Sign In
Not register? Register Now!
Pages:
3 pages/≈825 words
Sources:
3 Sources
Style:
APA
Subject:
Management
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 12.96
Topic:

Case Analysis: Ford Pinto Utilitarian Stance

Essay Instructions:

Below are the requirements for the paper. I have attached a paper that I would like to be edited, primarily for plagiarism reasons.
The nature of ethical decision making requires that we understand mistakes made by individuals and organizations in the past and evaluate the ways in which personal values interact with organizational culture to increase the likelihood of unethical decisions. This activity allows you to build your evaluation skills by identifying issues that create environments more likely to fall prey to unethical decision making through policies, procedures, and organizational norms. The 1977 Ford Pinto case is often studied in order to help create a deeper understanding about the dilemmas that not only impact an organization’s public persona, long-term profitability, and consumer safety, but also each employee’s responsibility for the decisions.
Read: Dowie, M. (1977, September/October). Pinto madness.
Then, prepare a case analysis on the topic by locating and researching at least three sources (not including the Dowie article and your text) to discover additional information about the company and its ethical dilemma. Use your text to create a foundation for the ethics theory. This must be a concise evaluation of the case, so provide information on your understanding of the application of theory and personal values.
Develop your case analysis using the five following sections:
Section 1: Introduction and situational analysis: Describe the ethical dilemma, giving appropriate background information. The term “dilemma” implies that there are pros and cons to various options, even if some are clearly more socially acceptable than others. This is also where you do your situational analysis – identifying factors related to the individual(s) involved (consider the readings from this module), company and managerial practices and policies, external factors such as economic pressure, and any other aspects of the situation that you believe helped create the dilemma.
Section 2: Stakeholder analysis: Identify the key stakeholders and how they are potentially impacted by the various options inherent in the dilemma.
Section 3: Analysis based on ethical theories: Analyze the ethical dilemma from the perspective of cultural relativism (how it relates to cultural norms – what society would view as acceptable, as well as what is legal), teleology (looking at consequences and acting for the greater good), deontology (duties and principles), and virtue.
Note that the stakeholder analysis is particularly pertinent to the consequentialist approach, and that one of the challenges is estimating the positive and negative impacts on relevant stakeholders. Do the best you can, looking at both good and bad consequences for each stakeholder group. Ensure that you summarize the overall situation and come to a conclusion about the greater good.
Section 4: Conclusion and recommendations. Up to now, you have been analyzing and comparing options. Here is where you pull together the different threads of your analysis and determine whether or not the company did the right thing. Also, make recommendations about what the company should have done. Ensure that your justifications clearly flow from your analysis. Make managerial and policy recommendations that would help avoid similar ethical dilemmas in the future and provide guidance to help those facing a similar dilemma.
Section 5: References. List at least three sources (in addition to the Dowie article and your text) where you located additional information about the company and the associated ethical dilemma(s).
General guidance: Include a title page, and label the five sections. Your analysis should be 2-3 pages in length, not including the title and reference pages. All citations should be in APA 6th edition format. Double space your paper, use Times New Roman, 12-point font, with one inch margins.

Essay Sample Content Preview:
Case Analysis: Ford Pinto Utilitarian Stance By Thomas Hardin Excelsior College Section 1: Introduction and Situational Analysis Using mid-size compact cars, international automobile industries had invaded the United States market threatening Ford’s revenues. As a strategic plan back in 1970, Ford quickly mass produced their own version of mid-size compact cars, famously known as Ford Pinto, as a means to compete with other international automobile manufacturers. Though Ford Pinto was not a complete project, Ford had wanted to immediately start with the planning and production for the sake of increasing sales as soon as possible. Rushed vehicular production had been tremendously crushing for both profit and manufacturing aspects of Ford due to automobile parts were manufactured hastily before a thorough inspection was made, thus leading to safety concerns on faulty fuel tanks which burst upon contact with the car’s rear. When Ford was able to reveal that their cars had manufacturing defects; there were already too many cases before having the opportunity to do so (Dowie, 1977). Ford then had various options to reduce the chances of having their fuel tank from rupturin but decided not to use them due to the additional costs and additio to the weight since they opted to stick with having Ford Pinto not weighing more than 2000 pounds nor costing $2000. Ford generally assumed that the looks of the car would sell more than its safety. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration made an analysis on the cost of vehicular safety modification and the cost of one’s own life. The result was astonising wherein the cost for safety modification in a Ford Pinto was more than a person’s life back then. Section 2: Stakeholder analysis Ford Pinto was the car Ford used in competing with different automobile producing companies since smaller and cheaper vehicles were the trend back then. Due to rapid mass production, Ford had increased in profit and sales; however, the crisis had affected employees, consumers, and first respondents to vehicular accidents involving Ford products. In Ford’s initiative to create profit instead of safety for the general public, they believed they gave the public what they want through Ford Pinto as a cheap alternative yet inferior to a slightly more expensive and safe product. Section 3: Analysis based on ethical theories The “greatest good for the greatest number”, Ford based their revenues on the teleological theory (Close, Meier, 1995). The basis of their decision was purely financial. Ford had completely overlooked the unsafe fuel tank over the safety of their customers. There was moral and ethical dilemma from different perspectives since Ford prioritized profit overall. There was conflict between cultural perspectives. Common logic states that a moral person would not inflict harm to another for money. What Ford did was unethical and punishable by law; however, the type of crime they had was overlooked (“white colo...
Updated on
Get the Whole Paper!
Not exactly what you need?
Do you need a custom essay? Order right now:

You Might Also Like Other Topics Related to ethical dilemma:

HIRE A WRITER FROM $11.95 / PAGE
ORDER WITH 15% DISCOUNT!