BUSINESS ETHICS ASSIGNMENTSAMEER SAURABH

FT MBA CORE

Section E

Roll No 440

CASE 10Q1 The Ford Pinto met federal safety standards, yet it had a design flaw that resulted in serious injuries and deaths. Is simply meeting safety standards a sufficient product design goal of ethical companies?

Ans- Meeting safety standards is a very important part of product design but it’s not sufficient. Clearly any ethical company before launching its product tests it a number of times for the prescribed safety measures. But it’s for sure no one can do a 360 degree research on any of its product. So there are a lot of chances that the product may have some faults after being launched practically. So if there is some such fault then again it’s the duty of the company to look after the products and give the customer the required satisfaction. So meeting the safety measures is not sufficient. The company needs to give some human element also for customer satisfaction.

Q2 Gioia uses the notion of script schemas to help explain why he voted to not initiate recall of the Ford Pinto. In your opinion, is this a justifiable explanation?

Ans- Actually I feel that Gioia did a wrong thing by not opting for recall. He realised this fact after some time and when he recalled this he came out with this theory of schemas. Actually I feel that it’s not a justifiable argument. At the time of not recalling it, he had only one motive that doesn’t make the company to suffer from some types of losses. This will degrade his reputation as well in the company. So the decision which he took at that time was very good from the point of view of profit making. But since we are making the products for our customers and if they are not satisfied then it’s of no use for the company to make the goods. So from profit point of view also the decision was not good. Also the decision was not ethical. If the product is causing some harm for the persons using it then it’s the duty of the company to make a recall. So at the first instant he should have gone for recall. So from ethical point of view also the decision was not good.

Q3 How can organisational context influence the decisions made by organisational members?

Ans- Clearly any person has got some morals and principles of his own. But if the person is not much mature then it is pretty possible that his principles are easily shaken by any event or by some other forces which govern him. Same case occurs with most of the employees of any company. At the time of joining a company any person has got some morals and principles of his own. As far as he thinks he just doesn’t

want to betray those principles. But as he joins any company it’s for sure that he is not going to get the same set of principles. So there comes the clash. Now a person want to remain established in the company. So his loosely bound principles are easily shaken by the set of principles of his company for which he is working. Also it is true because the main motive of any person is to live and he will get livelihood only if he continues with the company. So he easily leaves his principles and catches the principles of the company. Rarely do we find some persons who for the sake of preserving their principles left the organisation. Thus we can say that the organisational context influence the decisions made by the organisational members.

Q4 If you had been in Dennis Gioia’s position then what would you have done? Why?

Ans- Clearly one thing is for sure that if I would have been in his position then I would have gone with the recall. Although everybody knows that how much difficult it is to do than to say but if I would have been given the power then clearly I would have made the recall. Also the recall is not a very bad one because you are not calling the product permanently. Actually you are calling the product for some modifications and after all this is done you are going to give the product. Also I believe in a stitch in time saves nine. So it’s better to pay a small cost of modification now then to bear a large cost in the form of lost reputation of the company in the future. So clearly I would have gone for recall.

Q5 Describe the four key decision making lessons that Dennis Gioia identifies for neophytes decision makers. Discuss how you expect or intend to use these four lessons in your own careers.

Ans-

1.) Develop your ethical base now. It is necessary as if we don’t make the base now then clearly we can become prey of others and then our ethical views will be easily captured by the thoughts of others. So it’s necessary to have you own views regarding what is ethical and what’s not.

2.) Everyone is a victim of his or her cognitive structuring. Actually we think that the solutions for everything will come to us automatically but it’s not that much true. One need to look at the automatic results but must also keep than to form schemas and look at them in difficult situations.

3.) Organisational structure and the way of behaviour can really change you way of thinking and can change your moral principles.

4.) Be prepared to face a critical responsibility at a young age. Actually you need to know that what your values are at an early age so that you may not get problems later in your life.