Journal Questions
Minicases below are question specific February 13 Topic: Sexual harassment in the workplace. Readings: U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Fact Sheet: Sexual Harassment Discrimination, https://www.eeoc.gov/laws/guidance/fact-sheet-sexual-harassmentdiscrimination. Sachi Clements, “Preventing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace,” NOLO, https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/preventing-sexualharassment-workplace-29851.html. 13 Ways to Protect Employees from Sexual Harassment in the Workplace, Forbes, Expert Panel, November 26, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbeshumanresourcescouncil/2021/ 11/26/13-ways-to-protect-employees-from-sexual-harassment-inthe-workplace/?sh=78febdad3480. “Speak Out Act Limits Enforcement of NDAs in Sexual Assault and Harassment,” Purdue University Global Concord Law School News and Commentary, August 15, 2023, https://www.concordlawschool.edu/blog/news/speak-out-act-nda/. Journal Questions: What should companies do to address sexual harassment in two ways: 1. to reduce and ideally eliminate it, and 2. to address effectively instances of sexual harassment that do occur? How can companies take a serious stance against sexual harassment while also ensuring that employees accused of sexual harassment receive due process? Note: This entry will be included in your SECOND journal installment, not in the FIRST journal installment that is due today. February 15 Topic: Marketing Infant Formula in Developing Nations. Readings: Read only Articles 4-10 of the “International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes” on pages 15-21, 9241541601.pdf (who.int). Dasha Afanasieva and Tanaz Meghjani, “Baby Formula Industry Misleads With Its Marketing: WHO, Time, February 8, 2023 Baby Formula Industry Misleads With Its Marketing: WHO | Time World Health Organization, “WHO reveals shocking extent of exploitative formula milk marketing,” April 28, 2022, https://www.who.int/news/item/28-04-2022-who-reveals-shockingextent-of-exploitative-formula-milk-marketing. Steve Salbu, Minicase, “Marketing Infant Formula in Developing Nations,” printed at the end of this syllabus. Journal Questions: What are the practices that critics have challenged as unethical in the marketing of infant formula in developing countries? Address each of these practices: is it fundamentally ethical? Or is it fundamentally unethical? Or is whether it is ethical or unethical dependent on certain variables? Explain and defend your position for each practice that you address. What should companies like Nestle do in response to these issues? February 20 Topic: Ethical Issues for Social Media Companies Readings: 2 Katie Branson, “The Supreme Court Rules on the Scope of Section 230 Protections, Educause, September 12, 2023, The Supreme Court Rules on the Scope of Section 230 Protections | EDUCAUSE Review. David Lauer, “Facebook’s ethical failures are not accidental: they are part of the business model,” AI and Ethics (2021), https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s43681-021-00068x.pdf. Marina Pitofsky, “Facebook officials knew Instagram can have negative mental health impacts for teens, report claims,” USA Today, September 14, 2021, https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/09/14/facebook-knewinstagram-could-bad-teens-mental-health/8340578002/. Ryan Dailey, “Attorney General Moody Targets Meta’s ‘Manipulative, Effects on Kids,” Daily Business Review, October 25, 2023, https://www.law.com/dailybusinessreview/2023/10/25/attorneygeneral-moody-targets-meta-manipulative-effects-on-kids/. Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld, ”Supreme Court to wade into social media free speech firestorm,” The Hill, October 31, 2023, https://thehill.com/homenews/4283985-supreme-court-socialmedia-free-speech/. Journal Assignment: What responsibility and actions, if any, should social media companies like Meta take for the following two potential issues related to their platforms, and why? 1) spread of false information and fake news, and 2) potential negative impact on users generally, and on minors specifically, in regard to mental health, body image, and eating disorders. February 22 Topic: Images of Women in Advertising 3 Video Assignment: At the start of class, we will view two videos on YouTube, below. You’re free to view them at home in advance as well, but you don’t need to, as we will view them together before our class discussion on this topic. “The Dangerous Ways Ads See Women,” Jean Kilbourne | TEDxLafayetteCollege, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy8yLaoWybk “An epidemic of beauty sickness,” Renee Engeln, TEDxUConn 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63XsokRPV_Y Journal Questions: What social and ethical concerns were raised in regard to images of women in advertising, both in the videos and in our class discussion? Which (if any) of these concerns are legitimate social or ethical concerns, and why? What can/should be done about these concerns, assuming you identified what you consider any legitimate concerns? Which if any of these concerns are not legitimate social or ethical concerns, and why? What, if anything, should companies do to address this issue in how they advertise? February 27 Topic: Punitive Damages: Are they currently a positive impetus to responsible corporate behavior? Or are they sometimes excessive and out of control? Video Assignment: We will watch this video together during class: “Woman Burned by McDonald’s Hot Coffee, Then the News Media,” Retro Report, The New York Times, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCkL9UlmCOE Reading Assignment: 4 Just read Sections 101 (Findings and Purposes) and 201 (Punitive Damages) of this bill: H.R.1075 – Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act of 1995, https://www.congress.gov/bill/104th-congress/house-bill/1075/text. Note: This is a bill that was not