part 1
1. The three principle components of business ethics are facts, values, and arguments. What are the facts pertinent to an ethical evaluation of this case? Is there any information not contained in the question that you'd like to have before making a decision about what should be done?
2. From the facts and information provided, can you sketch a set of values and chain of reasoning justifying the answer that the quiz's original authors sanctioned as the right one? (Leave the decision in the hands of the HR department and existing company policy.)
3. You get some points for C (firing her). What values and reasoning may lead to that determination?
4. According to the quiz authors, the worst answer is A. Maybe they're wrong, though. What values and reasoning may lead to the conclusion that doing "nothing because she's doing her job just fine" is an excellent response?
5. One of the most important questions about a situation's facts is "who's involved?"
< Would it be reasonable to say that, ethically, this is an issue just between you and the woman who you hired after she lied on her résumé?
< If you expand the answer about who's involved to include other workmates at the company, as well as the company's clients and shareholders, does that change the ethical perspective you have on what should be done with the lying (but capable) coworker?
6. What's the difference between morality and ethics?
< Would you categorize response B (bring the issue to HR to determine exactly how company policy determines the situation should be handled) as leading to a decision more based on morality or more based on ethics? Explain.
< Would you categorize response D (carefully weigh her work performance, her length of service, and her potential benefit to the company before informing anyone of what happened or making any recommendations) as leading to a decision more based on morality or ethics? Explain.
part 2
1. The ethical question is whether Apple ought to contract (through suppliers) fifteen-year-olds to work on factory floors. Is the fact that the stock price has been zooming up a pertinent fact, or does it not affect the ethics? Explain.
2. From the information given and reasonable assumptions about these factories and the living conditions of people working inside them, sketch an ethical argument against Apple enforcing the age workplace rule. What fundamental values underwrite the argument?
3. From the information given and reasonable assumptions about these factories and the living conditions of people working inside them, sketch an argument in favor of Apple enforcing the age workplace rule. What fundamental values underwrite the argument?
4. Within the context of the Apple situation, what's the difference between making a decision in terms of the law and in terms of ethics?
5. Assume that in the countries where fifteen-year-olds were working, it's customary for children even younger to earn an adult-type living.
< What is an advantage of following the local customs when making economic decisions like the one confronting Apple?
< Does the custom of employing young workers in some countries change your ethical consideration of the practice in those places? Why or why not?
6. Attributing responsibility-blaming another for doing wrong-requires that the following conditions hold:
< The person is able to understand right and wrong.
< The person acts to cause (or fails to act to prevent) a wrong.
< The person acts knowing what they're doing.
< The person acts from their own free will.
Assuming it's unethical for fifteen-year-olds to work factory shifts making iPhones, who bears responsibility for the wrong?
< Do the fifteen-year-olds bear some responsibility? Explain.
< Does Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple? Explain.
< Are shareholders guilty? Explain.
< Do people who use iPhones bear responsibility? Explain.
Part 3
1. The second introductory clause of the MBA Oath is "My decisions affect the well-being of individuals inside and outside my enterprise, today and tomorrow."[11] What's the difference between seeing this as a positive ethical stand in favor of a broad social responsibility held by those in business, and seeing it as arrogance?
2. Looking at the MBA Oath, can you list a set of values that are probably shared by those responsible for its creation?
3. All this pledging and oathing suddenly popping up at business schools drew the attention of the New York Times, and soon after, an article appeared: "A Promise to Be Ethical in an Era of Immorality."[12] Many of the readers' comments at the end are interesting. The commenter paulnyc writes that "most students go to MBA programs to advance their careers and to earn more money, pure and simple, and there is nothing wrong with it."[13]
< What values underlie paulnyc's perspective?
< How is paulnyc's vision different from the one espoused in the oath?
4. The commenter JerryNY wrote, "Greed IS good as long as it is paired with the spirit of fairness. Virtually all of the major advances in science and technology were made with greed as one of the motivating factors. Gugliemo [sic] Marconi, Alexander Graham Bell, Bill Gates, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs would not have given us the life changing technological advances of our time were it not for personal greed. Remove that element, and your class is destined for mediocrity."
Is it plausible to assert that JerryNY shares most of the values of those who wrote the MBA Oath, it's just that he sees a different business attitude as the best way to serve those values? If so, explain. If not, why not?
5. Eric writes,
I would refuse to take that oath...on principle. The idea that an individual's proper motive should be to serve "the greater good" is highly questionable. This altruistic ethic is what supported the collectivist of communism and national socialism. If my life belongs first and foremost to "the greater good," it follows that the greatest virtue is to live as a slave. A slave's existence, after all, is devoted primarily for the benefit of his master. The master can be a plantation owner or a King or an oligarchy or a society that demands your servitude.
The only oath I'd be willing to take is, "I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
In your own words, contrast the values the MBA Oath supporters espouse with the values the commenter Eric espouses.
6. The commenter Clyde Wynant is skeptical. He writes this about those who take the MBA Oath: "Call me hyper-cynical, but I can't help wondering if a lot of these kids aren't hoping that having this ‘pledge' on their résumé might help them look good."
Is it unethical to take the pledge without expecting to adhere to it simply because you think it will help in your job search, or is that strategy just a different kind of ethics? Explain.
7. The commenter Mikhail is skeptical. He writes, "Give me a break...With the next upswing of the economy, these leeches will be sucking the lifeblood out of our collective economies like the champions they truly are!!! Yes, perhaps opportunistic parasites every last one of them-but really, it's not their fault-they're just programmed that way."
When he says business school students are programmed, what does he mean? If someone is programmed to be an opportunistic parasite in business, can we blame them for what they do? If so, how? If not, who should be blamed?
8. The commenter as is skeptical. He writes, "Don't make me laugh. If they are so concerned about the ‘greater good,' go into teaching and nursing."
Assume the MBA Oath does stress the importance of the greater good, and you too are going into the economic world with that as a privileged value. How could you respond to the argument that you really should be doing nursing or something more obviously serving the general good?
9. According to the Times, B-schoolers aren't lining up for the MBA Oath: only about 20 percent take the pledge. How could you convince the other 80 percent to sign on?
Part 4
1. Hurwitz is brutally honest about the fact that he'll only contract bands capable of turning a profit. When he was younger and a deejay, he insisted on playing the music he judged best no matter how many people turned off the radio when his show came on (an attitude that cost him the job).
< What, if anything, is Hurwitz the older concert promoter compromising to get ahead? Is there an ethical objection that could be raised here? If so, what? If not, why not?
< When Hurwitz was a deejay, he played records that led people to change the station. Then the station changed him. Is this an example of business regulating itself? Is there an ethical side to this, or is it just the way money works? Explain.
< From the information given, would you judge that Hurwitz is successful in business? Why or why not?
< Are all these questions part of institutional business ethics or personal business ethics? Explain.
2. Hurwitz says that he doesn't book bands as favors. Presumably at least some of the favors he's talking about would be to friends.
< Do people who run their own company have an ethical responsibility to separate friends from business?
3. One nice thing about Hurwitz working upstairs in his own house is that he can show up for work in the morning in his pajamas. Should all places of business be like that-with people free to wear whatever they want for work? Explain your answer from an ethical perspective.
4. Most of Hurwitz's shows are on weeknights. Some concertgoers may have such a good time that they can't make it in to work the next day.
< If you go to a concert on a Wednesday and are too hung over to make it to work on Thursday, what should you tell your boss on Friday? That you were hung over? That your car broke down? Something else? Justify.
< Should Hurwitz accept some responsibility and blame for absent employees? Explain.