Business leadership
Select and research ONE of the following companies that has been in the news for an ethical dilemma. Prepare a PowerPoint about this company’s ethical dilemma and resulting ethical failure, according to the following instructions. Sources are provided to assist you getting started (click company name link). You will need to further research the company as well as applicable ethical frameworks and related law in your text and required readings.
NOTE: In preparing this project, refer to your Week 1 Lesson Readings and Resources on ethical frameworks.
CHOOSE ONE OF THESE COMPANIES/ISSUES: The Links are a factual starting point for your information and further research.
1. Boeing – 737 MAX-8 Jet death crashes.
2. Purdue Pharma – opioid crisis, deceptive marketing.
The following resources will also assist your PowerPoint.
What is Ethical Dilemma?
Checklist of guidelines when you face ethical dilemmas
Guidelines to Prepare an APA PowerPoint
How to Add Speaker Notes in PowerPoint
Assignment Instructions:
Create a 12– 15 slide PowerPoint presentation that includes:
Title slide with your name, course, date, school, title of presentation;
Agenda slide – This lists the key points covered in the PPT;
Content slides containing bullet points information with illustrations, diagrams, pictures, graphics etc., as appropriate to the slide’s content;
Speaker’s notes on each slide – either text presented in the Speaker Notes section at the bottom of the slides or Audio through your Voice speaking (or both); (Note: Speaker’s Notes are not duplication of the text on the slides. They are explanatory narrative.)
Identify the company you selected;
explain the company and its industry;
provide the factual background of the problem; and
clearly state the ethical dilemma presented by the situation. There should be only ONE ethical dilemma. The company had two choices: the act it chose and an alternative it did not do.
3. Identify and define at least one ethical framework that the company apparently employed in making its decision. Note — Not “Should have used.” It is not acceptable to say it did not act ethically or did not use a framework. Analyze it. Frameworks include utilitarianism, free market ethics, deontology, virtue ethics , etc., covered in your course readings.
4. Then, identify and define at least one ethical framework that the company should have used when the problem arose, and explain how to apply it for them to have reached a better result than what actually happened. Be clear.
5. Identify and explain measures the company should implement to avoid this type of problem in the future.
6. Within your discussion include whether the company had a code of ethics or policy that seemed to apply to the situation, and if so, what went wrong with that?
7. Explain what business leadership in any company can learn from this situation.
Sample Solution
Ethics are the moral standards and principles by which entities (individuals and organizations) govern their behaviors and decision making. When these standards and principles conflict with each other in a decision making situation, an ethical dilemma may occur. An ethical dilemma (ethical paradox or moral dilemma) is a problem in the decision making process between two possible options, neither of which is absolutely acceptable from an ethical perspective. Purdue Pharma is an example of an organization that has faced an ethical dilemma (opioid crisis, deceptive marketing). The earliest suits against opioid manufacturers – typically Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxcyContin (oxycodone) – were personal injury claims brought on behalf of persons with addictions who overdose.
