, Bill, who was in another city.
One of the problems George’s plant had was that the smokestack emissions were consistently above EPA guidelines. Several months ago George got a call from Bill, stating that the EPA had contacted him about the problem and fines would be levied. George admitted the situation was a continual problem, but because headquarters would not invest in new smoke stack-scrubbers, he didn’t know what to do.
Bill replied by saying that margins were at their limits and there was no money for new scrubbers. Besides, Bill commented, other plants were in worse shape than his and they were passing EPA standards. George ended the conversation by assuring Bill that he would look into the matter.
He immediately started calling his contemporaries at other Ardnak plants. He found they were scheduling their heavy emissions work at night so that during the day when the EPA took their sporadic readings they were within standards. George contemplated this option even though it would result in increasing air contamination levels.
A month went by, and George still had not found a solution. The phone rang; it was Bill.
Bill expressed his displeasure with the new fines for the month and reminded George that there were very few jobs out in the industry. That’s when Bill dropped the whole thing into George’s lap.
Bill had been speaking to the Mexican government and had received assurances that no such clean air restrictions would be imposed on Ardnak if they relocated 15 miles south of Hondo in Mexico. However, Ardnak must hire Mexican workers. Bill explained that the reason for relocating would be to eliminate the EPA problems.
Bill told George he had one week to decide whether to eliminate the fines by correcting the current problems or by relocating. George knew that relocating the plant on the Mexican side would devastate the infrastructure of the city of Hondo and would continue to put contaminants into the air on the U.S. side. After mentioning the possibility to Mary, other concerns were reinforced. She did not want him to be responsible for the loss of jobs for their friends and extended families. What should George do?
A. What are the relevant facts?
B. What is the business issue?
C. What are the ethical issues? (include ethical theory)
D. Who are the primary stakeholders?
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E. What are the possible alternatives, with advantages and disadvantages? (Give at least 2)
F. What alternative would you choose if you were George? Why
Academic Questions on Professional / Business Ethics
Academic Questions on Professional / Business Ethics (MBA notes, assignments, case studies)
Question: Child labor is rampant in India despite laws having banned it. Many homes, Dhabas, shops etc. have employed children and make them work in quite inhuman conditions. Who is responsible for this? The employer? Police for not enforcing the law? The neighbors and people like us who notice but do not report to law? All of them. Defend your answer.
Question: Naomi Campbell is being held responsible by US law of having received Conflict Diamonds as gifts. Conflict diamonds are those which are mined by children forced by rebels and proceeds are used for financing wars. 20000 humans have had their limbs chopped off until the mines were handed over to rebels. Is it morally wrong for a customer to buy diamonds as it is not possible for them to determine if diamonds they are purchasing are conflict diamonds? Give reasons for your stand.
Question: The current consumption rate of humanity seems to be unsustainable. All stakeholders need to work together to find a solution and see that future generations are not disadvantaged against. But one set of experts argue that future generations have no rights and the only future generation that we need to worry about is the one that will immediately succeed us. Give your views and provide arguments to support them.
Question: In your judgment, should the major decisions on pollution control be made by government experts? By scientific experts? By Corporate entities? Provide arguments to support your answer.
Question: Ethics and CSR Project
In this project, you are going to set up a fictitious business of your own in any province of Canada and take the perspective of the Chief Executive Officer to reflect on the dimensions of business ethics/corporate social responsibility (CSR) of your company. More specifically, you will: Briefly describe your company (your industry, your main product and/or services, the scope and size of your operations).
Discuss the range of ethical/CSR issues and unique challenges that your company faces. Identify your company’s stakeholders and their varying interests. Discuss how your company goes about managing ethical issues, CSR activities, and stakeholder interests in practice.
Please provide examples for each to illustrate your points. Create a short position statement for the management of your company outlining your overall CSR strategy. What types of activities fall within your CSR strategy and what types of activities are excluded? Why? Discuss the potential implications (positive or negative) of your approach.
The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of the material that is covered in the course. This can best be accomplished by making use of concrete, specific examples to illustrate your understanding of how to apply the concepts.
Expected Structure: Cover Page, Table of Content, Introduction, Company’s Profile/Product/Scope of operations, Ethical Issues/Challenges (refer to your research about current issues), Stakeholders/Interests (refer to the course concepts), Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy (refer to the course concepts), Conclusion, References. Refer textbooks, various sources (Academic, Governmental, Industry related, Media). APA referencing.
Q. a. You are Business Head of Ben & Jerry ice cream in Sri Lanka. One day you discover that the most senior officer of your company’s venture in Sri Lanka has been ‘borrowing’ equipment from the company and using it in his other business venture. When you confront him, the Sri Lankan partner defends his action. After all, as part owner of both the companies, isn’t he entitled to share in the equipment. How will you deal with such cross cultural gray areas and what tools will guide your decision making process?