enacted. It was sponsored by Representative Henry Hyde (R-Illinois) but it died in Congress in 1995, shortly after the McDonald’s case litigation. I’m assigning it because it is a useful tool in identifying the issues related to the tort reform debate. Journal Questions: What parts, if any, of Senator Hyde’s bill do you agree with, and why? What parts, if any, do you disagree with, and why? Is it good or bad from the standpoint of policy and ethics that juries in cases like the McDonald’s case award substantial, weighty punitive damages? What’s your reasoning? February 29 Topic: Building an Ethical Culture Videos: Please watch two videos at home, prior to class: Ethical Leadership, Part 1: Perilous at the Top | Concepts Unwrapped, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=Nmsl1xVx7 Ec&feature=emb_logo. Ethical Leadership, Part 2: Best Practices| Concepts Unwrapped, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=icJZxLoX14U &feature=emb_logo. Journal Questions: Think about all the organizations you have been engaged in during your life. These may include your K-12 school, or a workplace, or your university experience, or a voluntary organization you participate in, such as a civic or religious or cultural organization. Now think about one example of each of these two phenomena: 1. a 5 culture you experienced where you believe an ethical environment was not appropriately created, and 2. a culture you experienced where an ethical environment was effectively built. What elements or characteristics created each of these cultures—what were the factors that created a bad ethical environment in the first instance, and a good ethical environment in the second instance? (It’s possible that you will have examples of both bad and good from the same organization—i.e., it isn’t impossible that some aspects of the ethical culture in Organization X were poor, while others were strong. So it’s fine if both of the cases you talk about actually happened in the same place.) March 12 Topic: Ethics of Marketing Tobacco Products and Alcohol Readings: http://global.tobaccofreekids.org/files/pdfs/en/APS_youth_facts_en. pdf http://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/big-tobacco-smoking-goingaway/ https://bizgovsoc2.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/the-ethics-behindadvertising-alcohol-to-the-teenage-demographic/ Journal Questions: Is it ethical for tobacco manufacturers to market using free samples, or sponsorship of sporting events and concerts? Is it ethical for U.S. tobacco companies to advertise in new and emerging markets, activity that is now prohibited in the United States? Is it ethical for companies to advertise alcoholic beverages during television shows with audiences predominantly under 21? 6 Minicases for reading Minicase: What is the Social Responsibility of Business? Pricing Blood You are the CEO of a publicly held company in the business of selling human blood. When you go to sleep tonight, your price for selling blood to Central American countries is $50/unit. In the middle of the night, you get a phone call from the distraught President of a developing Central American nation, where there has been a devastating earthquake. Thousands of people desperately need blood. The President has tapped every other source, and you are the last hope. Specifically, 100,000 people are at risk of dying. Each person needs one unit of blood to live. Unfortunately, the country is poor and has only $1 million to spend. Assume that debt financing would not be worth the paper it is written on, given the nation’s present disastrous economy. Market studies show that future demand for blood will be based entirely upon three factors: (1) service—i.e., reliability and timeliness of shipments, (2) price, and (3) purity of blood. Being perceived as a nice person may make you feel good, but it won’t translate into improved long-term sales. If you were to provide the country with 100,000 units of blood, it would leave you with sufficient inventories to meet local demand for blood. You need to tell the President of the country how much you will charge per unit of blood. The following chart will help you analyze the situation: Price Charged $10 per unit $25 per unit $50 per unit Lives Saved 100,000/100,000 40,000/100,000 20,000/100,000 $100 per unit 10,000/100,000 Financial Impact Vote Here Short-term loss Break-even Usual good profit Great profit 7 What price will you charge? © Steve Salbu, 2024 Minicase: Marketing Infant Formula in Developing Nations Over the past few decades, a number of firms from countries like the United States and Switzerland have aggressively marketed infant formula in developing nations. Below are some of the details. 1. Experts today generally agree that breast-feeding is superior to bottlefeeding of infants, for several reasons. Breast milk passes antibodies from mother to child, which are important to the child’s health. Breastfeeding is believed by some to be emotionally beneficial to mother-child bonding. Perhaps most importantly, improper bottle-feeding can kill children. 2. Illiteracy rates are high in many of the countries in which infant formula is marketed. Parents who cannot read may not understand the need (a) to boil water before mixing formula, and (b) not to dilute formula with too much water. Failure to boil water often leads to dysentery and severe dehydration, and can kill a child. Dilution of formula leads to malnutrition. 3. Once a mother begins to bottle feed and stops breast-feeding, she will stop lactating and will lose the inexpensive, nutritious option of breastfeeding. Some mothers who are given samples use the samples, stop lactating, and then find themselves unable to buy the proper amount of formula, which is extremely expensive for some families in developing nations. (Sometimes, the proper amount of formula consumes 50% or more of a poor family’s income.) This almost forces them to dilute the formula. 