BUSINESS 303 FIRST INDIVIDUAL CASE SPRING 2011

Instructions: Read the case below. Then answer the following questions in clear and complete sentences. Avoid vague rhetoric and generalizations. Stick to the facts of the case as much possible. Please try not to fabricate new or unrelated details or attempt to find further information from other sources. Provide one or two paragraph-length answer to each question. Answer the questions with the requested perspectives in mind: avoid vague and general answers about “being ethical” or “doing the right thing”. Please remember that quantity is not important, but quality is. Quality is defined based on the appropriate use of terminology to show you know the concepts of this course. Grammar and spelling will be marked. Length: Maximum of five pages, double-spaced (plus a cover page = 6 pages). Deadline: Wednesday, March 9, 2011, 9:30 AM. Submission Instructions: Please submit in writing and to WebCT before the deadline. ______

Doing Good & Avoiding Evil (Part II. Case 22) based on a case by Lisa Newton http://www.rit.edu/cla/ethics/resources/cases/newton/dgae2p4.html

G. David Thorsten, is the company ethicist for so I don't know if this has ever come up before and UXL, one of the U.S.’s largest (and few what we've done about it. Dave, can I do this?” remaining) steel producers. Thorsten had just settled into his office for the morning when Tony “I don't understand. What would you do?” Francato, the new hire in the legal department, “ Every OSHA inspection is accompanied by a came to the door in a state of obvious agitation. man from the legal department and by the “Can I talk to you for a minute?” occupational safety manager, in this plant Bob “Of course, Tony, what's on your mind?” Watson. Watson's a good man, not likely to blow any whistles. I can just call OSHA back and tell “ Dave, I just got a call from an OSHA man.... them Watson's out of town: I already told Joe I uh, that's the local Occupational Safety and Health might do that, in case OSHA calls the plant to Administration inspector. He wants me to go with check, but he'll be back Thursday and we can go him on an inspection of our Rambo River coke first thing in the morning.” facility. That's the plant that got the citation last year for dirty air: excessive workplace air pollution, they “What good would that do?” called it. Under the new regulations, you have to have “By Thursday we can have that place clean as a only so much SO2 and other junk in the air or they whistle; cut production way down, set up fans, close the factory to protect the workers’ health. really blow the place out. That way we'd pass the And we had too much. inspection and they'd leave us alone for another “So when I got the call I told him I couldn’t talk year. If we fail, they're very likely to start to him for a minute but could I get right back, and proceedings to close the plant.” then I called Joe Salvatore, the plant manager at “But look, Tony, when production started up again, Rambo, and asked are we clean enough to survive the conditions would be just as bad as they are now, an OSHA visit? He said Hell, no, we’ve got a very right? And that's bad for the workers, isn't it? OSHA high production rate right now and the weather didn't just make up these standards out of the blue, isn't friendly, there's a temperature inversion, the right? OSHA or not, we have a responsibility to air is stagnant, and it's for sure it wouldn't pass. take care of our workers' health. Why don't we Look, he thinks they'll close the plant if the play it straight? Go through the inspection, get inspector sees it like it is now! He said stall. Lie if together with OSHA on the results, and settle on you have to. There's no one else in today in my office, some way to clean up that air for good.”

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“ Dave, UXL isn't going to clean up that plant. and their choice. I'm not even sure that we have a The kind of pollution control machinery they need right to make that choice for them. costs millions, and they wouldn't spend that David asks, “What are our alternatives?” money. You know the state of the steel industry. UXL used to be the biggest steel producer there Tony responds, “We can avoid the whole OSHA was, but that was before it diversified. Now it's issue by moving the facility to Mexico. But that mostly into insurance and that chain of fast food requires a capital outlay that head office may not want restaurants, and...” to make. Plus we stir up a whole dust cloud if we move any equipment. Also product transportation “ OK, so maybe they won't spend the money. costs really end up causing more pollution. Finally, How long is the OSHA guy going to wait for you the worker’s there are still going to suffer with same to return this call, by the way? poor environment if we use the same plant set-up. “I said something about this intestinal problem David asks, “Do we have time to get Watson on I've got. No, they won't spend the money, and the the phone and ask him what alternative methods way the industry is going, there aren't any more we could use that won’t cost us an arm and a leg jobs out there for these workers. This plant is only and do something?” marginally profitable as it is. At present levels, Tony makes a quick phone call to Bob Watson though, it can keep making money for another ten and reports back to David. “Bob says that better years at least.” blending processes to improve the quality of coal “ But Tony, we can't leave workers in that feed would reduce emissions. Also enclosing atmosphere for ten years, or ten months! This handling conveyors, using sprinklers and plastic pollution kills! It causes lung cancer, emphysema, emulsions to suppress dust formation, providing heart disease, all manner of dreadful things. I'm windbreaks, and reducing drop distances would not sure that we wouldn't be legally liable, if one all be fairly cheap ways to reduce dust. of the workers came down with lung cancer, “He says we can preheat the coal, get better seals decided it was our fault, and sued, although you'd on the coke oven openings, low-leakage doors with know more about that than I would. But it's simply gas sealings. This might get us down to within the wrong to poison them, under the compulsion of legal limits if we’re not running the plant as hard threat to their jobs. It’s economic coercion.” as we are at the moment. Bob seems to think that “Yeah, but the workers say they'll take that chance. with head office’s new ‘sustainability’ push we may The union's said they want the plant open, and so be able to get some money from the company.” have individual workers, they won't sue. It's jobs now: “But what do you think? When I call the OSHA guy food on the table, clothes for the kids, not to mention back, what do I say?” Well, what does Thorsten self-respect, or health later, the way it looks to them. say? What do you say? And why? What's at stake And health later doesn't seem anywhere near as here? What takes priority? important. The way I see it, I think, it's their health

______Questions: 1. Who are the all the stakeholders involved in this case and what do they want from the organization (15%)? 2. Discuss the role that change has had in creating the situation and how the changing business environment might help provide a solution (15%). 3. Identify the alternatives; those given, plus some that might require some moral imagination (15%). 4. What are the ethical issues involved in the case (25%)? a. Evaluate the alternatives using a utilitarian approach.

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b. Evaluate the alternatives using a deontological approach 5. Recommend an ethical solution from your alternatives and provide a concrete rationale for taking that position (15%)? * Writing mechanics (15%)

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