APPLICATION OF ETHICAL THEORY TO A CASE STUDY
The Question/Assignment
About a year ago, Sam became part of the staff at Moyuka, an international car manufacturing compay. He was put in charge a mid-level team responsible for product quality monitoring for a leading Moyuka model, leading in sales.
Over the last couple of months, Sam has been receiving reports concerning several isolated incidents that touched on issues related to the product's acceleration pedaling system, which was being seen to make the cars to dangerously speed out of the driver's control. Sam consequently comes to the decision that is a serious enough case that warrants urgent attention. He therefore proceeds to raise the matter with his line manager, Kathy, who gives him a listening ear, appears to take lots of notes and assures Sam that she would definitely escalate his concerns to higher management levels.
A couple of days later, Sam gets a detailed briefing coming from the Senior Manager in charge of Product Quality, strongly recommending that as only a couple of isolated incidents had been noted, the issue ought to be handled as a matter of 'quality' and not really an issue of 'safety'. The briefing makes it clear to Sam about the potential high cost that would come as a result of a global car recall and its financial implications for Moyuka as a company and the entire workforce. It strongly discourages any additionalinvestigation into the matter.
Sam is uncomfortable with the decision but due to his relatively low ranking position, he decides to altogether drop the matter.Has Sam done the right thing?