MGT 444 Midterm Sample Questions & Answers
Two principles of justice
1. Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others. 2. Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that (a) they are to be of the greatest benefit to the least-advantaged members of society (b) offices and positions must be open to everyone under conditions of fair equality of opportunity
Zwolinksy's Three Arguments about Price Gouging
1. Laws against price gouging is not morally justified 2. Price gouging is sometimes morally permissible 3. Price gouging does not necessarily reflect immoral character
A company is going through a severe financial crisis and is considering an option of downsizing the workforce. The following table shows a calculation of the expected outcomes for each group of employees under two scenarios: Option 1, layoffs, and Option 2, no layoffs (status quo). If the company chooses Option 1, the outcome of the layoffs is certain and predictable. Under Option 2, there is a 50% chance that the firm will file bankruptcy and another 50% chance that the firm will survive. The numbers on the table represent a general metric of welfare, well-being, or happiness that utilitarian thinkers often consider: you may consider it as a composite index of wages, status, satisfaction, comfort,and all other things associated with the job that people value. If you follow a utilitarian thinking, which option should you choose and how would you justify your decision? Write your answer inside the box below.
56 is higher so choose option B
• A principle of distribution is patterned if
(i) it specifies a distribution that varies along some natural dimension, weighted sum of natural dimensions, or list of natural dimensions (ii) and, it accords with some patterned principle • Examples: moral merit, needs, how hard one tries, according to one's I.Q.
Virtue
the act by which one gains and/or keeps value
An April 4, 2010 New York Times article entitled "A Bronx Mom-and-Pop Store, Scraping By" reported the current struggles of the Scanlons, owners of a mom-and-pop appliance store in New York. "Like many small business owners, they prided themselves on their commitment to community and their flexibility. A longtime customer needed extra time to make payments? No problem. The leukemia society wanted a donation? Done. But the lingering downturn has stripped away such freedom. The other morning a customer called, wanting to buy a water heater. Could Mr. Scanlon carry him for 90 days? 'No,' he said, gritting his teeth. 'We just can't do it anymore.'" The recession's impact on the home center caused the Scanlons to abandon:
the ethic of care
What is Maitland's logic?
-Development of new drugs requires investment -Development of new drugs is risky -investment in risky business requires suffcient incentives -Evidence: U.S. drug makers are the most innovative and effective in the world
Integrative Social Contracts Theory: What to Know -
-Understand the decision rule; know what is meant by moral free space and hypernorm -To be within the moral free space, a norm must be supported by the majority, members must have a voice and be free to exit, and it must not violate a hypernorm -Know what is meant by cultural relativism and cultural imperialism. Understand that ISCT is neither of these, but a compromise approach.
Act vs. rule utilitarianism
A rule utilitarian thinks, before acting, about the consequences of people following that rule. If the outcome is regarded as positive, she might decide that it's good to follow that rule in general, and will apply it in future. An act utilitarian doesn't generalize the act, but regards it as a single action with a single outcome. She will have to weigh the possible consequences each and every time she acts.
eminent domain
Allows the govt to take property for public use but also requires the govt to provide just compensation for that property
Smeagle is a software engineer who has just graduated from Hacker University. His first job involves working with a team which is not very capable. They have come to depend upon him because he is a natural programmer who does fast, accurate coding. While working on an important project for his company, he receives a recruiting offer for a much better job. HE TAKES THE JOB WITHOUT ANY HESITATION, even though it will cause serious hardship for his team and company. When asked about this, he replies, "THEY ARE NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY." This is suggestive of:
Ayn Rand: Objectivism
Bounded moral rationality
Basically means theories are limited
Compare Eddie Lambert's Sears (as described in the article "Sears: Less "Atlas Shrugged" Than "Games of Thrones"") and Amazon.com (as described in the article "Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace") in terms of organizational culture, employee behavior, and ethical principles. How are the two companies similar or different from each other? Write your answer inside the box below.
