Ethics Case Study

Final Focus Paper

Legal and ethical issues are prevalent in today’s workplace. No business is exempt from facing legal and ethical issues. The main key is how businesses deal with these types of issues. Legal issues have a specific law behind them, which result in legal consequences if you don’t obey it. Ethical issues have no force of law, but are of nature that affects the society around you, or has consequences for the people involved. The below paragraphs will give a example of a situation that presents a legal and ethical issue. The paragraphs below will also provide two different supported by two different ethical theories, apply the right applications of law discussed in class, a recommendation to reduce liability exposure, and the overall ethics of the situation.

Bill Garrison was hired by ABC Mfg. Co. as a consultant in plastic processing, with a chemical engineering degree and 10 years of experience. He was asked to recommend the equipment needed to convert a certain product line from metal to plastic parts. In particular, it was required that the production rate be at least equal to that at which the line made metal parts. When over $10M of new equipment was installed, it was found that because of longer cycle time due to curing the plastic, the plastic line produced only 70 percent of the number of parts as made by the metal line in a given time. Can ABC hold Garrison personally responsible for this development? Garrison can be held personally responsible to ABC for damages. As a consultant he acted as ABC’s agent in designing the production line. By failing to take proper account of the plastic curing time he showed that he had not acted with duty of care and skill. He could be liable to ABC for negligence in tort, or for breach of contract. In addition, it was found that his 10 years of experience was in the area of polymer formulation, not plastics molding and manufacturing. If it could be shown that he misrepresented his background in order to secure the consulting contract, he could be liable for fraud.

The two theories that fit this particular situation outcomes. These theories are ethical relativism and Nihilism. There are many ways this company could reduce liability exposure. They need to take every precaution to assure that there is strict adherence to industry and government standards. Conformance to standards does not relieve or protect the manufacturer from liability, but it certainly lessens the possibility of product defects. They also need to