NEED BY WED 8 AM

ETHICAL DECISIONS

MOD 4

Start by reading and following these instructions:

1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.

2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.

3. Consider the discussions and any insights gained from it.

4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.

Assignment:

1. Identify a company or organization in the media or with which you are familiar that operates ethically. What are the reasons this company/organization is ethical? (You may refer to the leadership, management, products, or services of the organization.)

2. Do you believe the covenantal ethic and social contract views are realistic for large organizations like Bank of America, JPMorgan, ExxonMobil, and Citibank, or federal agencies like the FTC and the Department of Defense? Why or why not? Explain.

3. Outline some steps you would recommend for preventing future corporate scandals like Enron, WorldCom, and the subprime lending crisis based on the contents of this module.

4. My job requires that I lie every day I go to work. I work for a private investigation agency called XRT. Most of the work I do involves undercover operations, mobile surveillances, and groundwork searches to determine the whereabouts of manufacturers that produce counterfeit merchandise. Each assignment I take requires some deception on my part. Recently I have become very conscious of the fact that I frequently have to lie to obtain concrete evidence for a client. I sometimes dig myself so deeply into a lie that I naturally take it to the next level, without ever accomplishing the core purpose of the investigation.

Working for an investigative agency engages me in assignments that vary on a day-to-day basis. I choose to work for XRT because it is not a routine 9-to-5 desk job. But to continue working for the agency means I will constantly be developing new untruthful stories. And the longer I decide to stay at XRT, the more involved the assignments will be. To leave would probably force me into a job photocopying and fling paperwork once I graduate from college. Recently I was given an assignment that I believed would lead me to entrap a subject to obtain evidence for a client. The subject had applied for disability on workers’ compensation after being hit by a truck. Because the subject refused to partake in any strenuous activity because of the accident, I was instructed to fake a flat tire and videotape the subject changing it for me. Although I did not feel comfortable engaging in this type of act, my supervisors assured me that it was ethical practice and not entrapment.

Coworkers and other supervisors assured me that this was a standard “industry practice,” and that we would go out of business if we didn’t “fudge” the facts once in a while. I was told, “Do you think every business does its work and makes profits in a purely ethical way? Get real. I don’t know what they’re teaching you in college, but this is the real world.” It was either do the assignment or find myself on the street— in an economy with no jobs.

1. What is the dilemma here, or isn’t there one?

2. What would you have done in the writer’s situation? Explain.

3. React to the comment, “Do you think every business does its work and makes profits in a purely ethical way? Get real. I don’t know what they’re teaching you in college, but this is the real world.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?

4. Describe the ethics of this company.

5. Compare and contrast your personal ethics with the company ethics revealed here?

MOD 5

Start by reading and following these instructions:
1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.
2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.
3. Consider the discussions and any insights gained from it.
4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.
Assignment:

1. Where does the liability of a company end and the responsibility of consumers begin for products? Explain your answer as you define this question more specifically.

2. Evaluate and comment on this statement: “North American and European countries have created waste, pollution, and environmental devastation for decades, even centuries. Is it fair that countries like China and India, new to these behaviors, should have the same sanctions now regarding their use of technologies, fuels, and other polluting devices as North America and Europe?”

3. Do you believe cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoking should be banned from all public places where passive smoking can affect nonsmokers? Explain. Use the following (or other) web sites to argue your position: 

www.cdc.gov

; 

www.tobacco.org

; 

www.thetruth.com

; 

www.trytostop.org

; 

www.cancer.org

; 

www.getoutraged.com

.

4. I am a project manager who supports corporate-citizenship-funded programs for our large insurance company. I am responsible for helping choose proposals to support for environmental, community education, and alumni related projects. Last year, the division in which I work facilitated 120 sponsorships, engaged 100 employees, and provided nearly 25 speakers to various programs. We have a set of criteria to guide our decision-making process and to help proposals that demonstrate real need. This focus aligns with the mission of the company. Still, there are many organizations with proposals that are high profile, legacy, and/or ones also supported by executives at our firm.

These executive-backed requests sometimes receive preferential treatment over the requests that do meet our needs criteria. Several individuals and groups in the company who are aware of these exceptions either shrug it off or feel comfortably conflicted. Executives form close ties with some of the groups who receive funding without going through our formal process. A dilemma our group faced last year occurred when one executive pressured us to fund a non-profit that his sister founded. It was a small non-profit with an environmental focus in an unassigned area and community in which our Program operates. While this is not the only time executives have bypassed our company policy, it is one that smacked of nepotism! While I hesitate to judge whether or not this particular executive was right or wrong, I continue to have issues with the assumed power and authority that executives in our firm take to trump our mandated mission and decisions with regard to funding needy programs. What more should I have done (should I do) to stand up for my personal and professional beliefs?

My reasoning to execute the sponsorship of that particular program was because I was afraid of the backlash if I did not act. The organization has created a culture where this is acceptable and even though I am not comfortable with this part of our culture, I cannot do much to change it at this point. I cringe at this particular situation and others since I was raised with an ethic of fairness and acting justly toward others. If all people cannot act in a certain way, then no one should act that way. It is difficult managing this process in the real world because people and organizations inevitably have competing interests, stakes, and power in the hierarchy of a company.

1. What exactly is the conflict of interest here?

2. Is this a serious conflict of interest or just a “business as usual” situation? Explain.

3. What would you have done in this situation before the executive took a decision to fund the sister’s program if you had been this project manager? Explain.

4. Describe the ethical principles (or reasoning) you used in your answer to question 3.

MOD 6

Start by reading and following these instructions:
1. Quickly skim the questions or assignment below and the assignment rubric to help you focus.
2. Read the required chapter(s) of the textbook and any additional recommended resources. Some answers may require you to do additional research on the Internet or in other reference sources. Choose your sources carefully.
3. Consider the discussions and any insights gained from it.
4. Create your Assignment submission and be sure to cite your sources, use APA style as required, check your spelling.
Assignment:

1. Do you believe leaders in large Fortune 500 companies follow and model their stated visions, missions, and values in everyday business dealings? Explain. Identify a Fortune 500 company and CEO in the news that demonstrates ethical behavior. Is there any evidence that his or her company’s performance is related to ethical leadership behavior? Explain.

2. What clues would you look for in identifying ethical and unethical activities by evaluating an organization’s structure? Explain.

3. Draft a brief values statement (or list some major values) of the ideal company for which you would like to work. Assess a business you know well using your list. What similarities and differences did you find? Compare your list to the examples in this chapter. What are the similarities or differences?

4. Which is most effective for organizational stakeholders: internal self-regulation or government regulation? Explain your answer.