...Business Ethics Edge of Darkness Sept 7, 2014 The film the Edge of Darkness is about police homicide detective Thomas Craven, who picks up his daughter Emma at the Boston station, as she is coming home for a visit. While Emma is getting into the car before heading home she starts to vomit. While they are at home and Craven is preparing them dinner, Emma’s nose starts to bleed, she vomits again, and becomes worried. Emma starts telling her father that she needs to go see a doctor right away, and she needs to tell Craven something. On their way out the front door to go to the hospital, a gunman, fires and hits Emma and she passes away in her father’s arms. Craven first appear to have been the target, however, the more he learns and uncovers it starts to lead him to rethink that. He learns that his daughter led a life that not too many people knew about that lead to her murder. He also uncovers a corporate cover-up and government conspiracy, that Emma became aware of that Northmoor was manufacturing nuclear weapons. After Craven started uncovering more and more evidence and revealing that they know almost everything that happened, the head of Northmoor orders Craven to be poisoned just as his daughter Emma was. Craven is now very ill and goes to Bennett’s house, who is the head of Northmoor, he kills one of the people at Bennett’s house who Craven comes to realize he is the man that shot his daughter. Bennett tries to kill Craven by shooting him, which ends up wounding...
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...The Responsibility Project Hot Seat ETH/316 Deborah Stevens June 25, 2014 The Responsibility Project Hot Seat http://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/films/hot-seat How many times in the workplace have we passed the buck? No one wants to admit it but more times that often many of us have passed the blame or given the responsibility of something that we should have done to someone else. This paper will discuss the importance of the issues of the Hot Seat film. How the role of external social pressures influence organizational ethics. How the issues are relevant to organizational and personal decisions. The relationship between legal and ethical issues as shown in the film will be addressed. Lastly, I will describe how ethical principles can be used to address organizational issues. The issue in the Hot Seat film was “passing the buck”. Passing the buck is defined as a person who avoids responsibility by shifting it to another. In the film there is a broken chair that keeps getting switched out from one person to another, instead of simply fixing the chair. The chair is literally going from one person to another and each individual knows that the chair is going around. The employees will not leave his or her desk in fear of having their chair swapped out for the broken chair. In the end one person takes his perfectly working chair and swaps it for the broken chair; taking it to his desk and rigging it to work properly. This issue is important because...
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...ethical principles are vital to any organization and how they can shape and ensure the future of that organization. Why are the issues of the film important? Good Vibrations is a film that addresses the community’s responsibility and the cost to be complacent. This film mainly focuses on group responsibilities of the society (Good vibrations, 2009). Even though the film has more of a community’s responsibility, the issues addressed within the short film are the same within an organization. The film was about an entire building full of employees who watched people walk by as they were being injured by a loose brick on the outside walkway. It wasn’t until the group of employees saw an elderly man walk by that they decided to prevent others from getting hurt. An individual with moral and ethics would consider this film to be unrealistic group of individuals who can just sit and watch individuals walk by and do nothing to prevent the inevitable. Many organizations in today’s society are found to be in the same situation as personality types aren’t different than those in the film. Those individuals who know its wrong choose not to say anything to avoid further conflict. What role do external social pressures have in influencing organizational ethics? External social pressures have an important role on how they influence organizational ethics in today’s societies. The emergences of the internet and social media have helped spark social pressure on organizations to...
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...employees on all levels of hierarchy will appreciate and value. This paper will discuss the short film, “Greyston Bakery” and focus on why are the issues in the film important. As well as what role do external social pressures have in influencing organizational ethics? Wrapping up the paper, a look at how these issues are relevant to organizational and personal decisions along with the relationship between legal and ethical issues as shown in film (UOP, 2013). Film: Greyston Bakery The Greyston Bakery located in Yonkers New York is known for their gourmet sweets that populate restaurants to the White House but this organization started a social experiment over two decades ago (CBS News, 2010). Julius Walls Jr., President and CEO of Greyston Bakery, states “there is more substance to the organization besides the famous brownie recipe” (Liberty Mutual, 2010). The organization conducts business with the use of a balance between a double bottom-line model. The use of this model allows Greyston Bakery profits to support Greyston Foundation, an organization with ethical principles that supports a mission of social enterprise while making a profit (Liberty Mutual, 2010). The bakery implemented a social mission to give back and provide support to the community. Important Issues of Film The Greyston Bakery has obtained notoriety through intentional efforts to communicate good ethics. Transmitting moral information is vital for an organization to have a strong,...