Competing in the same industry (retail service), the two companies have many similarities and differences. They are similar in that management philosophy deliberately encourages competition among employees based on the idea that self-interest and selfishness can be a great engine of productivity and high performance in a competitive work environment. Another similarity is that marketlike competition within organization can reduce a reliance on bureaucratic structures and policies, eliminating inefficiencies and wastes. On a darker side, both companies show signs that competition among employees fail to create coordination and build teamwork. As a consequence, both companies suffer problems such as employee dissatisfaction, burnout, toxic corporate culture, and turnover. The two companies also differ significantly. At Sears, the CEO's influence is predominant in every business decision, whereas Amazon is run by data and meritocracy. Turf wars inside Sears often result in a lack of attention to customers and business operation, whereas Amazon management is obsessed with customer satisfaction and superior market performance. Sears' CEO claims that he follows Rand's objectivist 10 ethics, but in reality the empire he is running is opposite to Rand's theory. Compared to Sears, the way Amazon's CEO runs the company is far more consistent with Rand.
According to Ian Maitland in his article "Pricelsss Goods: How Should Life-saving Drugs Be Priced?" "Drugs save lives, relieve suffering, and enhance the quality of life. ... Other things equal, whatever regime saves the most lives, relieve the most suffering, and brings the greatest improvement in the quality of our lives, is the morally superior one. Because of the importance of the stakes involved, results are trumps." Which ethical perspective does this view best illustrate?
Consequentialism (because the OUTCOME effects the rational)
In a February 2, 2012 Wall Street Journal essay, Forbes columnist Rich Karlgaard offered a vigorous ethical defense of Apple's use of factories run by a company named Foxconn in Shenzhen, China to make certain Apple products, including the iPad. Foxconn, Mr. Karlgaard wrote, "is not a model employer by American or Western European standards, but it would be accurate to call the company relatively decent." For example, Foxconn pays higher than average wages and treats its workers better than most Chinese companies, even if workers' rights standards in 2012 China are roughly equivalent to workers' rights standards in 1922 America. On February 13, 2012, Apple asked an independent nonprofit labor group to inspect the working conditions at Foxconn's Chinese plant. Apple's use of Foxconn employees to manufacture Apple products is:
Consistent with ISCT, assuming the inspection by the independent labor group confirms that Foxconn's treatment of its workers in China offends no broadly held ethical norms.
Which one of the following statements do Ian Maitland and his critics disagree with?
Enforcing minimum wage and raising the safely standards at work hurt the poor
Unpatterned distribution
Entitlement theory is an unpatterned distribution • no one natural dimension or weighted sum or combination of natural dimensions that yields the entitlement theory's distribution scheme • Inherently unpatterned distributions: gambling earnings, interest income, inheritances, foundation gifts, gifts, investment returns, things made for oneself, things found, gifts to charity • these distributions appear random • but can be understood in terms of the means of acquisition and transfer
What motivated Rand?
Ethicists
The veil of ignorance
For a person to make a decision, they should pretend like they could be any one of the people affected by the decision
Carol is a general contractor. One of her employees, who has worked for her for 20 years, has no been performing well. He is late for work, takes frequent breaks, and works slowly. She thinks he has problems at home and may be an alcoholic. She has talked to him about it, but the problem has persisted. She has considered firing him, but because of their LONG-STANDING relationship, she would NOT FEEL RIGHT about doing that. She continues the relationship even though he is less productive than her other workers. Carol's decisions is most suggestive of:
Gilligan: Ethic of Care
[Nozick] the entitlement theory (three principles)
How are holdings originally acquired? How does one come to have possession of unpossessed things? • Principle of justice in acquisition B. How does one transfer one's holdings to another? What are the processes for transferring one's possessions to another? • Principle of justice in transfer C. When is one justified in seeking claims against another for holdings inappropriately acquired? • Principle of rectification
In a recent New York Times Magazine article entitled "The Moral Instinct," the author contrasts two kinds of ethical cultures: "In the West, we believe that in business . . ., fairness should trump community and nepotism [favoritism toward relatives] and cronyism [favoritism toward friends and close associates]. In other parts of the world, this is incomprehensible - what heartless creep would favor a perfect stranger over his or her own brother?" This passage best describes the difference between which two kinds of ethical cultures?
