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Essay Instructions: Ethics and the Legal Environment



Case

Go to: http://ba.gsia.cmu.edu/ethics/AA/mgtmini.htm

Click on the case link for Number 5, "Something's Rotten in Hondo."

Download and read the case

Directions

Write a case analysis on the "Something's Rotten in Hondo" case. Write the case study following the outline format given below.

Sections to include in your case analysis:

Introduction

In one or two paragraphs, describe the ethical issues and concerns of the case.

Answer the questions:

What are the ethical issues in this case?

Who are the decision-makers?

Who are the stakeholders?

Apply Ethical Theories

State each ethical issue or concern that you identified in the Introduction

For each ethical issue or concern, answer the following questions:

What is the ethical issue or concern?

How would this issue be resolved by applying Kant's Categorical Imperative to the problem?

How would this issue be resolved by applying Mill's Theory of Utilitarianism?

How would this issue be resolved by applying the theory of Rights-based ethical decision-making?

How would this issue be resolved by applying the theory of Justice-based ethical decision-making?

How would this issue be resolved at each stage of Kohlberg's Levels of Moral Development?

Corporate Social Responsibility

What is this corporation's social corporate responsibility for each ethical issue or concern for the four areas of corporate social responsibility?

Legal

Economic

Ethical

Philanthropic

For each ethical issue or concern, answer the following question: Does the law provide a basis for an ethical decision on this issue? Why or why not?

Stakeholder Management -- The Employee

What are the employee stakeholders' interests for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the employee responsibilities for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the possible decisions the corporation could make for each ethical issue or concern, and what are the possible effects on the employee stakeholders?

Stakeholder Management -- The Environment

What are the environmental stakeholders' interests for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the environmental stakeholders' responsibilities for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the possible decisions the corporation could make for each ethical issue or concern, and what are the possible effects on the environmental stakeholders?

Stakeholder Management -- The Community

What are the community stakeholders' interests for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the community stakeholders' responsibilities for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the possible decisions the corporation could make for each ethical issue or concern, and what are the possible effects on the community stakeholders?

Stakeholder Management -- The Shareholder

What are the shareholder stakeholders' interests for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the shareholder stakeholders' responsibilities for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the possible decisions the corporation could make for each ethical issue or concern, and what are the possible effects on the shareholder stakeholders?

Stakeholder Management -- The Customer

What are the customer stakeholders' interests for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the customer stakeholders' responsibilities for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the possible decisions the corporation could make for each ethical issue or concern, and what are the possible effects on the customer stakeholders?

Stakeholder Management -- The Media

What are the media stakeholders' interests for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the media stakeholders' responsibilities for each ethical issue or concern you identified in the Introduction?

What are the possible decisions the corporation could make for each ethical issue or concern, and what are the possible effects on the media stakeholders?

Conclusion and Recommendation

Based on the above analysis of ethical theories, foundations of moral development, and stakeholder management, what is your final recommendation to the corporation regarding this case? Answer the following questions:

What is your recommendation to the corporation based on all of the facts, issues, and concerns of this case? Your recommendation should be at least one page and include at least 5 reasons, based on course material and your analysis above, of how you arrived at that conclusion.

What are the positive implications of your recommendation?

What are the negative implications of your recommendation?

What will critics of your recommendation argue?

How would you address your critics' concerns? How will you defend your recommendations?

Essay Instructions: Ethics ? HUM3710

We have considered a number of different ethical problems during this course. What I want to know now is, what do you think ethics is all about? Please write an essay in which you do the following:

1. State the principle that you believe is the key to living a morally good life.

2. Offer at least two reasons why you think this principle is true.

3. Give at least one example of how this principle applies to a practical situation.

4. Consider at least one objection that someone might offer to your principle, and explain why you think that objection is wrong.

Be sure to give your paper an introduction and a conclusion. Be sure also to give a thesis statement somewhere in your introduction.

Essays will be checked with anti-plagiarism software. Please submit them through the assignment link.

Format requirements:

Essays are worth 200 points. They must be typed, with double-spacing and a readable, normal-sized font. They must be a minimum of 1000 words in length.

Include the following information on the upper left-hand corner of the first page:

? Your name Example: Matt Dance
? Your date of submission December 18, 2009
? The assignment Final Essay
? A word count of the essay 1,083 words

Please do not include any additional information in this data field. Note: Your word count should begin with your first sentence and end with your last; it should not include the data field or your essay?s title.

