PART I: SHORT RESPONSE
Directions: Please write a two to three paragraph response for each of the following questions. Be sure to cite any references used. Please use proper APA citation when using any source including the textbook. Please visit the Academic Resource Center (ARC) for concise APA guidelines.
1. Identify a company in the media or with which you are familiar that operates ethically. What are the reasons this company/organization is ethical? (You may refer to the leadership, management, products, or services of the organization.)
2. Do you believe that the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is not needed? Explain or offer a different argument.
3. Are the revised 2004 Federal Sentencing Guidelines, in your opinion, helpful to organizational leaders and boards of directors in promoting more ethical behavior? Explain. What other actions, policies, or procedures would you recommend?
4. Which of the corporate crises summarized in the chapter were you unfamiliar with? Do you believe these crises represent business as usual or serious breakdowns in a company's system? Why?
5. After reading the Johns-Mansville and Exxon Valdez summaries, identify some ways these crises could have been (1) avoided and (2) managed more responsibly after they occurred.
6. What was your score on the Rank Your Organization's Reputation quiz in the chapter? After reading previous chapters in this book, how would you describe the "ethics" of your organization, university or college toward its customers and stakeholders? Explain.
7. Do you believe the covenantal ethic and social contract views are realistic with large corporations like ExxonMobil and Citibank or federal agencies like the FTC and the Department of Defense? Why or Why not? Explain.
8. What is the free-market theory of corporate responsibility for consumers, and what are some of the problems associated with this view? Compare this view with the "social contract" and stakeholder perspectives of corporate social responsibility.
9. If you had to select either the legal/compliance (stick) approach or the voluntary/ethical compliance (carrot) approach toward running a corporation, which would you choose, and why? What would be likely consequences (positive and negative) of your choice? Explain.
PART II: CASE STUDIES
Directions: Choose one of the following cases, read the case, and then answer the corresponding questions for that particular case. Please be sure to write at least a one paragraph response for each question.
Case 11 - Reinventing Napster: How Many Lives for the Cat with Headphones?
Case 12 - VIOXX, Dodge Ball: Did Merck Try to Avoid the Truth?
Case 11 - Reinventing Napster: How Many Lives for the Cat with Headphones?
1. Do you think that it is unethical for someone to download copyrighted music without paying for it?
2. Who are the key stakeholders and how have they changed since Napster's beginning?
3. What were the stakes for the different constituencies associated with Napster's first, second, and third incarnations?
4. Given that Napster has reinvented itself twice in its short organizational life, what do you think the future holds?
Case 12 - VIOXX, Dodge Ball: Did Merck Try to Avoid the Truth?
1. What were the first warning signals that VIOXX may have been unsafe for patients?
2. Who was responsible in this case for stopping the harm that occurred from the VIOXX drug and at what point could the harm have been prevented? Explain.
3. Summarize Dr. Topol's ethics as demonstrated in this case. What were his motives?
4. What role did the sales force representatives play in this case?
5. Who, ultimately, is to blame in this case for the harm caused by VIOXX?
Part III -
Directions: Please write a one paragraph response for each of the following questions.
1. What are some key issues associated with managing corporate responsibility in the marketplace?
2. What is the "free-market theory" of corporate responsibility for consumers and what are some of the problems associated with this view?
3. Briefly describe the moral basis and social power of corporations as stakeholders.
4. Discuss the pros and cons of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
5. Discuss the roles of laws and legal regulatory systems governing business.
6. Identify moral arguments for corporate responsibility toward the environment. Do you believe trees, lakes, oceans, and animals should have rights? Explain.