Individualist versus Collectivist.
Which of the following is consistent with the author's position in the article "The Ethics of Price Gouging" by Matt Zwolinski?
Laws against price gouging are morally unjustified
Some observers of drug industry argue that pharmaceutical companies spend more money on promotion (including advertisement, gifts for patents, free samples to doctors, and large donations to non-profit hospitals) than on research and development (R&D). One has drawn the following conclusion: "The industry spends more on promotion than on research and development, so when they say they don't have enough money to develop new drugs [and therefore they have to raise drug prices], I don't believe them." What is Ian Maitland's response to such concerns, according to his article "Pricelsss Goods: How Should Life-saving Drugs Be Priced?" Write your answer inside the box below.
Maitland argues that companies need to spend money on promotion in order to run a successful business, which is required in order to fund R&D. If companies develop new drugs but do not promote them, then new drugs will sit on the shelf, patients would be worse off because they don't know about the drugs, company revenues would decline with less money to spend on R&D, investors would shun the company, and eventually the company may go out of business, which would ultimately make the patients who need the drugs worse off [See pp.466-467]
Jimmy John's, a sandwich chain, requires all new hires to sign an employment agreement that includes a non-compete clause which prohibits the employee from working at one of the sandwich chain's competitors for a period of two years following employment at Jimmy John's. The company's definition of a competitor encompasses any business that is within three miles of a Jimmy John's store and that derives at least 10 percent of its revenue from sandwiches or any similar products. Is Jimmy John's non-compete agreement morally justifiable? Using the logic expressed in the article "Rights in the Workplace: A Nozickian Argument" by Ian Maitland, explain how Maitland would evaluate the ethical issues about Jimmy John's non-compete agreement. Write your answer inside the box below.
Maitland would view Jimmy John's non-compete agreement as morally justified. Using Nozick's theory about meaningful work, Maitland argued that if the price (wages) is right, some workers would voluntary accept restrictions that non-compete agreement would bring. Employers like Jimmy Johns would not abuse non-compete agreement because competition among employers in the labor market would mean that other employers can offer more attractive employment terms to bid workers away from abusive employers. Laws that restrict employers' and employees' right to choose freely choose the terms and conditions of employment, including non-compete agreement, would therefore be morally unjustified
The original position
No one knows his place in society, his class position or social status, nor does anyone know his fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilities, his intelligence, strength, and the like. I shall even assume that the parties do not know their conceptions of the good or their special psychological propensities (p.12)
The aggressive practices that financial services giants such as Bank of America use to market credit cards to college students were the subject of a Business Week article entitled "The College Credit-Card Hustle." Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Reiss justified the bank's approach: "When it comes to students, we take a fair and responsible approach to [credit card] lending." Ms. Reiss was referring to her bank giving educational material to student customers and not hitting them with higher rates for late payments. The ethical justification for Bank of America's credit card marketing practices is most rooted in:
Nozick's Rights Theory
A July 17, 2009 article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Drinks with a Jolt Draw New Scrutiny" discusses limits that states are considering imposing on the marketing of caffeinated alcoholic beverages such as Joose that are especially popular with college students. One beer distributor complained that regulators were unfairly targeting such drinks. "I really believe in personal responsibility, and I think it's ridiculous that the attorneys general have turned it into a nanny state." The ethical theory that best reflects the beer distributor's reaction to the proposed new regulations is:
Nozick's Rights Theory. (No force or fraud)
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein publicly justified the firm selling bundles of troubled mortgages to its clients at the same time it bet the firm's own money that the value of those mortgages would fall by saying that Golman's clients knew what they were buying. Goldman, he said, was simply offering its clients a service. Mr. Blankfein's response reflects an attitude that is most consistent with:
Nozick's Rights Theory. (No force or fraud)
Business Week recently ran a story entitled "Can Greed Save Africa?" The article described the failure of aid from the developed world to improve the economies of the 34 African nations ranked among the 40 lowest in human development. The greed of foreign investors hoping to profit from Africa's natural resources may end up improving the lives of Africans more than government aid has. ESV Biofuels is a private company doing business in the Mozambique village of Inhassune. The company turns a local, drought resistant plant into fuel. Because of the company's presence as the country's largest private employer, "Inhassune's revival is already under way. Mosquito control, power lines, and potable water have quickly arisen from a barren stretch of bush. 'I'd be the last person in history to go down as a philanthropist, says Renier van Rooyen, ESV's South African on-site manager. 'But you cannot run a business when your workers are out with malaria or sick from dirty water.'" In providing better working conditions for ESV's employees, Mr. van Rooyen is guided by:
Objectivism
An attorney's employer agreed to be bought. Just before the deal closed, he was asked to join a leading biotech. It would have been a great career move, but if he left, three of his staff would be fired. One had a baby on the way, one was close to retirement, and one was a big family provider. He declined the job because it would hurt his "team members." Had he decided the most ethical choice was to accept the position, he would have followed:
Objectivism.
In July 2010, basketball superstar LeBron James explained why he was abandoning his longstanding ties to the city of Cleveland to play for the Miami Heat. He said he left the Cleveland Cavaliers team because he wanted a real shot at greatness. It was a business decision and, he said, he made it without emotion. "I wanted to do what was best for LeBron James and make him happy." Mr. James's business decision to leave the Cavaliers for the Heat was driven by:
Objectivism.
On April 22, 2010, the Wall Street Journal reported on a new PepsiCo partnership with Waste Management to put as many as 3,000 "Dream Machines" in busy places this year to accept recyclable containers. "'There's got to be something in it for people, both through material rewards and emotional rewards,' said Jeremy Cage, PepsiCo's 'Dream Machine' project director. The Dream Machine is an attempt to be all things to all people. 'Dark green' environmentalists can carry key fobs that track and reward their personal recycling efforts, and link them to a social network with regular news feeds. People who recycle at home but not on the go would get an incentive such as a chance to win a baseball cap. Those cool to environmental causes might be interested in the sponsors' promise of a per-bottle donation to the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans, a business training program for disabled veterans." PepsiCo is presuming that all of its customers' heightened recycling will be driven by:
Objectivism.
_______________ is governed by the focus on one's own interests; _____________ and ___________ are governed by the duty one has to the interests of others:
Objectivism; Integrative Social Contracts Theory and Rawls' Theory of Justice
In a July 31, 2010 column in the New York Times entitled "A Sin And A Shame", Bob Herbert argued that corporations that have been recording record profits and hoarding cash even as they continue to layoff hundreds and thousands of their workers were behaving immorally. "Worker productivity has increased dramatically, but the workers themselves have seen no gains from their increased production. It has all gone to corporate profits. This is unprecedented in the postwar years and it is wrong." Mr. Herbert's view that it is unethical to increase corporate profits at the expense of throwing masses of workers out of their jobs is most consistent with:
Rawls' Theory of Justice. (Why? The difference between shareholder profits and fired employees is not designed to benefit the least advantaged, i.e., the dismissed workers.)
Which of the following does NOT correctly state Ian Maitland's argument in his article "Rights in the Workplace: A Nozickian Argument"?
Rational workers would hardly accept job insecurity in an employment at will (EAW) contract which does not guarantee due process procedures with which to appeal dismissal.
Jacqueline Novogratz used to work at Chase Manhattan Bank, but now heads a nonprofit global venture fund. She told a reporter: "I loved being a banker, but I felt that banks were missing an opportunity in not extending their services to more low-income people. I decided to leave Chase and move to Rwanda, where I helped build the first microfinance institution," making small loans to poor people to start their own businesses. Her ethical worldview appears to be most in line with:
Rawls Theory of Justice.
