College of Business Administration

Seminar in Business and the Good Society

Discussion Questions for December 05, 2000:

Contemporary Ethics

1) How do you know 'right' from 'wrong' in your personal life? Is it different in your work life? Why or why not?

2) In making managerial decisins, are rules or outcomes more important? Provide an example of a potential conflict between rules and outcomes, and demonstrate how you would resolve this conflict.

3) Part of what it means to be ethical is to care. How do you care, and yet remain impartial in your decision making?

4) Many of you place a high value on the environment. Yet, ethics is fundamentally about how humans treat one another.
What place do environmental concerns play in your decision making? How do you convince others who may not share your concern for the environment that taking non-human species into account is the 'right' thing to do?

5) How are character and behavior 'connected'? From an ethical point of view, which is more important?

6) Consider your response to the following discussion case vignettes (Trevino/Nelson pp. 62-64):

Human Resources Issue
Your division has formed a committee of employees to examine suggestions and create a strategy for how to reward good employee ideas. You are the only minority member of the committee, which has five other members. You're pleased to be part of this effort since appointments to committees such as this one are viewed generally as a positive reflection on job performance. At the first meeting, tasks are assigned and all the other committee members think you should survey minority members for their input. During the weeks that follow, you discover that several committee meetings have been held without your knowledge. When you ask why you weren't notified, two committee members tell you that survey information wasn't needed at the meetings and you'd be notified when a general meeting was scheduled. When you visit one committee member in his office, you spot a report on the suggestion program that you've never seen before. When you ask about it, he says it's just a draft he and two others have produced.

*How would you handle this?

Conflicts of Interest Issue
You've just cemented a deal between a $100 million pension fund and Green Company, a large regional money manager. You and your staff put in long hours and a lot of effort to close the deal and are feeling very good about it. You and three of your direct reports are having lunch in a fancy restaurant to celebrate a promotion, when the waiter brings you a phone. A senior account executive from Green is on the phone and wants to buy you lunch in gratitude for all your efforts. "I'll leave my credit card number with the restaurant owner," he says. "You and your team have a great time on me."

*Describe three courses of action you might take and the pros and cons of each.

Customer Confidence Issue
You're the vice president of finance for a small computer company, which has shown a small profit during the last three years. Your company is planning a stock offering, and positive earnings forecasts are essential to its success. While you're preparing the forecasts, a friend tells you in confidence that his company--the major chip supplier to your company--is experiencing serious manufacturing difficulties. He says that, although it won't be announced for several weeks, chips will be in short supply for at least a year. He estimates that your company's supplies may be cut by as much as 25%. Your earnings forecast is scheduled to be issued two weeks before the announcement from the chip supplier.

*Should you consider this information in preparing for the stock offering?

Use of Corporate Resources Issue
You work for Red Co. You and a colleague, Pat Brown, are asked by your manager to attend a week-long conference in Los Angeles. At least 25 other employees from Red Co. are attending, as well as many customers and competitors from other institutions. At the conference, you attend every session and see many of the Red Co. people, but you never run into Pat. Although you've left several phone messages for her, her schedule doesn't appear to allow room for a meeting. However, when you get back to the office, the department secretary, who's coordinating expense reports, mentions to you that your dinner in L.A. must have been quite the affair. When you ask, "What dinner?", she describes a dinner with 20 customers and Red Co. employees that Pat paid for at a posh L.A. restaurant. When you explain that you didn't attend, she shows you the expense report with your name prominently listed as one of the attendees.

*Describe at least two ways in which you could handle this situation.

7) The following Eight Steps to Sound Ethical Decision Making in Business are from Trevino/Nelson, pp. 71-75:

1. Gather the Facts

2. Define the Ethical Issues

3. Identify the Affected Parties

4. Identify the Consequences

5. Identify the Obligations

6. Consider Your Character and Integrity

7. Think Creatively about Potential Actions

8. Check Your Gut

*Is this list both necessary and sufficient for the resolution of moral debate?
*What moral systems are in evidence in the above list?
*Which are absent?

8) Several weeks ago we had a discussion of how to value a human life...and whether or not a 'standard' figure could be developed and applied. Trevino/Nelson outline a 1971 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which catalogues "the estimated cost to society every time someone is killed in a car accident [emphasis added]" (p. 83). In this study the value of a human life was determined to be $200,725.

*Using this figure as a basis for calculation, what would the value of a human life in 2000 dollars be?
*What are the problems with this valuation approach?
*Was Ford in error in utilizing this value as a basis for calculations relating to the benefits/costs associated with modification of the Pinto?

9) What is the appropriate use for facts when seeking to resolve moral dilemmas?

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