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...competitors since Fujifilm’s inception in 1934. Eastman Kodak had more than half a century worth of discovery and expertise over the incoming Fujifilm. However, when Fujifilm opened operations January 1934 within a month’s time they were producing all the same products as Eastman Kodak: roll film, photographic print paper, dry plates, and x-ray movie. It took George Eastman, inventor and proprietor of Eastman Kodak 25 years to invent color film (Eastman Kodak, unknown); in detail, George Eastman was renowned for very cautious designing temped with endurance, he did not hurry discovery and breakthroughs he was able to take his time because the industry was somewhat new and there was no real competition. As Kodak was ascending the ladder of success, George Eastman and his group of inventors had conceived many first. Including, the first dry plate formula along with the first patented appliance for organizing large amount of plates, roll film, compact cameras, flexible film. George even assisted Thomas Edison with the creation of the talking image; his business invented the first digital camera, so how did Fujifilm mass produce all that Kodak had to offer within their first month of operations? Fujifilm film was Japans answer to Kodak and Jackson, (2011) summed it up best when he asserted, “The US is the home of...
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...The Responsibility Project 1 RUNNING HEAD: The Responsibility Project The Responsibility Project ETH 316 January 27, 2014 Professor Mary Sortino The Responsibility Project 2 The Responsibility Project A short film was chosen to view on the Responsibility Project website. The film chosen was named Greyston Bakery. The film highlights some very important issues concerning business and their place within their community. The film explores how external social pressures influenced the organizational ethics of the bakery and its management. These issues have proven relevant to both personal and organizational decision making. The film also presents the viewer with information regarding the relationship between ethics and the law as they pertain to business operation. The short film is about Greyston Bakery which is famous for the brownies it makes and sells. Despite the success of the brownie Greyston CEO Julius Walls Jr wants people to be aware of what is happening behind the scenes at his company. He views the profits of his company as the means to supporting a mission. Walls Jr classifies Greyton as a social enterprise in which there are two bottom lines, one for profits and one for a social mission. The film presents the external social pressure of giving back to the community. Greyston Bakery focuses one of its social efforts on providing employment to people within its own community using an open hiring process. Open hiring allows an opportunity for employment to anyone...
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...Margin Call J.C. Chandler’s 2011 film Margin Call examines the actions of an investment firm’s key decision makers during the earliest stages of the most recent financial crisis. Chandler does a good job with the characters of this movie he isn’t necessarily looking for a villain in a mess like this nor any lengthy explanations; he’s going deeper than that. He goes more for societal costs of high finance, the power of self-rationalization, and the easy embrace of personal corruption. The movie is filled with business lessons that go beyond the investment world. One theme of the film centers on business ethics and whether personal interest should trump customer/employee investment. Clearly, the decision made by John Tuld and senior management demonstrates that everybody is out for themselves. Personal investors are at the mercy of the individuals and the firms they invest with. The ease with which Tuld makes his decisions is scary to any business ethical viewer. With unqualified statements such as, “its just money” the audience begins to understand that the financial system can be an unfair game. In contrast Peter’s boss, Sam Rogers’ ethical implications of how the company plans to resolve its problems are almost more than he can handle. Sam stumbles upon the issue triggering the crisis, it’s one thing to be shocked at the ramifications of what’s about to unfold. But it doesn’t mean one’s outrage can’t be set aside when personal survival is on the line, an attitude...
