DISCUESS ASSIGNMENT UNIT two writen PDF

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DISCUESS ASSIGNMENT UNIT two written assignment...

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University of the People

BUS 5115 Business Law, Ethics and Social Responsibility

AY 2021-T5

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT UNIT 3

Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility

Instructor; Dr. Puala Cherry

07/07/2021

Introduction Bob, President John, Chemical Engineer Henry, Controller Kirk, Assistant Controller Kirk is a bright individual who is being groomed for the Controller’s position in a medium-sized manufacturing firm. After his first year as Assistant Controller, the officers of the firm were starting to include him in major company functions. For instance, today he was attending the monthly financial statement summary given at a prestigious consulting firm. During the meeting, Kirk was intrigued at how all the financial data he had been accumulating was transformed by the consultant into revealing charts and graphs. Kirk was generally optimistic about the session and the company’s future until the consultant started talking about the new manufacturing plant the company was adding to the current location and the costs per unit of the chemically plated products it produced. At that time, Bob (the President) and John (the chemical engineer) started talking about waste treatment and disposal problems. John mentioned that the current waste facilities were not adequate to handle the waste products that would be created by the “ultramodern” new plant in a manner that would meet the industry's fairly high standards, although they could still comply with federal standards. Kirk’s boss, Henry, noted that the estimated cost per unit would be increased if the waste treatment facilities were upgraded according to recent industry standards. While industry standards are presently more stringent than federal regulations, environmentalists are strongly pressuring for more stringent regulations at the federal level. Bob mentioned that since their closest competitor did not have the waste

treatment facilities that already existed at their firm, he was not in favor of further expenditure in this area. Most managers at this meeting resoundingly agreed with Bob, and business continued to another topic. Kirk did not hear a word during the rest of the meeting. He kept wondering how the company could have such a casual attitude toward the environment. Yet he did not know if, how, or when he could share his opinion. Soon he started reflecting on whether this was the right firm for him. What should Kirk do? Putting Corporate Responsibility first, but recognizing the politics at play, what is the most ethical thing to do? The most practical? What strategy would you suggest to Kirk if he came to you for advice? Facts about the case The situation started for Kirk, who was considered bright and was going places at the company. For over a year, he has been working as the assistant controller. Still, he is being groomed at the company to be a controller, so he was allowed to attend the higher-level conferences and meetings over time. At one of those meetings, the following topics were discussed: Creation: A new ultramodern manufacturing plant added to the current location. Costs: Costs per unit of the chemically plated products of the new plant. Waste Management: Both the president and the chemical engineer discussed waste and disposal issues, as current waste facilities won’t cope with the new manufacturing plant's production and maintain a reasonably high industry standard.

Standards: Kirk’s supervisor stated that costs would increase if they wish to maintain the industry’s standard but are still able to comply with the federal standards ( which are less stringent than industry standards) Environmentalists: are trying to make the federal standards strung as that of the industry standards for better environmental protection. Competition: The competition doesn’t have waste treatment as the company has. The resolution: Most managers agree that an additional waste management facility will be an extra cost that isn’t required because: Additional costs The competitors don’t have a waste facility. They meet the federally required standards. They are not obliged to maintain industry standards. The Ethical Dilemma The Company that kirk works for doesn’t share the same sentiment towards the environment as does kirk. The ethical dilemma is that the new ultramodern manufacturing plant’s waste management will only be within the federal standards' acceptable legal boundaries as this is by law and not at the industry’s standard meant for the maximum environmental protection possible. Additionally, the other reason for keeping it at the federal standards is that it will still be better than its waste management. This mentality of thinking is the ethical dilemma Kirk is having, by

setting the limits of waste management to adhere to the competitor’s competence and legal obligations and not to the highest possible limits to protect the environment. The Stakeholders According to James Chen: “A stakeholder is a party that has an interest in a company and can either affect or be affected by the business.” (Chen, 2020). In that regard, the following stakeholders are: Internal stakeholders: Kirk: an employee with both obligation towards his company and to the environment. The employees: whose livelihood depends on the profitability of the company The managers: whose decisions have ramifications on the company’s direction and profitability. The owners: who invested in the company with the intention of profitability and have control in the company's overall direction and objectives. The environment and those who live near the manufacturing plant: the company only maintaining the lower federal standards can be harmful to both the environment and livelihood of the people living there. Environmentalists require that federal standards be as strict as the industry standards to protect the environment. Consumers of the products will purchase the products without care of protecting the environment or moving to a different job with better environment protection guidelines.

The suppliers will provide the products without care of protecting the environment or will stop working with the company instead of being associated with a non-pro-environment company The Alternatives and Ethics: Kirk can research the costs of building a waste management facility to the industry standards, which will be higher than both the competitors and federal standards. This research could significantly improve the company’s brand, thus increasing both consumer's and suppliers' pool, thus increasing profits and lowering costs. Additionally, he can add to his research that inevitably the pressure from the environmentalists will lead to changing the standards, which will require the company to either pay higher taxes or change the factory waste management. This will lead to additional downtime and expenses. Finally, explain that protecting the environment now will have ramifications for the future generation, and the company’s actions today will be remembered tomorrow. This approach will lead the company to adopt a cooperative social responsibility and thus be conscious of the decisions that affect the community and environment; their business model will improve the city and have no negative results (Fernando, 2020) - Kirk can simply walk away from the company and join an environmental group and push federal standards to be as high as the industry standards. The issue with this is that Kirk had a promising future at the company to go to higher positions. There is no proof that his joining an environmental group will affect him. If he stayed at the company and eventually reached a higher position, he could have some deceptive actions that can ultimately improve the environmental considerations. Yet and there is no guarantee that his promotion will change anything.

- Kirk does nothing at all and waits till he is promoted to a higher position; he could have some decisive actions that can eventually improve the environmental considerations. In this situation, harm to the environment will be done, and there is no guarantee that he will be prompted or his promotion will change anything. - Kirk could be a whistleblower and leak information to an environmental group about the actions they are willing to do at the company to lower their standards to only the federal standards to reduce costs; Because the competitors aren’t as competent as they are, yet this will be unethical action to leak confidential information, and technically the company isn’t breaking any rules. The constraints - The opposition to Kirk’s suggestions due to many reasons, including finance, position, time, and mentality. - Profit-driven objectives are more important than environmental protection; the company already sees that adhering to the federal standards is sufficient. -Non-competitive edge, because the competitors don’t adhere to any environmental standard, so no competitive advantage is achieved if there is an industry standard implemented Kirk’s Action The best option is for Kirk to continue his environmental agenda. At the same time, he maintains his career position and provides better and sound solutions that adhere to high environmental standards and long-term brand recognition and profitability. If the company

Reference Chen, J. (2020, September 4). Learn What Stakeholders Are, and the Roles That They Play. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stakeholder.asp. Fernando, J. (2020, November 17). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corp-social-responsibility.asp....