essay

1. On Moral Development

a. Identify Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development supporting each stage with an actual or hypothetical scenario/example.

b. How do you translate theory into practice – that is, how can Kohlberg’s model help managers maintain an ethical corporate culture? Provide an example to support your reasoning.

c. Lastly, behavioral evidence indicates that relativism permeates our society whereby we use our ‘business ethics’ in business, our ‘family ethics’ at home or our ‘global ethics’ with other cultures, etc. Explain the flaws in this approach to being good. In other words, are there really ‘business ethics’ or just ‘ethics’? Explain in detail.

2. On Justice – We have built the course on the premise that ethics are the ‘ideas by which we live’ to be and to do good. Using Sandel’s book as your source, reflect on the following questions as they pertain to Aristotle, Kant, and one other of your choice from our class lectures on Justice.

a. How might the philosophers’ approach to ethics help you with doing the right thing?

b. What philosopher best supports your idea of ethics with and why? If none fits with your philosophy, which philosopher do you most disagree and why?

c. Lastly, in lecture we debated whether it was better to do good than to feel good. What is your response to this idea of morality?

3. On Corporate Responsibility –

a. Compare and contrast Milton Friedman’s and Archie Carroll’s philosophies of the corporation’s responsibility.

i. Which do you think is more accurate and why? Explain in detail.

ii. Friedman asserts that corporations don’t have responsibilities, people do – what does he mean?

b. In lecture, we introduced five specific characteristics of what corporations should exhibit to be good corporate citizens. Identify and discuss the rationale of these characteristics and explain the value we place on citizenship in general.

c. Can an international cigarette company exhibit excellence in corporate citizenship? Consider examining the CSR work of Phillip Morris International – the world’s largest tobacco company as an example. Explain in detail.

4. On Corporate Governance –

a. Identify and discuss the major role of the board of directors.

i. Among the list of traditional duties, what is the single most important measure of an effective board and why?

ii. What do you believe is the most urgent issue facing boards today – provide evidence from a specific Fortune 500 corporation’s board managing this issue.

b. Lastly, a reflection: Target is a leader in CSR programs showcasing its responsibility from its marketing promotions to its annual reports. Target really does good. Yet, in the past few years the company has made massive governance blunders from cyberattacks to incompetent international business decisions. What advice would you give Target’s board with regards to its CSR programs in light of its apparent errors in general management?