Eminent domain is the right of government to take property from an individual without consent for the common good, for example to build a highway, an airport, a dam, or a hospital. The U.S. Constitution recognizes that right, allowing private property to be taken for public use as long as fair compensation is paid. The city of New London, Connecticut, used its power of eminent domain and took a house owned by Susette Kelo in order to attract new development including a new hotel, office buildings, and new homes. Connecticut officially designates New London a blighted area, with high rate of unemployment and old, second-rate housing stock. The city hopes that the new development will help revitalize the community and bring in more tax revenue. "This isn't for the public good," says Kelo. "The public good is a firehouse or a school, not a hotel and a sports club." The city is offering a fair price for the home, but for Kelo it isn't an issue of money. Kelo sued the city, but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the city's decision that compulsory purchase to foster economic development falls under "public use" and is thus constitutionally permissible. Would John Rawls support the Supreme Court decision? Why or why not?
Rawls would not support the Supreme Court decision because it is unclear whether the city's development plan would bring the greatest benefit to the city residents, who are the least advantaged in this story. Instead, it is likely that the city's plan will benefit the private developers and the city officials.
In his recent book "Goodbye Gordon Gekko," multimillionaire investment banker Anthony Scaramucci writes: "Where we stand in life is often a by-product of luck. Sure, some of it is hard work, but did you pick your eye color, your skin color, your parents, or the location of your birth? What about your brain chemistry? If you didn't, then accept that a lot of things that happen are beyond your control." What ethical theory we have studied takes the concept that we deserve neither credit nor blame for our standing as the root of the theory's justification?
Rawls' Theory of Justice
The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus founded Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, a bank focused on giving small loans to poor people in developing countries to help them start businesses. In his recent book, "Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism," Yunus defines a "social business" as one in which the "profits are invested back into operations rather than being returned to investors or shareholders. So it's a form of capitalism that does not reward the capitalist in the usual way." One example of a social business now in operation is a joint venture between Grameen Bank and France's Group Danone that sells fortified yogurt to malnourished children in Bangladesh for pennies. The producers, distributors, and consumers of the milk products are all poor. The dominant ethical rule governing Yunus's vision of "social business" is:
Rawls' Theory of Justice
At online apparel and footwear retailer Zappos, senior employees receive no employee benefits that aren't given to junior employees. This practice, which assumes a duty to extend benefits in such a way that does not needlessly expand the gap in compensation between those that make the most and those that make the least, is most rooted in:
Rawls' Theory of Justice. (Gap unjustified unless helps least adv.)
Nguyen, out of Product Development, is disturbed by John and Jane's recommendations to leave the bibs on the market. He is especially troubled by Jane's comment that the popularity of these bibs with low-income customers was a reason that the company should not recall the product. That struck him as backwards and morally unacceptable. "Jane," Nguyen interjects, "it is precisely to protect our most vulnerable customers that we should recall the bibs. If babies get sick from lead poisoning - even though we know that that is a remote possibility -- they are unlikely to have access to proper medical care. I don't care what the cost of the recall is. We have to recommend that the product be pulled, especially to protect this group of customers. It also will send the message that "'Consolidated Cares,'" a slogan we have used in the past." Which of the following methods of ethical decision-making has Nguyen followed in making his recommendation?