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...camera simplified the photo taking process (Williams, C. 2013) Kodak’s main focus was photography and imaging. They had an array of products that ranged from photography equipment, film, paper and color chemicals. In the1980’s, Kodak’s market share reached 90%. This was a very special moment in the company’s history. Kodak developed the first concept of the digital camera in 1975. Their executives could not imagine the world without traditional film; unfortunately, the idea was dropped because they feared it would threaten the company’s film business. Digital cameras would become common; the technology started to spread and film sales dropped considerably at the late 1990’s. Kodak made a slow transition to digital technology. Unfortunately, their competitors adapted to change. This lead to Kodak’s loss of market shares both in the United States and worldwide. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. After one year of continuous battle to keep the company prosperous, the court approved financing for them. Kodak sold many of its patents to groups of companies such as; Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others (Snyder, 2013). Fujifilm which is a Japanese company was founded in 1934 (Tsurumi, Y 1999). Popularity for Fujifilm grew at an enormous rate. They were in second place in the United States in film usage. Eventually, they began selling globally. Fujifilm made bold moves in American...
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...The Responsibility Project The Responsibility Project ETH 316 The Responsibility Project A short film was chosen to view on the Responsibility Project website. The film chosen was named Greyston Bakery. The ethical principles in the film is used to address organizational issues. The two biggest issues located in the film is given. The importance of the issues located in the film is explained. The role of external social pressures occurred on Greyston Bakery show how social pressures effects the organizational ethics. Three reasons why the issues are relevant to the organization and personal decisions is given as well. The relationship between legal and ethical issues located in the film is produced along with explanation of how domains can conflict and possible solutions to end the conflict. The short film is about Greyston Bakery in which shows how the bakery supports the community. The bakery gives back to the community from profits of the bakery goods sold (Liberty Mutual, 2010). The biggest item sold is the brownie they have that is used in the social enterprise in direction to reach social and profit mission (Liberty Mutual, 2010). The biggest issues in the film is open hiring and community development. Open hiring allows the business to hire people within the community to provide a opportunity to allow people employment regardless of past history (Liberty Mutual, 2010). Community development is developed by using profits...
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...Responsibility Project The film called Avalon is an inspiring one. The link to the film is: http://responsibility-project.libertymutual.com/films/the-entrepreneurial-spirit-avalon#fbid=NsvA-zAC7Jw. Two women endeavored to start a new small business in the city of Detroit. The business is baking bread. They show how brave they are and that healing a city can happen. They demonstrate how to use ethical principles to address organizational issues. The issues in the film involve the city of Detroit. This city experienced a huge downfall with the crash of the economy. According to Huffington Post the Detroit News reports that Detroit has an enormous unemployment rate nearly 50% because of layoffs of the major auto manufacturers (Huffington Post, 2011). The women who started Avalon saw the need to heal the city and create jobs. The organizational ethics portrayed in this film are amazing. As stated in the film by one of the founders who have three bottom lines. “One is the responsibility to the earth, one the responsibility to the employees and the other is the responsibility to the community” (Liberty Mutual The Responsibility Project, 2012). The external pressure of the later is major. The social pressure influencing this business decision is the community needed them to start this business. Their decision to start a business was a big risk, especially starting a business they knew nothing about. The women knew nothing about baking or running a small business. They wanted to...
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...Ethical principles are something that can address any organizations issues. How to use these ethical principles are what we will address in this article. From the website “The Responsibility Project”, we will see how ethical principles are important in any organization, and how they can shape and change them. From the website, we will be reviewing the film “Good Vibrations”. Why are the issues in the film important? Good Vibrations is an animated tale all about a community’s responsibility, and the cost to be complacent. Although the film is more about a community’s responsibility, the issues addressed within the film are the same within organizations and communities just the same. The film showed an entire building of employees who would laugh at helpless individuals who were being injured as they tripped on a loose brick on the outside sidewalk. Finally, an employee opens a window to shout out a warning to an elderly man who was about to encounter the loose brick. The employee then proceeds to place a caution sign near the brick to prevent other people from getting hurt. A person with morals could say that the problem in this film is the laziness or failure of the entire building of people to prevent the accidents from happening. Instead, they find it more amusing to let people be hurt for their own pleasure. Many organizations are faced everyday with the same personality types each day. On the same level, there are people who know this behavior is wrong, but choose to ignore...
