EthicsProjInstructionsFall2018.docxGROUP PROJECT #1– ETHICS CASE STUDY Prof McWeeney
PA – 315 - 70 Fall, 2018
The Ethics Group Project involves each group reviewing one case study of an ethical dilemma or an issue of Corporate Social Responsibility and preparing a consolidated response to 6 questions. The purpose of the project is for student to recognize "ethical moments" when they arise in the work environment, to understand the choices that are presented, and to become acquainted with the consequences of abdicating ethical responsibilities in either business, government, or in our own academic environment.
CASE STUDIES
I have selected 10 video case studies and have assigned one to each group. Although they vary in length, they are typically between 30 and 60 minutes in length. Each of the videos address a significant government or business scandal that that was either negatively or positively affected by the decisions of a single person. All of the case studies reflect either strong, ethics-based actions or the seeming lack of ethical awareness.
The videos selected provide a good overview and backdrop of the issues. For some of the topics I included additional short videos and have provided them for the group. The group is encouraged to consult other sources and view other videos in responding to this assignment.
The Case Studies are as follows: (See Blackboard: Assignments > Proj #1 -Ethics Case Studies to find what case has been assigned to your group.)
1. Enron (Investment decisions that destroyed a major US Corporation and over 1.5 million people)
2. Flint Michigan Water (Decision to relax water control standards resulted in polluting the City’s water supply)
3. Enhance Interrogation Techniques (Decision to use torture on detainees in hopes that the practice would provide useful intelligence to the war effort)
4. The murder of Enrique Camera and DEA’s response. (Decision by DEA executive to kidnap a Mexican national in an effort to seek justice for this horrific crime)
5. Thomas Drake and Media Leaks (Decision by whistleblower to provide classified information to the media)
6. Virginia Governor Bob McDonald (Decision by a sitting g governor to provide special government access to a business associate)
7. King of Coal (Decision by a coal mining executive pertaining to the safety of underground coal mines)
8. Concussion Watch (Decisions by NFL executives how to address the problem of concussions and long term injury and disability of former players)
9. Scandal at the Veterans Administration (Decisions by VA executives to defer/delay action on serious problems associated with the treatment of war veterans)
10. Countrywide Mortgage (Decisions by company executives to pursue reckless investment strategies that seriously affected millions of homeowners.
ASSIGNMENT
Each member of the group should review the video (or videos) assigned to his/her group early in the week and be prepared to discus the project with your group.
1. Group Leaders were selected last week. The group leader's responsibility is to simply facilitate communication, lead discussions about the project, and oversee the assembly of the two final products and its submission.
3. The PowerPoint presentations should be a "consolidated group response” reviewed and edited by the entire group before it’s posted as the groups collective response to the case study. The initial response should be a “draft” with each student submitting his/her slide to the group leader so there is a group package. But once the package is assembled, the entire group should review it and collectively critique it so that the final product represents a collaborative group effort. NOTE: This project is not simply the collection of individual slides - but the result of a group discussion in which each member of the group ways in on the quality of each slide in the presentation.
4. In addition, each student will prepare and submit to me with the FINAL presentation - a TWO page written document. On the first page, the student will provide a written answer to his/her assigned question. The answer should not exceed ONE page and should describe the PowerPoint slide he/she prepared. On the second page, the student will describe his/her contribution to the overall project. Both the completed PowerPoint and the TWO page paper must be reviewed by the entire group prior to submission. The PowerPoint and the paper should both include edits that reflected the final group review. I’d like the Group Leaders to collect and assemble the papers so that they are all contained in s single document, making sure that student names are on each page and that both the slide deck and the paper are covered with a Title Page and a Table of Contents.
5. The project grade will be based on both the quality of the group work – including your level of collaboration - evident in the PowerPoint slide AND the individual work submitted by each student. The project grade will give a weight of 75% to the PowerPoint presentation and 25% to the individual paper.
6. I suggest you use the “Group” functions to facilitate the review and edit of this project, or some other collaborative tool. I encourage groups to make extensive use of ZOOM in their group discussions.
CONTENTS
Each group will post their consolidated slides (PowerPoint presentation) on the designated Discussion Forum (I will thread) for the other groups to review.
Below are the 6 questions to be answered by each group in their presentation. Group leaders can contact me if there are not six people in their group.
1. SITUATION: Briefly describe the situation that set up the ethical dilemma. List the stakeholders in the decision and the ethical considerations that require their equities to be taken into account. Describe those equities.
2. ETHICAL MOMENT: Identify what you consider to be the primary "ethical moment" in the case study, in which an individual was faced with a difficult choice would have a major impact on other people and the overall situation. What were the choices available to the person facing the ethical dilemma?
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3. DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE: Is there another perspective that might justify the actions in question? Does the case study involves circumstances in which it may be considered appropriate to violate procedures, mislead someone, look the other way, or lie? In general, do you believe these actions are EVER appropriate? Can you justify the other side?
4. HOW DIFFICULT: On a scale of 1 to 5, how difficult does your group believe this choice was for the main person in the case study? Explain why you think it is an easy or difficult choice and explain why you think others may view differently. Describe what you believe the outcome would be I f a highly ethical decision was made versus an outcome if the ethics was somewhat compromised.
5. ORGANIZATIONALAWARENESS: What could have been done differently in the days, weeks, or months leading up to the event that may have produced a different outcome. What might a more “enlightened” organization have put in place that would have anticipated the problem and potentially avoided it.
6. GROUP CHOICE: What choice would your group have made, if confronted with the same circumstances? Explain your reasoning. Does this project make it more likely that you will make well-reasoned moral/ethical decisions in your own career/life? How so?
SUMMARY
To summarize, the project will consist of the following:
1. Review and discuss in your group the assigned case study.
2. Assign one topic to each student, who will prepare one power point slide, a one page written summary, and a short description of their own group activity.
3. Discuss with your group as to how the entire story comes together.
4. Develop a Group PowerPoint presentation describing the issue and all the answers, as well as the group’s recommendation.
5. Post in class discussions beginning on Tuesday am 10/23.
6. Submit completed final PowerPoint and individual paper in the Blackboard Assignment Folder. Papers must be submitted via the Group Assignment Folder for “Project #1-Ethics Case Study” by Sunday, 10/28.
