Business Ethics

  
Two homework questions
Learning Activity #1
38, 39…….whatever it takes.
Bill lived in Stinko, a small, isolated town in south Texas, near the Mexico border.  Bill was the manager of a factory that manufactured disposable drinking cups.  The factory employed 150 people and was, by far, the largest employer in Stinko.  Bill was married and the father of 3 teenage children.
The plant ran well and Bill always achieved his production goals.  However, one byproduct of one part of the manufacturing process was a very smelly, smoky residue emitted from the plant’s smokestacks.  In addition to being smelly, the emissions had attracted the attention of the EPA.   EPA tests had shown that the emissions contained excessive levels of sulfur.  The EPA told Bill that if the emissions weren’t cleaned up, fines would be levied against the company. 
Bill talked to other plant managers within the company at other plant locations.  All of them told him that they had found a way around the EPA testing by only producing the really stinky smoke at night.  Since the EPA only tested during the day, they were getting away with it. 
Bill talked to his boss about some equipment that was available that would clean the emissions enough to pass the EPA tests but his boss said it was way too expensive to install.  So, Bill did nothing and eventually got fined by the EPA.  The fine was substantial.  Bill’s boss told him that he better find a way to stop the fines or his job was in jeopardy. 
Bill received a call from the mayor of El Rancho, a small town just across the border in Mexico, about 20 miles south of Stinko.  The mayor told Bill that if he moved the plant to El Rancho, he could emit as much stinky smoke as he wanted because El Rancho had no emission guidelines in place. The only catch was that Bill would have to employ only Mexican citizens from the town of El Rancho.  However, due to the prevailing winds of the area, the stinky smoke would be carried directly north and would still affect the town of Stinko. 
Bill told his boss about the offer.  The boss told Bill that it was his decision to make but that he better do something quickly if he wanted to keep his job.  Bill’s kids were nearing college age and he needed his job. 
Bill knew that if he moved the plant to El Rancho that the emissions would still be polluting the atmosphere.  He also knew that if he moved the plant that the town of Stinko would be ruined.  The jobs of his friends and neighbors would be gone forever.  But, his job would be safe. 
Make an ethical argument that Bill could use to justify moving the plant to El Rancho and make a separate ethical argument that Bill could use to keep the plant in Stinko.  Make sure you consider the environment in both of your arguments. 
Learning Activity #2
Give a chicken what it wants!
Review Chapter 14((Chapter 14: The Green Office: Economics and the Environment (pages 627-664) (website URL: https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/textbooks/The%20Business%20Ethics%20Workshop.pdf )) and view the 1 minute video “Perdue Farms Changes Rules for Chicken Care” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K6t1buas2M ).  In this video, the Perdue CEO is quoted as saying that the new rules “Give chickens what they want.”  Using the various animal rights arguments set forth in Chapter 14 and assuming that chickens don’t want to be eaten, answer the following questions:
1.  What is the best argument against the new rules?
2.  What is the best argument in favor of the new rules?
3.  What animal rights argument would you use to justify never eating another chicken nugget?
Please use references for both questions from the course material provided below, all of which can be googled.
Theme 1:  Ethical Issues Related to the Environment

 
The Business Ethics Workshop (2012) Washington, DC: The Saylor Foundation
· Chapter 14: The Green Office: Economics and the Environment (pages 627-664)
(website URL: https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/textbooks/The%20Business%20Ethics%20Workshop.pdf )
· What is Environmental History
· Environmental Ethics?
· Perdue Farms Changes Rules for Chicken Care
· When some US firms move production overseas, they also offshore their pollution
· Fracking Is Dangerous To Your Health — Here’s Why
· Global Scarcity: Scramble for Dwindling Natural Resources
· The Needs of 7 Billion People
· Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects
· Environmental Racism
Theme 2:  Sustainable Business Practices

 
· Stepping Towards Sustainable Business: An Evaluation of Waste Minimization Practices in US Manufacturing
· A Corporate Model of Sustainable Business Practices
· Environmental Sustainability in Business