Rawls' theory of justice
A drug company makes a number of medications; one of their drugs is the only known treatment for a disease called ethicalism, that affects students at SDSU. Because so few people are affected, the drug is not very profitable, and the company is considering discontinuing the drug, which will leave these students without any effective treatment. But the CEO decides that THEY SHOULD CONTINUE PRODUCTION OF THE DRUG, BECAUSE STUDENTS OF ETHICS AT SDSU ARE POOR, ABUSED, AND DISADVANTAGED. This reasoning is most suggestive of:
Rawls: Theory of Justice
Mario sells copies of Italian furniture. People pay very high prices for his furniture because it looks like the real thing, even though it is very low quality with regard to both materials and construction. Mario is always careful not to claim that the furniture as the real thing, and he never uses any high pressure sales tactics. He believes that as long as HE DOES NOT LIE TO THE CUSTOMER or PRESSURE THEM to buy the furniture, there is NOTHING UNETHICAL about selling it for three times its actual value. This is reasoning is typical of:
THE THEORY OF RIGHTS
A December 23, 2011 story in The New York Times entitled "The Bank Around the Corner" focused on the Bank of Cattaraugus, which has only $12 million in assets and serves a small village in upstate New York of 950 residents. The story mentions Carol Bonner, a 61 year-old retired secretary, who once fell behind in her property taxes and was forced to sell the home where she lived with her disabled sister. "[T]he bank's president, Patrick J. Cullen, who held the mortgage on the house, had his son Thomas Cullen buy it. Thomas Cullen, who lives in Chicago, never intended to live there. Ms. Bonner and her sister were able to stay as renters." Ms. Bonner was amazed. "I just didn't realize there were people like that in the world, people who would help you - especially, a banker." In the way he runs his bank, Patrick Cullen appears to be guided by what ethical decision-making rule:
The Ethic of Care. (Focus on closest relationships)
A recent issue of Inc. magazine ran an interview with 23 year-old Sawyer Sparks, a senior at Purdue University who founded a company that makes gluten-fee modeling clay called Soy-Yer Dough, an alternative to Play-Doh for kids with wheat allergies. Sparks turned down a $500,000 offer from toy giant and Play-Doh maker Hasbro to license his product because Hasbro would not commit to making the product in America. Instead, Sparks built a factory in his hard-hit hometown of Bloomfield, Indiana, which now employs 30 people. He explained: "It's a sad situation when people you grew up with are looking for jobs. This town is hanging by a thread. Somebody needs to sew it back up. Whether we hire three or 20 or 100 full-time employees, these are people who didn't have jobs before." Mr. Sparks' decision to reject Hasbro's offer and build a factory in his hometown was guided by:
The Ethic of Care. (Focus on closest relationships)
A November 26, 2010 USA Today story focused on the owner of a small background check business in Florida, Lola Gonzalez, who decided to lay off herself and give up a six-figure salary rather than lay off any of her other nine employees. Ms. Gonzalez took a job as a social worker paying half as much. '"How could you let somebody else go that you trusted and that trusted you?" says Gonzalez, 51, who's still a social worker. "We have one of the highest unemployment rates in the state."' Ms. Gonzalez's decision to sacrifice her own job so that the members of her staff could keep theirs is most consistent with:
The Ethic of Care. (Self-sacrifice)
Rational selfishness
The objective ethics proudly advocates and upholds rational selfishness, which means the values required for man's survival
In an interview published in the March 2008 Harvard Business Review, the great American historian David McCullough was asked what lessons he would emphasize if he were teaching a graduate business school course. He replied: "In teaching a course for future leaders I'd . . . warn against the insidious disease of greed. . . . [¶] With a knowledge of history comes the understanding that one day you, too, will be judged by later generations. How will you measure up? . . . . [¶] I would also tell a young MBA, 'Conduct yourself in a way that lives up to your own high standards.' . . . If eventually you do rise in the system, your good conduct will become a standard for others." Mr. McCullough urges future business leaders to be guided by:
Virtue Ethics
CFO Jane is concerned about overreacting to the bad press. She tells the group that she has concluded that a recall's costs to the company far outweigh the benefit of such a recall to the public. It is virtually certain that no babies actually will be harmed and leaving the bibs on the market will ensure that low-income consumers, the biggest consumers of this bib, will continue to be able to afford a Consolidated-made bib rather than a bib produced by a less well-known company. The company's shareholders are also likely to be harmed by a costly recall. She thinks the overall best solution is to leave the bibs on the market with a warning, including in the company's advertising, that they contain trace amounts of lead and urges the team to agree with her recommendation. Which of the following theories of ethical decision-making has Jane followed in making her recommendation?
