A manufacturing company provides jobs for many people in a small town where employment is not easy to find. The company has stayed in the town even though it could find cheaper workers elsewhere, because workers are loyal to the company due to the jobs it provides. Over the years, the company has developed a reputation in the town for taking care of its employees and being a responsible corporate citizen. The manufacturing process used by the company produces a by-product that for years has flown into the town river. The by-product has been considered harmless but some people who live near the river have reported illnesses. What are the issues of integrity, ethics and law posed in the case study?
Answers
Case studies
Choose one or more of the following case studies and lead a discussion which allows students to address and debate issues of integrity, ethics and law. If time allows, let the students vote on which case studies they want to discuss.
For lecturers teaching large classes, case studies with multiple parts and different methods of solution lend themselves well to the group size and energy in such an environment. Lecturers can begin by having students vote on which case study they prefer. Lecturers could break down analysis of the chosen case study into steps which appear to students in sequential order, thereby ensuring that larger groups stay on track. Lecturers may instruct students to discuss questions in a small group without moving from their seat, and nominate one person to speak for the group if called upon. There is no need to provide excessive amounts of time for group discussion, as ideas can be developed further with the class as a whole. Lecturers can vary the group they call upon to encourage responsive participation.
Case study 1
A manufacturing company provides jobs for many people in a small town where employment is not easy to find. The company has stayed in the town even though it could find cheaper workers elsewhere, because workers are loyal to the company due to the jobs it provides. Over the years, the company has developed a reputation in the town for taking care of its employees and being a responsible corporate citizen.
The manufacturing process used by the company produces a by-product that for years has flown into the town river. The by-product has been considered harmless but some people who live near the river have reported illnesses. The by-product does not currently violate any anti-pollution laws.
What are the issues of integrity, ethics and law posed in the case study? What options does the company have, and what should it do and why?
Lecturer Guidelines
Some of the issues raised by this case study include the factors and decisions that led to the current situation, such as worker loyalty caused by scarce employment and the power the company holds over the town; whether the company is acting consistently with its reputation as a good corporate citizen and whether not doing so affects its integrity; the ethics of companies compared to persons, and whether companies should have more or fewer obligations and why; whether and why the company should take action even though the by-product does not violate any laws, and if it should take action, whether the company should establish criteria for helping it decide when to address complaints that do not raise illegal actions. Is there a problem with the current state of the law, and if there is, can the company use that to justify non-action?
Case study 2
A woman died recently, after a short, unhappy life. She wanted her ashes to be scattered in the ocean near a place she lived during one of the brief happy times of her adult life. Her parents and immediate family had already passed away, so she discussed her wishes with her mother-in-law, who said she would comply with her daughter-in-law's wishes. In her will, the woman gave control of her estate to the mother-in-law. The will stated that the woman's ashes should be scattered in the ocean, as described above. Instead, her mother-in-law buried the ashes in a family plot near her home, because she wanted to keep the ashes close to her because of her own grief.
Assume that the mother-in-law is legally required to follow the wishes stated in the will, but that no one will check and it is very unlikely that the mother-in-law will have any problem with the law. What are the issues of integrity, ethics and law posed in the case study? What options does the mother-in-law have, and what should she do and why?
(Adapted from an article in the New York Times .)
Lecturer Guidelines
Some of the issues raised by this case study include whether the mother-in-law is acting ethically and with integrity; the relevance of her promise to her daughter-in-law, and whether the promise is still relevant after the daughter-in-law dies; the impact of the law on the mother-in-law, and what difference it makes that the mother-in-law's illegal activity is not likely to be discovered.