Luckily for business students a quick check of any business news site will usually provide a variety of ethical issues that can be looked at from multiple angles and make for interesting assignment topics.
For 2014, the following recent topics come to mind.
- Scarlett Johansson's Oxfam/SodaStream Controversy
- Jamie Dimon's (CEO of JP Morgan) 74% Pay Raise
- Payday Loans from the Post Office
- The West Virginia Chemical Spill
Each of these topics are complex and answers don't always easily fit neatly into categories of right and wrong.
- From a PR angle, is it better to represent a well-known charity or have a lucrative endorsement deal? Is the best way to support Palestinians to boycott companies with factories located in West Bank settlements or to promote companies providing good salaries for its Palestinian workers?
- There are lots of issues surrounding executive compensation, such as how much is too much and the growing disparity between the lowest and highest paid workers in many companies, but Mr. Dimon's recent raise comes on the heels of $18.6+ billion in legal fees and other payouts by the company in 2013 prompting renewed questions about justification and it's implication on the impact of changes in banking regulations.
- Just at the proposal stage at this point, one could certainly see this as discouraging people from sticking to a budget although it would certainly have advantages over current options available to those without access to banks. This is certainly a radical rethinking of the type of services that should be provided by government agencies and may pave the way for other innovative partnerships.
- Are current safety and regulatory practices sufficient? Are there any issues surrounding the proximity of the plant to the water treatment facility? What about communications? Should the plant have been required to notify the water facility? Should they have notified them even if not required? What about the role of local government agencies? Financial liabilities?
The examples above are just a small sampling of questions that can be investigated for any of these recent news stories. The idea is to look at a story and think about it at a deeper level. Can you to relate it to, or contrast it with, other similar events or to a broader theme?
What other current events can be examined in an ethical context?
- Edward Snowden
- Microsoft's new CEO's salary
- CVS will no longer sell cigarettes
- The minimum wage
- GM's new female CEO's salary gap compared to her male predecessor
- The Affordable Care Act AKA Obamacare