Utilitarianism
Pablo, of Corporate Communications, agrees with Nguyen that the product should be recalled. The cost of the recall, he believes, would be more than offset by the positive media attention that the company would receive by taking steps to protect the safety of its customers, even steps that the law did not require. Shareholders would benefit from the resulting increase in sales spurred by the company's enhanced reputation and employee morale would rise from knowing the company did the right thing as a matter of both ethics and profits. The babies would benefit by removing lead from the environment, and parents would benefit from the peace of mind that accompanies keeping their children safe. Which of the following methods of ethical decision-making has Pablo followed in making his recommendation?
Utilitarianism
Basil is a civil engineer. His PROFESSIONAL CODE OF ETHICS requires all of his recommendations to be conservative and based on good engineering practice. An important client has asked him to modify a recommendation in a way that would result in a marginal safety margin on a building foundation. He realizes that IF IT BECAME WIDELY KNOWN that he had approved that calculation, he would LOSE THE RESPECT OF HIS ENGINEERING COLLEAGUES. Also, HIS MENTOR IN ENGINEERING SCHOOL would never accept that margin of error. He declines the request based on:
Virtue Ethics
On March 14, 2012, Greg Smith, a former Vice President of investment giant Goldman Sachs, published an essay in the New York Times explaining why he was resigning from the firm. He had joined Goldman 12 years before right out of college, but he said he was leaving because he had come to believe that Goldman had developed a culture of putting quick profits for the firm ahead of the interests of the firm's clients. Smith wrote: "My proudest moments in life - getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics - have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts. Goldman Sachs today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about achievement. It just doesn't feel right to me anymore." Mr. Smith's decision was driven by:
Virtue Ethics. (Made decision based on how reflected on his character)
Nozick's Rights Theory John, from Marketing, agrees with Jane that Consolidated should leave the bibs on the market, agrees with adding a consumer warning to the bibs, but disagrees such a warning should be included in the company's advertising. The company's advertising never said or implied that bibs should be put in a baby's mouth or that it was safe to do so. The company is not doing anything illegal, even with the trace elements of lead; the bibs still satisfy the government's minimal standards. He recommends that the bibs stay on the market with the warning Jane suggests to ensure that customers are making an informed decision. John opposes including the warning in the company's advertising, both because he feels it is unnecessary and because the costs of such a change in the advertising would come out of his department's budget. "Look," he told the group, "it's not like the company is holding a gun to people's heads to get them to buy Consolidated bibs, rather than those of a less well-known company."
Which of the following theories of ethical decision-making has John followed in making his recommendation?
Critics argue that the growing inequality in the distribution of wealth in the United States is due (in part) to inheritance. Current U.S. tax system does not effectively reduce inheritance, especially for the rich. The average person is led to believe that estate and gift taxes succeed in breaking up the huge financial empires of the very rich, thereby distributing wealth more evenly generations after generations. What the average person fails to realize is that what the government takes with one hand, it gives back with the other hand, through loopholes in the law. These taxes do virtually nothing to reduce the vast inequality in the distribution of wealth that exists today. According to one estimate, 50 percent of the large fortunes in the United States were derived basically from inheritance. Another estimate suggests the amount contributed by inheritance to the wealth of ultrarich males is 67 percent. It appears that inheritance plays a large role in perpetuating a vastly unequal distribution of wealth generations after generations. With inheritance, the old adage is only too true: "The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer." Is the practice of inheritance ethically justified? Why or why not? Use one or more of ethical theories to justify your argument. Write your answer inside the box below.
You can use any of the six theories we learned, but not all theories are directly relevant to this issue. Rawl's justice theory, Nozick's rights theory, utilitarianism, and Rand's objectivist ethics would be highly relevant. You need to demonstrate a correct understanding of the theory you chose and develop your own ethical argument based on the information provided in the question. You may argue that inheritance is morally justified or unjustified, but regardless of your conclusion your answer should be based on a theory/theories we learned and should be coherent Nozick, doesn't affect others.
Value is
what one acts to gain and/or keep