Essay Instructions: Ethics Case Study: To Rescue Others at What Risk?
Directions: Read the following case study and answer the questions .
ACME Medical Center has been damaged seriously by a recent hurricane. A helicopter that is trying to rescue people stranded by the hurricane has crashed, hitting the wing of the building where the pediatric unit was located. In the midst of the explosion, fire, and confusion, five people make their way to the roof and wait for rescue. They are Mary, a mother who is carrying her ill infant who was a patient on the unit; Joseph, her husband and the baby's father; John, a pediatric resident who had been caring for the baby; Margaret, the RN, who was on duty in the pediatric unit; and Peter, a transport employee who was helping to prepare patients for rescue and evacuation.
Mary says to the group, "I think I hear someone crying. Yes, I can hear cries for help. We've got to go back down the stairs and help those people!" Dr. John says, "You women stay here. Joseph and I will go back down and see what we can do." Joseph looks first at his own ill infant and then down the smoke-filled stairs and replies, "I'm not going back down. It's too risky. The smoke is too thick. We'd never make it through and survive." Margaret the RN says, "We've got to do something; we can't just let people die. I'd never be able to live with myself. Those are my patients and I need to help them." Margaret runs down the stairs and disappears. Peter says, "You're all crazy! In a situation like this it's every man for himself!"
PART A
Refer to "Ethics Case Study: To Rescue Others at What Risk?" and answer the following questions:

1. What is the ethical dilemma?

2. What is your value and ethical position related to the case? Include discussion of theory and principles on which your position is based.

3. What are some other alternatives for resolving the problem?


PART B
Refer to "Ethics Case Study: To Rescue Others at What Risk?" and answer the following questions:

1. What are the possible consequences for those acceptable alternatives?

2. How would you prioritize the acceptable alternatives?

3. What is your plan of action?

Essay Instructions: Ethics and moral theory

Please right an essay about Ethics and moral theory according to the criteria in the bottom, in only ONE of these movies

The Man without a Face (1993)
Director: Mel Gibson

Justin mcloed was a prep school teacher forced into early retirement after a terrible automobile accident in which his face was disfigured and one of his pupils was killed. Mcloed was charged with manslaughter and unjustly accused of being a pedophile. After years of living as a recluse- some of the local call him a hamburger head because of his burn scars- he accidentally meets a troubled young man named Charles, who wishes to attend a prestigious military academy.

This movie eloquently raises the question of whether plato is correct in holding that it is always better to be just, even if appearing to be unjust.


The Insider (1999)
Director: Michael Mann

This movie starkly portrays Kantian themes regarding doing one's duty merely because it is what one ought to d independent of consequences. If possible compare with Quiz Show (1994) Director: Robert Redford.

Life is beautiful (1998)
Director: Roberto Benigni



How to develop the essay

Once you’ve formulated the issue on which you wish to focus and briefly described how it arises in the film, you should review some of the alternative ‘answers’ that have been given to your major issue. For example, consider the differences among how a skeptic, a realist, and a Buddhist might interpret the issue presented in the film. Generally, you’ll probably find that the film itself adopts or suggests a particular approach to the issue. Identify what that is if you can, and then consider the limitations of that approach in light of other possible ones. You might even ask yourself in what ways the film might have been different had it adopted other possible viewpoints on the issue. (Feel free, for instance, to suggest ‘alternative endings’ that more agree with your own viewpoint.)

How to organize your essay

By this point, you should have chosen a film, formulated a philosophical issue that it raises, noted the perspective on the issue adopted by the film, and then considered some alternatives to that perspective. To organize your essay, you’ll need to formulate an argument.

1) Introduction: A brief account of the manner in which the philosophical issue you want to explore presents itself in the film together with a presentation of the issue in more general terms. (For instance, “In Indecent Proposal, a young married couple receives an offer from a wealthy and attractive man that the wife spend one night with him for a million dollars. The ethical issue is whether a sufficient sum of money (and the benefits for them it can buy) can justify their breaking of their marriage promises. At the most general level, the issue is whether moral commitments like promises can be justifiably broken if the consequences of doing so are sufficiently beneficial.)

2) A statement about the position adopted by the film. (For instance, this film seems to suggest that accepting the ‘proposal’ was morally justifiable so long as their relationship was strong enough to survive the ‘infidelity’ – although I admit that someone else might read this a different way.)

3) Reasons why you agree or disagree with the viewpoint presented by the film. For this, you can refer to some of the readings and class materials. (Here you might point to the difference between ‘utilitarian’ and ‘formalist’ ethical views: A utilitarian would say, if everyone was happier in the end, it was OK; a formalist would say, it’s never morally justifiable to break a promise. Then you’d support one over the other, giving reasons for your support.)

4) Conclusion. This can take a number of forms. You might, for instance, conclude that the film itself adopted an immoral or unsupportable position; or that it was naïve or oversimplified in failing to present the entire realm of possible consequences; or that it never presented an important alternative viewpoint; or even that it was generally unrealistic or unsatisfying in dealing with the issue involved. The important thing is that your conclusion be a critical assessment of the film based upon your analysis of the issue involved, the film’s perspective on it, and the reasons you gave for agreeing or disagreeing with it.