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First Messages

Week 1 First Messages

Why might legal rules be insufficient for fulfilling one’s ethical responsibilities? Provide an example of a situation where a business person has done something legally right but ethically wrong. DQ: 1.1

What might be some benefits and costs of acting unethically in business? Distinguish between benefits and harms to the individual and benefits and harms to the firm. DQ: 1.1

The owner of the company you work for recognizes your excellent skills in decision making and communication and asks for your guidance on how to best communicate plans for an imminent reduction in force. What are some of the key strategies you will suggest be employed in reaching such a decision to ensure it is both a legal and an ethical one? DQ: 1.2

Describe an event or decision that you would judge to be clearly unethical. What circumstances, if any, might exist in which this situation would be ethical? DQ: 1.2

Week 2 First Messages

Organizational cultures are typically identified as compliance-based or values-based. Describe the type of culture at your organization. Which type of culture would you prefer to work in and why? DQ: 2.1

One element that affects a firm’s culture is its employee population. While a corporate culture can shape an employee’s attitudes, it will do so more easily if people with those attitudes are hired in the first place. How would you develop a recruitment and selection process that would most successfully allow you to hire the best workers for your particular culture? DQ: 2.1

As a result of rising health care costs and the challenge to contain them, companies are trying to encourage employees to better care for themselves, and some are even penalizing employees if they do not. What rights, duties, responsibilities, and consequences does this strategy imply? DQ: 2.2

The statement has been made that employers cannot be responsible for providing an ideally safe and healthy workplace. Instead, discussions in ethics about employee health and safety tend to focus on the relative risks workers face and the level of acceptable workplace risk. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? DQ: 2.2

Week 3 First Messages

Organizations are increasingly monitoring employees’ work using various types of technology. What types of monitoring does your organization use? What, if any, issues have arisen from these practices? How were they (or should they have been) resolved? DQ: 3.1

Drug testing in the workplace is a somewhat controversial issue in terms of employer responsibilities and employee rights. What are some of the elements of controversy regarding this issue? What is your opinion regarding those elements? DQ: 3.1

Many have suggested that the corporate failures of recent years would seem to suggest a failure on the part of corporate boards. Do you agree or disagree with that perspective? Explain your position. DQ: 3.2

Have you ever been in, or are you familiar with, a conflict of interest situation? Briefly describe the situation and how was it resolved? What rules or practices could have prevented that situation from occurring?

DQ: 3.2

Week 4 First Messages

Many people contend that the primary question of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the extent to which a business has social responsibilities that go beyond producing needed goods and services within the law. How, then, should an organization go about identifying its social responsibility values? DQ: 4.1

The Federal Trade Commission regulates advertising on the basis of two criteria: deception and unfairness. How can an ad be unfair? Who gets hurt by deceptive advertising? DQ: 4.2

In a recent case (Pelman v. McDonald’s), it was alleged that McDonald’s was partially responsible for the health problems associated with the obesity of children who eat McDonald’s fast food. Should McDonald’s and other fast-food restaurants be judged negligent for selling dangerous products, failing to warn consumers of the dangers of a high-fat diet, and deceptive advertising? Why or why not? DQ: 4.2

Explain your position on each of the following statements: A business does not have any direct ethical duties to living beings other than humans. Animals, plants, or ecosystems have no rights. What criteria have you used in responding to these statements? DQ: 4.3

Week 5 First Messages

Kenneth Dayton, former Chairman of the Dayton-Hudson Corporation, has said that “If business does not serve society, society will not long tolerate our profits or even our existence.” This logic suggests that CSR benefits not only society but the business as well by securing its place within a society. What other reasons are there for a business to engage in socially responsible activities? DQ: 5.1

Pick a company with which you have done a substantial amount of business over the past year (personally or professionally). Find a CSR or CSR statement for the company. To what extent are the company’s social initiatives described? Are meaningful elements of these initiatives provided? If not, what elements would you want to see to evaluate the effectiveness of the initiatives? DQ: 5.2

Imagine that you have been charged with developing a plan for implementing social initiatives that have been identified by your organization. What steps would you take to outline and implement such a plan? What would be some of the key elements of the plan? How would you ensure that the plan had buy-in from both the leadership team and the employees? DQ: 5.3

How would you go about developing a plan to implement a series of social initiatives for an organization? How would you prioritize elements of the plan? What steps would you need to take before implementing the plan to help ensure its successful execution? DQ: 5.3

Week 6 First Messages

You are a consultant for a company, and it would like you to evaluate its social initiatives' effectiveness. However, the company’s executives do not want you to measure the effects outside of the company because they believe calling attention to its social initiatives might adversely affect its image in the community. Would you try to convince the company to also measure the external effect? If so, what would your reasoning be and how would you go about convincing the company’s executives to allow external measurement? DQ: 6.1

How would you evaluate the effectiveness of a company’s social initiatives? What specific tools and methods would you use? DQ: 6.1

What criteria would you use to select specific tools and methods to evaluate the effectiveness of an organization’s social initiatives? What barriers, if any, might affect your selection? DQ: 6.1

When evaluating the effectiveness of an organization’s social initiatives, would you measure external results, internal results, or both? To what extent would the area you’re measuring (internal or external) affect the process and tools you use? Provide examples to illustrate your points. DQ: 6.1

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