Set 10 solutions as a quota. Then individually brainstorm as quickly as possible 10 solutions.
Share your solutions with your group members. Make a special effort to suspend all criticism until all the solutions of all the group members have been listed.
Refine your solution list into three solutions, two good ones and one bad one. Refine by developing a Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C sequence. Integrate similar solutions. Condense your bad solutions into one bad solution that will serve as a useful basis of comparison.
Work first toward a value integrative solution. If this is not possible, seek a value compromise. As a last resort prioritize your values and trade off the less for the more important relative to the situation at hand.
Solution testing
Test ethically three solutions, your two best solutions and a bad one to serve as a basis of comparison.
Use the three ethics tests: reversibility, harm, and publicity. You can substitute a rights test for reversibility and a values or virtues test for publicity.
Tie breakers: meta tests. If tests converge on a solution, this is an independent signal of solution strength. If the tests diverge on a particular solution alternative, this is an independent sign of the solution's weakness.
Is your best solution feasible? Ask this question globally.
Solution implementation
In this stage, you want to look carefully at the situation in which you are going to realize your solution. Are there factors in this situation that will constrain or limit implementation? What are they, and how will they do this?
Are there factors present in the situation that will aid the implementation of one or the other of your good solutions? What are they?
What are your resource constraints? Do you have enough time, money, or materials to realize your ethical solution? If not, are the constraints negotiable?
What are your interest or social constraints? Are there individuals or groups who have agendas affected by your solution? Given these agendas will they be allies or opponents? How can you win opponents over your side? Think here about government regulations, supervisor interests, corporate or business procedures, community traditions, etc.
Important in Gilbane Gold is whether your solution is technical feasible and how your solution will affect the chip-manufacturing process. Is your solution technically feasible? Does it require developing new technology or acquiring expensive technology? Are these technical or manufacturing constraints negotiable, that is, flexible or rigid?
V. conclusion
More and more, business ethics is concentrating on four general themes or issues. In this section, you will use the video, “Gilbane Gold,” to reflect on these different themes. Consider this your first incursion into business ethics. Most important, remember that ethics forms a central part of everyday business practice and is essential to good business.
Ethical leadership: in terms of the values mentioned in the sov, discuss and rate the following characters in terms of the leadership skills and qualities they exhibit:
Diane Collins
David Jackson
Phil Port
Tom Richards
Frank Seeders
Social responsibility:
David reminds Diane that corporations like Z-Corp are responsible for the health and safety impacts of their operations. Diane disagrees placing more emphasis on following the law and serving the community by creating economic opportunity and jobs. Who sets for the better argument? Using these positions as a springboard, set forth your own conception of corporate social responsibility.
Corporate governance:
Toward the end of the video, David goes to local reporter, Maria Renato, and provides her with inside information on his and Tom Richards’s environmental and safety concerns. Was this a necessary action? Did David have other options which would have allowed him to work within Z–Corp for an effective response to his concerns? How do engineers advocate within for-profit corporations for including ethical values into corporate decisions? What do real world corporations do to recognize and respond to dissenting professional opinions held by their employees?
Notes on gilbane gold for fall 2013
Values in gilbane gold handout
This handout for students provides exercises based on Gilbane Gold that introduces the three AACSB business ethics themes: ethical leadership, ethical decision-making, and social responsibility.
Virtues for admi 3405
Clicking on this file are the virtues worked out in the previous module. Use these to carry out the values-based decision making exercise in Gilbane Gold.
Presentation on values based decision making
Working from an analogy between design and ethics problem-solving, this presentation provides values and tests for interdisciplinary problem-solving in business, engineering, and science.
Ethics assessment activity: pre and post test
This is a short pre and post test to examine short term impact of the module.
