Ethics In Business Essays (2173 words) - Business Ethics

Ethics In Business From a business perspective, working under government contracts can be a very lucrative proposition. In general, a stream of orders keep coming in, revenue increases and the company grows in the aggregate. The obvious downfalls to working in this manner is both higher quality expected as well as the extensive research and documentation required for government contracts. If a part fails to perform correctly it can cause minor glitches as well as problems that can carry serious repercussions, such as in the National Semiconductor case. When both the culpable component and company are found, the question arises of how extensive these repercussions should be. Is the company as an entity liable or do you look into individual employees within that company? From an ethical perspective one would have to look at the mitigating factors of both the employees and their superiors along with the role of others in the failure of these components. Next you would have to analyze the final ruling from a corporate perspective and then we must examine the macro issue of corporate responsibility in order to attempt to find a resolution for cases like these. The first mitigating factor involved in the National Semiconductor case is the uncertainty, on the part of the employees, on the duties that they were assigned. It is plausible that during the testing procedure, an employee couldnt distinguish which parts they were to test under government standards and commercial standards. In some cases they might have even been misinformed on the final consumers of the products that they tested. In fact, ignorance on the part of the employees would fully excuse them from any moral responsibility for any damage that may result from their work. Whether it is decided that an employees is fully excused, or is given some moral responsibility, would have to be looked at on an individual basis. The second mitigating factor is the duress or threats that an employee might suffer if they do not follow through with their assignment. After the bogus testing was completed in the National Semiconductor labs, the documentation department also had to falsify documents stating that the parts had surpassed the governmental testing standards. From a legal and ethical standpoint, both the testers and the writers of the reports were merely acting as agents on direct orders from a superior. This was also the case when the plant in Singapore refused to falsify the documents and were later falsified by the employees at the have California plant before being submitted to the approval committees (Velazquez, 53). The writers of the reports were well aware of the situation yet they acted in this manner on the instruction of a supervisor. Acting in an ethical manner becomes a secondary priority in this type of environment. As stated by Alan Reder, . .. if they [the employees] feel they will suffer retribution, if they report a problem, they arent too likely to open their mouths. (113). The workers knew that if the reports were not falsified they would come under questioning and perhaps their employment would go into jeopardy. Although working under these conditions does not fully excuse an employees from moral fault, it does start the divulging process for determining the order of the chain of command of superiors and it helps to narrow down the person or department that issued the original request for the unethical acts. The third mitigating factor is one that perhaps encompasses the majority of the employees in the National Semiconductor case. We have to balance the direct involvement that each employee had with the defective parts. Thus, it has to be made clear that many of the employees did not have a direct duty with the testing departments or with the parts that eventually failed. Even employees, or sub-contractors, that were directly involved with the production were not aware of the incompetence on the part of the testing department. For example, the electrical engineer that designed the defective computer chip could act in good faith that it would be tested to ensure that it did indeed meet the required government endurance tests. Also, for the employees that handled the part after the testing process, they were dealing with what they believed to be a component that met every governmental standard. If it was not tested properly, and did eventually fail, isnt the testing department more morally responsible than the designer or the assembly line worker that was in charge of installing the chip? Plus, in large corporations there may be several testing departments and is

Essay on Food Chain and Trophic Level

Essay on Food Chain and Trophic Level Essay on Food Chain and Trophic Level Bio I Name KEY Unit 7: Ecology 3.1 What Is Ecology? Studying Our Living Planet 1. What is ecology? It is the scientific study of interactions among organisms and between organism and their environment. 2. What does the biosphere contain? It contains all the organisms and physical environments of the Earth. 3. How are human economics and ecology linked? Economics has to do with human â€Å"houses† and interactions based on money and trade. Ecological interactions have to do with nature’s â€Å"houses† and are based on energy and nutrients. Humans depend on ecological processes to provide nutrients that can be bought or traded. 4. Label each level of organization on the diagram. biosphere biome ecosystem population individual/species community 5. Explain the relationship between ecosystems and biomes. An ecosystem describes all of the organisms that live in a place , together with their physical environment. A group of ecosystems that share similar climates and organisms is considered a biome. Bio I Unit 7: Ecology 6. Use the terms in the box to fill in the Venn diagram. List parts of the environment that consist of biotic factors, abiotic factors, and some components that are a mixture of both. air animals bacteria heat mushrooms plants Both Biotic Factors Abiotic Factors precipitation soil sunlight animals, plants, mushrooms, bacteria soil sunlight, heat, precipitation, air 3.2 Energy, Producers, and Consumers Primary Producers 7. What do autotrophs do during photosynthesis? They use light energy to power chemical reactions that convert carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and energy rich carbohydrates such as sugars and starch. 8. What do autotrophs do during chemosynthesis? They use chemical energy to produce energy rich carbohydrates. Consumers 9. Complete the table about types of heterotrophs. Types of Heterotrophs Type Herbivore Carnivore Omnivore Detritivore Decomposer Scavenger Definition Heterotroph that obtains energy by eating only plants Heterotroph that eats animals Heterotroph that obtains eats both plants & animals Heterotroph that feeds on detritus Heterotroph that breaks down organic matter Heterotroph that consumes the carcasses of dead animals but does not typically kill them itself Examples cows, rabbits snakes, dogs, owls humans, bears, pigs mites, earthworms, snails, crabs bacteria, fungi vulture, hyena Bio I Unit 7: Ecology 10. What is a consumer? A consumer is any organism that relies on other organisms for energy and nutrients 3.3 Energy Flow in Ecosystems Food Chains and Food Webs 11. Complete the table about feeding relationships. Feeding Relationships Relationship Food Chain Food Web Description A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten A network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relationships among the various organisms in an ecosystem Use the food chain to answer Questions 2–4. 12. Explain how energy flows through a food chain. Phytoplankton are photosynthetic organisms. They use energy from the sun to create carbohydrates. The zooplankton eats the phytoplankton to obtain energy. The small fish eat the zooplankton. The squid eats the small fish. The shark eats the squid. 13. What would happen to a food chain if a disturbance caused a serious decline in the population of a high level consumer? If the shark numbers declined, there would be no natural predators to control the number of squids. Therefore