Assignment:
Honda company
One paper (recommended length 16 pages exclusive of appended material) will analyze the ethical, social and environmental standards and practices of a specific firm; it is to be completed individually and submitted by the last day of class. There are no restrictions on the organization chosen (use of a student's employer organization is permitted but not required) and no two students will select the same organization. The following questions should be used, as relevant, to guide this assessment:
• Are ethics, social responsibility and environmental sustainability ingrained in the organization's mission and governance structure?• Does the organization adhere to a code of ethical, social and/or environmental conduct (its own or an industry code)?
• Does the organization's culture appear to be grounded in a utilitarian, teleological, deontological, or virtue-based philosophy of ethics?
• Does the organization appear to perform at the "economic viability and profitability," "legal," "ethical," or "discretionary" level of the corporate social responsibility model?
• To what extent, how, and how effectively does the culture communicate and reinforce a commitment to the ten "old cultural values" identified by Fr. Byron at all levels of the organization?• Does the organization impose ethical, social and environmental standards on and seek to acquire environmentally friendly products and materials from its suppliers?
• To what extent are the products and services delivered by the organization to its customers eco-friendly?
• Does the organization make information about its environmental performance (e.g., carbon footprint) available to customers and other stakeholders?
• What areas of business or consumer demand for socially beneficial or environmentally sustainable products and services may present current or future opportunities for the organization?
• Do any current products or practices reflect ethical, social or environmental irresponsibility by causing or facilitating harm to any group or individual or to the environment and what, if anything, does the organization do to mitigate their impact?
• What benefits and problems accrue to the organization as a consequence of its current approach to and level of ethical, social and environmental performance?
• What specific policies or practices should the organization implement to improve its ethical, social and environmental performance?