Sherisse Woodley

Lizelle Brandt
Ethics in Business
April 22, 2014
Assignment 1
Chapter 1 Questions p.25
1. Refer to Figure 1.1 to identify three specific environmental
influences that the organization for which you work (or
institution in which you study) must address to survive and be
competitive. Explain. How do these influences, pressures, and
opportunities affect you, and how ethically do you accomplish
your work and goals?
Economic- With the economy being so bad FIDM tuition keeps getting
higher and higher each year. This makes it hard for students to pay for
college or most of the students are working full time while being a full
time student.
Technological They need to get updated on the technology. Only in
the Graphic design studio do they use Macs. What Ive seen around
campus and my friends, most of us use Macintosh instead of PCs
because they are more reliable and better quality. Another thing I
think is that they should make elearning purely elearning. Most of the
students doing elearning dont have the space to carry 5 or 6 books
around with them. I know for me its a hassle to bring all the books
with me when I travel.
Social Environment FIDM does a pretty good job with social events,
but I think what will make a huge difference is doing social events with
all the four campuses they have in California. It gives the students a
chance to network with people all over California.

2. Identify some benefits of using a shareholder approach in
ethical decision making. How would using a stakeholder
approach help you plan and/or solve an ethical issue in your
working life? Explain.
Identifying and prioritizing issues, threats, or opportunities
Mapping who the stakeholder are

Real-Time Ethical Dilemma p. 27
1. What would you do as the staff associate in this situation?
Why? What are the risks of telling the truth for you? What are
the benefits? Explain.
I would make sure the clients get all the money they were suppose to
for their work, because they earned it and it says it in black and white
in their contract. The risks I will face by telling the truth is the Senior
Auditor putting a bad mark on my evaluation, him resenting me, or
mistreating me in the future.

2. What is the right thing to do in this situation? What is the
difference, if there is one, between the right and smart
thing to do in this situation? Explain.
The right thing to do is give the clients the rest of their royalty check.
The difference is that right is to fix the wrong made in the past with
the royalty checks, but the smart is to listen to the senior auditor.
Chapter 2 Questions p. 75
1. What, if anything, should Mattels CEO have done differently in
this scenario/case to have prevented and/or avoided the
resulting crisis? Explain.
They could of done what the case said on page 40. If the workers in
China were better educated, had strict random auditing, and a
accountable relationship this issue could have been prevented, the
child wouldnt had died, and the hundreds of thousands of toys
wouldnt had been recalled due to lead.

2. Give a recent example of a corporation that had to publicly
manage a crisis. Did the company spokesperson respond
effectively to stakeholder regarding the crisis? What should the
company have done differently in its handling of the crisis?
Mitsubishi sexual harassment case.
It doesnt specifically say, but Im sure they did since they paid the
highest for sexual harassment lawsuit.
I think they shouldnt have been in denial. It took them 2 years to
settle the lawsuit. If they had put hidden surveillance cameras they
could of settled earlier.

http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jun/12/news/mn-59249

3. Argue both the pros and cons of stakeholder theory, using
some of the arguments in the chapter, as well as your own.
What is your evaluation of the usefulness of stakeholder theory
and methods in understanding and analyzing complex issues?
Pros: Provides an analytical method for determining how various
constituencies affect and are affected by business activities, and a
means for assessing the power, legitimacy, and moral responsibility of
managers strategies in terms of how they meet the needs and
obligation of stakeholders.

Cons: weakens the firm and changes the long-term character of the
capitalist system, and negates and weakens fiduciary duties managers
owe to stockholders.
Case 3: Mattel Toy Recalls p.82-83
1. Identify the major stakeholders in the case and answer the
question, Who was responsible for what went wrong and why?
Their retail stores, vendors, manufacturers, and government in the U.S.
and China are their major stockholders both in U.S. and China.
The executive team and Chinese manufacturer were at fault, because
they werent involved in what was happening in the day to day
operations. The Chinese failed both in keeping Mattel in the loop as to
what changed in their daily operations and didnt maintain and follow
the specific rules and regulations both parties agreed upon for vendors
producing the toys.

2. What are the ethical issues in the case, and from whom?
Mattel (senior executives) needed to notify the public about the
issues.
The Chinese Manufacturer should have ensured the specific
standards for third party vendors were maintained.

3. Was there a prodromal phase in this case? If so, identify this
stage and the event(s) that explain it.
Yes. On August 2, 2007, NBCs John Yang reported on the Today
show of a global recall from Fisher Price involving approximately one
million toys. With initial reactions from stunned mothers the report
represented public anxiety over the risk to childrens safety. That recall
would only be the first of three major recalls in that month for Mattel,
the parent company of Fisher Price.