Reference no: EM131223633
Ethical Decisions in the Workplace
After reading your background readings, please review the following scenario and address the questions at the end.
Jerry Stevens heads up an excavation crew for the municipal utilities district in a city in Nebraska. A sewer line needs to be replaced and it has been excavated with a back-hoe. The trench is 7 feet deep. The municipality's safety rules indicate that employees should not go into the trench without a trench box. This rule is to prevent employees from being buried if the trench walls collapse. People die every year from trench cave-ins.
The trench box won't arrive on site for another 6 hours and the city promised residents that the sewer would be fixed by the end of the day, which now seems impossible. The City Administrator called Jerry on his cell phone and indicated that it was imperative that the sewer be fixed as soon as conceivably possible because a City Council member is served by that sewer line and will raise a fuss if it's not fixed by the promised time.
One of the more experienced workers states, "It's only going to take 30 minutes to dig under the pipe and loosen the fittings. We don't need the trench box. We used to do this all the time before we were required to use one of those darn things."
Jerry knows he's right. He used to do it himself before the rule was put in place. Also, the soil is clearly a cohesive soil and it's highly unlikely that it will collapse. And although there is an organizational policy to use a trench box for trenches deeper than 5 feet, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not have
Jurisdiction over municipalities in Nebraska because municipalities are political subdivisions of the State. The only entity regulating safety policies is the City's Safety Director and he took the day off.
1. In this scenario, to what extent do you think allowing the crew into the trench without a trench box would be pushing (or exceeding) the limit?
2. Discuss any ethical grey areas in this scenario?
3. What in your mind is the right thing to do?
4. What is the value of having an ethics program (and related programs like safety programs) and what are the responsibilities of front line leaders/supervisors and the workers when they face dilemmas such as the one described?
Please take some time to review the materials and take a position on the issue. Write a 2- to 3-page assessment of the authors' claims, and your assessment of what might be done in a place of business to prevent the "moral amnesia" phenomenon from taking a foothold in a place of business.
Your paper should be double-spaced and in 12-point type size.
Your paper should have a separate cover page and a separate reference page. Make sure you cite your sources.
Use APA style, and proofread your paper.
Algebraic statement of the revenue function
: An algebraic statement of the revenue function, and the cost function; A detailed break-even chart that includes lines for the revenue and for the total cost, fixed cost and variable cost (a total of for lines); and
|
What is the yield to maturity
: What is the yield to maturity?- What is the current yield? - what is the maximum price that you should be willing to pay for this bond?
|
Calculate depreciation expense for each asset
: Calculate depreciation expense for each asset using depreciation method specified in column G - Calculates the straight-line depreciation allowance of an asset with an initial cost, an expected useful life
|
External financing needed
: The most recent financial statements for Hornick, Inc., are shown here (assuming no income taxes): Assets and costs are proportional to sales. Debt and equity are not. No dividends are paid. Next year’s sales are projected to be $10,788. What is the ..
|
Discuss any ethical grey areas in the given scenario
: In this scenario, to what extent do you think allowing the crew into the trench without a trench box would be pushing (or exceeding) the limit? Discuss any ethical grey areas in this scenario? What in your mind is the right thing to do?
|
Considering the purchase of new software management system
: Frisco Enterprises is considering the purchase of a new software management system. The system is called FK1. The FK1 will drastically reduce the amount of time the Frisco Enterprises employees installing new software. What are the free cash flows fo..
|
Current generation matures
: Suppose that as the current generation matures, a nation's population of young adults has more men than women by a ratio of 115 to 100. With 275 million young adults in this nation, how many men would be unable to find a spouse?
|
Perimeter of the rectangle
: The width of a rectangle is 3 more than half the length. If the perimeter of the rectangle is 193 meters, find an equation that shows this relationship and then solve it to find the length and width.
|
Create a presentation using the sample presentation
: Create a presentation from the point of view of two specific professionals who are experts - Consider the psychological career alternatives available and determine from which fields of expertise your two points of view will come.
|