4. Bottle-feeding has some advantages. It frees women from the need to breast-feed, potentially enabling them to work if they choose. In addition, a very small number of women are unable to lactate, and bottle-feeding is obviously very important to them. 8 5. The following are some of the practices of companies marketing infant formula that have drawn criticism in recent years. A. Aggressive marketing tactics encouraging women to bottle-feed. B. Failure to emphasize importance and value of breast-feeding. C. Mass media advertising of bottle-feeding (radio ads, billboards, etc.) D. Provision of free samples to new mothers through health professionals in hospitals. E. Sometimes, provision of free samples through company representatives in the hospitals, dressed in nursing uniforms and called “milk nurses.” Sometimes the milk nurses are in fact licensed nurses; sometimes they are not. F. Payment of bonuses to the milk nurses, based on sales. Discuss the above practices A-F. Decide which practices you think are defensible, and which ones are indefensible. © Steve Salbu, 2024 9 Minicase: Equal Employment Practices in a Pluralistic World You are working in the marketing division of a Japanese company in Tokyo. You are not necessarily Japanese; you are yourself (i.e., from U.S. or Germany or Mexico or China, or whatever nationality you really are). You are asked to hire a new sales representative. Your two top applicants are Hidako, a woman who has graduated with an MBA at the top twentieth of her class from a world-renowned business school, and Ito, a man who graduated in the top third of his class at a less highly regarded business school. When you interview these two candidates, you believe Hidako has the better natural selling skills, although Ito seems qualified, if less talented. You tell a Japanese colleague over lunch that you plan to offer the job to Hidako, since both her academic credentials and her talent seem to place her in the lead. Your colleague says, “Maybe so, but in Japan, customers in 10 our industry don’t like dealing with women in sales positions. I’m afraid you could lose customers if you hire Hidako.” You are concerned with maximizing sales, with equal employment opportunity for women, and with not overstepping in imposing your own culture’s values on business in another country. What are the arguments for hiring Hidako? What are the arguments for hiring Ito? Whom will you hire? © Steve Salbu, 2024 Minicase: Protecting Against Birth Defects In any number of manufacturing plants around the world, workers are exposed to chemicals that can have potentially harmful effects on their future offspring. In some instances, exposure to chemicals damages sperm or egg cells; in other instances, it can damage a fetus, particularly when a mother is exposed to the chemicals during early stages of her pregnancy. Manufacturing companies that work with dangerous chemicals are, needless to say, concerned about birth defects that result from workers’ exposure to those chemicals. Executives are ethically concerned about avoiding the birth defects, and are also legally concerned about potential liability. Over the years, some companies in the U.S. and abroad have developed policies that prohibit women from working in plants where there is risk of birth defects to offspring, unless they provide medical documentation that 11 they are infertile. A New York Times article called “Industry and Women Clash Over Hazards in the Workplace” discussed women who voluntarily had themselves sterilized to keep lucrative jobs working with dangerous chemicals. Women’s groups have challenged the aforementioned policies as unethical and illegal gender discrimination. Question: Is it ethical for a company to prohibit fertile women from working with chemicals associated with serious birth defects? What are the issues? © Steve Salbu, 2024 Minicase: Employee Drug and Alcohol Testing Throughout the world, more and more companies are adopting policies to administer drug or alcohol tests to employees. Below is some information about the practice. 1. Rationale for testing. In some instances, employees are involved in operating equipment that is dangerous to operate under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Such jobs include airline pilot, bus driver, or operator of heavy equipment around other workers. 2. Another rationale for testing. In other instances, employee use of alcohol and drugs can impair the quality of employee work, cause employees to make expensive errors, and increase absenteeism on the job. Drug and alcohol use also can impair decision-making. These things cost companies millions of dollars. 3. Problems associated with employee drug testing. Employee drug testing arguably has costs, including the following: 12 A. Error can harm employees. Drug-testing is not perfectly accurate, and an employee who is given a false positive test result can be harmed (fired, reprimanded, injured in reputation, etc.) for having done nothing wrong. B. Drug testing intrudes on employee privacy. This happens in at least two ways—first, the employee may be asked to urinate in front of a superior, or give blood or hair samples. Second, the drug test seeks to gain information about the activities of employees, some of which may occur solely during hours off work. C. Employee drug testing may reduce morale, under the theory that employees are not trusted, treated as children, etc. D. Employee drug testing can be used to harass particular workers whom the boss dislikes for other reasons. E. Collection of samples may enable the boss not only to test for drugs, but also for things like illnesses such as diabetes or AIDS, further intruding on the worker’s rights and privacy. Discuss the pros and cons of employee drug testing, particularly addressing above concerns A-E. Decide when and how, if at all, employers should engage in employee drug testing. © Steve Salbu, 2024 13
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