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...It interests me when questionable but long-unquestioned business practices attract fresh scrutiny and then, surprisingly quickly, transition from being ignored or tolerated to being generally denounced. I suspect this type of attitude shift is happening now in the context of conflicts of interest confronting academic economists. Such conflicts can arise when, for instance, a distinguished economist testifies before Congress, is interviewed in the press, or otherwise weighs in on policy debates without disclosing that, in addition to his academic affiliation, he also has financial/professional ties that may color (or appear to color) his objectivity. Several recent developments have drawn attention to the issue. First, there’s Inside Job, a documentary film that explores the causes of the financial crisis and deals harshly with high-profile academic economists who had undisclosed financial ties. For example, the film includes a painful-to-watch interview (available online) in which Frederic Mishkin, a professor at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business and a former Federal Reserve Governor, reluctantly admits that Iceland’s Chamber of Commerce paid him $124,000 to write a paper endorsing the country’s stable business environment, a fact not disclosed in the paper. Next, there’s Financial Economists, Financial Interests and Dark Corners of the Meltdown: It’s Time to Set Ethical Standards for the Economics Profession (available online), a research paper in which two...
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...A Management Comparison of Kodak and Fujifilm BUS302 A Management Comparison of Kodak and Fujifilm Description of the History and Core Businesses Both Kodak and Fujifilm will be examined to identify the similarities and differences in their business successes and failures. Each business will be analyzed to develop a more complete understanding of how the businesses were formed and the paths each has followed to arrive at their current market positions. Kodak Eastman Kodak was started in 1888 when the first Kodak camera introduced and was available for sale to the public. The company was started by George Eastman in Rochester, NY, when Eastman was in his mid-twenties. George Eastman grew up poor and was a high school dropout, but that did not stop him from making money and supporting his widowed mother and two sisters by the time he was 14 years old (History of, 2013). When Eastman was 24 years old, he had planned a trip to Santo Domingo, and had an idea to record the trip. Eastman purchased a large, heavy camera that was as big as a microwave (History of, 2013). Eastman never made the trip to Santo Domingo, but he did become obsessed with photography, and how he could make it simpler to understand. Before Eastman Kodak was formed, George Eastman had started a company, making dry photographic plates, which later lead to the idea of a convenient, simple to use camera that would become known as the Kodak. After the Kodak camera was introduced...
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...Ethics Personal assignment 2 “Bush’s Brain; a Documentary about Karl Rove” 1. Background The film I have chosen, Bush’s Brain, though it doesn’t directly link to corporations deals with morals and ethics in a way that can be very easily and clearly related to corporation Canada and business at large. The movie itself centers around a man named Karl Rove; he is a Republican campaign manager, known for getting George W. Bush into office and infamous for his determination and utter disregard for ethical standards present in nearly every industry. He is often called a puppet master, and credited with effectively controlling the former U.S. president, however it is not without cunning that he achieved his goals. As a sharp political mind, and dangerously effective manager, Rove as cemented himself as a powerful political figure. Through the course of the film many accounts of Rove’s political career are heard, and despite the slight bias against his actions the directors; Joseph Mealey and Michael Shoob, manage to retain a mostly objective point of view. They ultimately attempt to condemn Rove by the overall tone of their film, but in a way that lets his actions speak for themselves. I intend to prove through my analysis that though many may detest Karl Rove for his allegedly immoral actions that he exemplifies Mill’s Utilitarianism. 2. Key Issues There are numerous issues raised in this film but the all-encompassing question of whether or not there is a way to...
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... Abstract I began writing to show how business can quickly go out of business, if the owners do not keep an eye on its public. Kodak failed to meet its customer’s needs, so the company could not keep up with demand. I have gone shopping and found myself searching for an item I have seen advertised in another store. Only to be told that the item is out of stock or the store does not carry that product. This is what happens when supply does not keep up with demand. The company goes under, under the strain of their competitor’s pro activeness. Kodak needed to make changes sooner rather than later when their management made decisions that could help or hurt Kodak. Fuji constantly made changes and made the necessary changes to meet their customer’s needs. As a business owner being able to reach and understand each customer will help in sells so profits will rise. Many people continue to shop where products are cheap and convenient. Staying in business is like knowing and meeting different people with different wants and needs and then helping them with finding an inexpensive means of finding them. That is the nature of business and a way to keep a customer satisfied. Building a relationship with customers is the most important aspect in business. If the business does not speak directly to its customer’s they will soon have a loss in customers. Management plays an important part in the structuring of a business if the manager is not being active in the search for new...
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