Legally, forcing Ford to make costly payments to the families of the victims of its maleficent inaction was good for society as well as for the individuals who were harmed. Companies are less likely to make such criminally negligent risk/benefit calculations when they know the legal system will penalize the organization financially and legally. Only by increasing the hazardous potential of financial loss from acting immorally can the tort system truly protect consumers. Even in utilitarian ethical calculations, forcing Ford to make costly payments to victim's families makes acting as Ford did in the Pinto case 'wrong' even in terms of corporate profitability analysis as the company is potentially harming the profit margins of shareholders as well as unwitting drivers.
Of course, it could be argued that such an ethical rationale is undeniably influenced by the current litigious environment -- few companies would feel, in today's environment that they could operate with impunity, as Ford did in the 1970s. Furthermore, there is an atmosphere of distrust of corporations and corporate managerial decisions in the automotive and financial industry in America today, although the lack of consideration for individual welfare to make a short-term profit was not physically harmful, but economically, in the case of the current economic crisis. Such an environment undoubtedly influences one's ethical distrust of large...
Ethics are "an individual's personal beliefs about whether a behavior, action, or decision is right or wrong" (Griffin, 2010). Is everyone considered a manager? Why, or why not? The traditional functions of management include planning, organizing, staffing, and directing. All of these involve certain ethical considerations which will reflect both the individual's personal beliefs as well as the belief systems of the organization. Ethics is more than a gut instinct or
Ethical Reasoning," Donaldson and Werhane outline the three fundamental theories of ethics: consequentialism, deontology, and human nature ethics. Consequentialism, also known as teological ethics, can be further divided into ethical egoism and utilitarianism. Ethical egoism is based on the theory that to act out of self-interest will ultimately be the most ethical decision. Ethical egoism is rarely supported by philosophers, especially in relation to other ethical reasoning theories such as
Prescriptive Solutions General Motors and Ford have both had their issues with cars being sold with glaring and known safety problems. Ford's issues with the Pinto are legendary (not to mention notorious) while General Motors (GM) is having their own issues right now with the ignitions and steering systems on their vehicles. While the amount of deaths with the Pinto were starkly higher, the GM travails and missteps of today are
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