work in the Ethics Department for ABC Company
Assignment 4
work in" rel="nofollow">in the Ethics Department for ABC Company (ABC). Your department is dedicated
to advisin" rel="nofollow">ing its employees about their ethical obligations in" rel="nofollow">in the corporate settin" rel="nofollow">ing. All
communications you receive in" rel="nofollow">in this capacity are confidential.
Luke, an employee of ABC, comes to you with the followin" rel="nofollow">ing scenario and asks for your advice.
He wants to fully consider the situation. Your task is to advise him on all perspectives on the
situation. Below are the facts that Luke provides to you.
*****
Luke has been asked to work on a project that in" rel="nofollow">involves developin" rel="nofollow">ing land recently purchased by
ABC to build an adult entertain" rel="nofollow">inment retail store. Accordin" rel="nofollow">ing to the plan, the land is located on
the corner of the neighborhood where Owen, Luke’s brother, lives.
Luke knows that as soon as the plans for the store are made public, property values for the
surroundin" rel="nofollow">ing neighborhood will decrease significantly. ABC plans to publicly announce the
project one month from today.
Luke is concerned about his obligations of confidentiality to his company. However, Luke is
also very close to Owen, who recently told Luke that he received an offer to sell his house at an
“okay” price given the current real estate market. Owen is considerin" rel="nofollow">ing sellin" rel="nofollow">ing but hasn’t made
any fin" rel="nofollow">inal decision yet. He wonders if he might get a better offer a few years from now when
the real estate market improves.
What is the ethical issue, why is this an issue, and what should Luke do about it?
*****
For assignment 4, prepare a memo to the Ethics Department file that considers the followin" rel="nofollow">ing
four theories that were discussed in" rel="nofollow">in class, in" rel="nofollow">in the onlin" rel="nofollow">ine lecture on ethical reasonin" rel="nofollow">ing, and your
readin" rel="nofollow">ings – Utilitarianism, Universal Ethics (i.e., Kant’s categorical imperative), The Golden
Rule and Virtue Ethics.
You may consider any of the resources provided in" rel="nofollow">in your text, and onlin" rel="nofollow">ine lectures. However, it
is advised that you DO NOT consult the in" rel="nofollow">internet. Your papers will be graded based on the
required resources for GENB 4350. Additionally, most of the accidental plagiarism cases have
arisen from students usin" rel="nofollow">ing in" rel="nofollow">internet sources and failin" rel="nofollow">ing to properly cite the work used.
Fin" rel="nofollow">inally, remember that Assignments 2 and 3 are considered “drafts” for Assignment 4. So you
will combin" rel="nofollow">ine your writin" rel="nofollow">ings in" rel="nofollow">in Assignments 2 and 3 to create Assignment 4.