Devry ETHC445 Week 7 Discussion Latest 2019 September

ETHC445 Principles of Ethics

Week 7 Discussion

PERSONAL AND BUSINESS
ETHICS

Personal ethics often
help us form relationships in all facets of our lives – including the workplace.
As a result, it is important to think about the connection between personal
ethics and business ethics. This week, we looked at two more ethical codes— one
for the Project Management Institute, and one for Engineers.

You can see that both
of them are much simpler than the Legal code we looked at last week, and even
simpler than the Medical code of ethics. Appropriate professional behavior,
practice, and discipline varies among professions and reflects the needs and
values of the professional society in question.

Let’s then assume
professional roles as we work on this fictional scenario:

It’s 2020, and General
Foryota Company opens a plant in which to build a new mass-produced
hover-craft. This hover-craft will work using E-85 Ethanol, will travel up to
200 mph, and will reduce pollution worldwide at a rate of 10 percent per year.
It is likely that when all automobiles in the industrial world have been
changed over to hovercrafts, emission of greenhouse gasses may be so reduced
that global warming may end and air quality will become completely refreshed.

However, the downside
is that during the transition time, GFC’s Hover-Vee (only available in red or
black), will most likely put all transportation as we know it in major
dissaray. Roadways will no longer be necessary, but new methods of controlling
traffic will be required. Further, while the old version of cars are still
being used, Hover-vee’s will cause accidents, parking issues, and most likely
class envy and warfare. The sticker price on the first two models will be about
four times that of the average SUV (to about $200,000.) Even so, GFC’s
marketing futurists have let them know that they will be able to pre-sell their
first three years of expected production, with a potential waiting list which
will take between 15 and 20 years to fill.

The Chief Engineer of
GFC commissions a study on potential liabilities for the Hover-vees. The
preliminary result is that Hover-vees will likely kill or maim humans at an
increased rate of double to triple over automobile travel because of collisions
and crashes at high speeds — projected annual death rates of 100,000 to
200,000. However, global warming will end, and the environment will flourish.

The U. S. Government
gets wind of the plans. Congress begins to discuss the rules on who can own and
operate Hover-vees. GFC’s stock skyrockets. The Chief Engineer takes the
results of the study to the Chief Legal Counsel, and together they agree to
bury the study, going forward with the production plans. The Chief Project
Manager, who has read the study and agreed to bury it, goes ahead and plans out
the project for the company, with target dates and production deadlines.

Our class is a team of
young lawyers, project managers, engineers, and congressional aides who are all
part of the process of helping get this project off the ground. In fact,
according to the first letter of your last name, you are the following team:

A-G: Attorney on the
GFC team

H-N: Project Manager
on the GFC team

0-S: Engineer on the
GFC team

T-Z: Congressional
Aide

Somebody sent a secret
copy of the report to you at your home address. It has no information in it at
all, except for the report showing the proof of the increase in accidents and
deaths. The report shows, on its face, that the CLO, CE, CPM, and your
Congressional Representative have seen copies of this report. On the front
there are these words typed in red: They knew — they buried this. Please save
the world!

Each of you feel a
very loyal tie to your boss and your company/country. You all have mortgages,
and families to feed. It is likely if you blow the whistle on this report, you
will lose your job and your livelihood. You’re not even sure who wrote the
study in your envelope or who actually sent it to you.