Week 2 - CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS

Under what conditions may an employee justly --meaning in moral and legal terms—reveal company secrets which ordinarily the employee would be required to protect?

I am assuming you all have seen Tom Cruise in the 1994 film, The Firm. Explain when –if ever—an employee may morally and legally become a whistleblower.

Answer the above esatirical question using the following guidlines:



CRITICAL_THINKING_QUESTIONS

Here are this week’s Critical Thinking Questions (CTQ).

Refer to the assigned readings from the text for this week and to the lecture.

TASK:

1. Post a well crafted response using the text and / the lecture Discussion Statement (DS) for this week.

2. Submit ONE CTQ in a paragraph of about 3-5 well – crafted sentences using the following standard below.

NOTE A well-crafted CTQ response is formed with

a) Topic sentence stating your claim (“Bottom Line”) or your summarized response to the question. Example: “The study of morality in business is unnecessary because no one in business is moral or ethical to begin with.”

b) Reasons from business ethical theory supporting your Topic Sentence.

Example: “Business people are generally selfish which follows from living a life informed by the moral theory of Egoism. In Egoism, the morally right action is the action that rationally promotes one’s long term interests over all other interests.”

c) Supporting evidence or examples from the lecture or text.

Example: “Ford sold the flawed Pinto which could burst into fire in selected conditions The corporation ignored possible harm to consumers because the costs of litigating harm done to a few would be absorbed by the maximization of profits from selling the Pinto worldwide.”

d) Reference to at LEAST one of the following:

1) Traditional moral theory (e.g., Kant, Utilitarianism, Egoism, Virtue Ethics).

2) Business ethical principle from the current lesson, reading, and / or lecture. (e.g., Theory of Negligence, Theory of the Corporation, Affirmative Action).

3) Federal or State legal or regulatory requirements noted in the text.

e) Conclusion statement of your personal learning.

Example: “The Pinto case demonstrates the need for strong consumer protection to control corporate egoism.”

text book is: Ethical Theory and Business 9th Arnold/Beauchamp/ Bowie: ISBN-13 is 978-0-205-16908-5