This week, we begin the process of sorting out how we feel about business social responsibility. We will specifically ask each of you these questions: Does business have a social responsibility beyond maximization of profits? If so, how does business fulfill a corporate social responsibility? Consider the various schools of thought presented in Chapter 2 on how business should resolve ethical dilemmas that inevitably face every business. Your tentative answers to the questions will form the basis for our discussions in the coming weeks.
One thing about this class: Most of you either work in a business or plan to soon, and you may expect to have access to corporate counsel or a private lawyer for your legal questions. However, for this class, try to pretend that, for whatever reason, you can't get to your lawyer right now and you need to answer the questions with the best legal and ethical information you can find. Rely on your own research tools (practice developing them in this course) and your own instincts. | | Ethical Dilemma Resolution Models | |
One of the tools you should take from this course is the use of ethical dilemma resolution models to work through ethical problems. If you get used to using the models in our discussions, then when you encounter an emergency situation that requires immediate action, you can run the models’ lists of questions to help you decide what to do. The following dilemma and solution set shows how the Laura Nash, Blanchard and Peale, and front page of the newspaper ethical resolution models can assist you in working through ethical dilemmas. After viewing those models, please be sure to utilize the methods on the dilemmas we discuss in the Week 1