Q. b. ‘Professionals such as accountants and lawyers have duties and obligations that other people do not.’ Why is that so? Discuss your point of view and its supporting arguments. (two points of view with explanation is good enough)
Q) Analyse the Satyam Scam (Satyam Computers Services Ltd). Present your views on, “Scams influence and change the corporate governance landscape” and substantiate them using insights from the Satyam case.
Q) You have studied Business Ethics as a structured subject for the first time. One of its objective is, ethical literacy- making the students aware of ethical dilemmas and provide tools and frameworks for future and current managers to deal with some of these ethical dilemmas they face. How has it helped you? Give 3 clear points to showcase that it has helped you become a better manager.
Q) TOPIC OPTION 1 – ETHICS
Part A: Describe the characteristics and behaviours of someone you believe to be an ethical person. How could the types of decisions and actions this person engages in be encouraged in a workplace? Refer to theoretical models of ethics in your answer. (Approximately 1700 words).
Utilitarian ethics, Deontology ethics, Consequentialism in ethics, Feminist theory ethics, Virtue in ethics
SOLUTION
Abstract
Ethics refer to principles, moral, beliefs, duty, conduct and code. In any workplace, ethics is an essential feature of leadership. An ethical person should treat people and environment with respect and. an ethical behaviour will always contribute a team with success. In this paper we have discussed characteristics and behaviours of an ethical person. The paper also describes us about the different types of decisions and actions a person engages that are encouraged in a workplace. A development of teamwork requires relationships, respect and sharing. In different professional organizations they set different components in regards to honesty, transparency, accountability, objective, confidentiality, respect and law. He or she should also act in a socially responsible manner and possess social responsibilities.
Question: Ethics and CSR work. Submit a 3000-3500 words (APA Format) paper for this project. References from required textbooks, various sources (Academic, Governmental, Industry related, Media).
Expected Structure: Cover Page, Table of Content, Introduction, Company’s Profile/Product/Scope of operations, Ethical Issues/Challenges (refer to your research about current issues), Stakeholders/Interests (refer to the course concepts), Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy (refer to the course concepts), Conclusion, References.
In this project, you are going to set up a fictitious business of your own in any province of Canada and take the perspective of the Chief Executive Officer to reflect on the dimensions of business ethics/corporate social responsibility (CSR) of your company. More specifically, you will: Briefly describe your company (your industry, your main product and/or services, the scope and size of your operations). Discuss the range of ethical/CSR issues and unique challenges that your company faces. Identify your company’s stakeholders and their varying interests. Discuss how your company goes about managing ethical issues, CSR activities, and stakeholder interests in practice. Please provide examples for each to illustrate your points. Create a short position statement for the management of your company outlining your overall CSR strategy. What types of activities fall within your CSR strategy and what types of activities are excluded? Why? Discuss the potential implications (positive or negative) of your approach. The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of the material that is covered in the course. This can best be accomplished by making use of concrete, specific examples to illustrate your understanding of how to apply the concepts.
Q. “India is one market where sales of so called ‘Fairness Cream’ does booming business”. Identify all the inherent ethical issues. Argue and present the pros and cons of advertising fairness cream in India.
ICSE Essay on Ethical Marketing.
Q: “Facts are irrelevant. What matters is what the consumer believes.‟ In the light of this statement, discuss the impact of advertisements on the consumers.
References
Skin-whitening creams reveal the dark side of the beauty industry
Fairness Creams Under Fire, But Indians Continue to Seek Pale Skin
Skin lightening: India’s obsession that is becoming a medical problem
Neither fair, nor lovely: Two Indian firms are fighting over a fairness cream ad
Ethical Issues in Technology
If you were made the chief ethics office of NitiAyog and you were to design 15 rules for businesses to follow so that they avoid the ethical concerns which you have mentioned in the essay what would those be?
Rules to be followed:
- Promote importance of Transparency and Trustworthiness
- Establish Chains of Ethical Responsibility and Accountability
- Document as much as possible
- Design and Plan for Privacy and Security
- Not sharing passwords with others, following best practices for changing passwords
- Not putting pictures of children on the internet, ask for age before using certain software/app
- Practice disaster planning, take regular backups of work
- Setup Goals, benchmark processes
- Measure performances regularly
- Hire good people with relevant skills
- Train / retrain staff as and when needed
- Don’t keep customers waiting, share as much information as possible
- Provide FAQs and help online (self service)
- Use software to track and manage things
- Be realistic, avoid hype and myths around technology
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