3.1 Writing and analyzing ethics cases in business and research  (Page 5/5)

Analyzing your case

1. Do a Socio-Technical Analysis : Use the examples found at m14025 to get you started. The STS will help you identify key problems.
2. Specify Your Problem : Look for conflicts between the values embedded in the STS. Look also for harmful consequences in the present, the short term future, and the long term future.
3. Generate a Solution List. Refine that Solution List : Work on changing and rebalancing elements in the STS to resolve the conflict or harmful consequences you scoped when specifying the problem.
4. Test Your Solutions : Use the Ethics Tests (reversibility, harms/benefits, and publicity) plus code and values tests to test your solution. Rank them.
5. Implement Your Solution : Using the feasibility test as a check list, identify possible resource, interest, and technical constraints that could impede the implementation of your solution.

Advice for preparing a poster on your case

• Your Objective : Develop a Poster that captures the case's narratives and summarizes the different stages of a case analysis framework. In the figure below, we have appended an excellent poster presentation developed by Dr. Carlos Rios.
• Dimensions : Your poster should print out onto a piece of paper two feet by three feet. It should be available digitally in ppt format (either version 2003 or 2007).
• Due Date: May 1 for presentation in class either May 1 or May 8.
• Content : (1) summary of key ethically relevant facts; (2) highlight of the dominant elements of the case's socio-technical system; (3) an analysis of the case that includes problem definition, solutions generated, solution testing (in the form of a solution evaluation matrix), and a plan for implementing the solution over situational constraints; (4) Your names; (5) items that will help visually portray case elements such as flow charts and pictures.
• Make your case visually interesting and choose images that capture the essence of the concepts you are portraying. Be daring and exciting here.
• Practice presenting from your poster. And have fun!

The Poehlman Case analysis/poster is about half way completed. It has been included to give you an idea of how the case development process looks (and feels) at its mid point. The STS table included provides a sense of the gaps that need to be filled with further investigation and analysis. For example, more information could be collected on hormonal treatment therapy. The dialogue box quoting from one of the witnesses could be expanded into conversations between Poelman and the witness or between the witness and officials at the University of Vermont. The point is to identify gaps in the case development that can be filled with moral imagination and further research.

What did you learn?

After you finish your poster presentation, take some time to reflect on the reaction of your teacher and classmates. Was it what you expected? How could you change things to align better your expectations and goals with results? What did you learn from developing this case? What were the obstacles, frustrations, or negative experience you faced in this exercise? Assess this exercise, your case, the reaction, and your experience in general.

Appendix

Below are supporting materials to help with you as you work through this module. They include a presentation on writing and analyzing cases, a table of basic moral concepts, and a table of intermediate moral concepts.

Presentation oncase writing

Eac toolkit project

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