One of your reading assignments in Unit 1 was Chapter 1 of the course textbook. That included a “five-step ethical decision-making process” which is listed below. You might consider re-reading that section to refamiliarize yourself with the process.
- Develop a problem statement
- Identify alternatives
- Choose alternative
- Implement decision
- Evaluate results
To the extent possible, use the five-step ethical decision-making process to analyze the below scenarios. Recommend a course of action in a 2-page MS Word document. Use one page per scenario.
Scenario 1:
You run a small bakery and are shocked when friends tell you about several negative reviews of your bakery on Yelp. After reading the reviews, you have a very strong suspicion that they were all written by a neighbor with whom you have had several disagreements over the past year. The next day, you see this neighbor on the street in front of your house. What do you do and why? What are the underlying ethical and/or legal issues?
Scenario 2:
A college friend of yours approaches you about an idea to start an online reputation-management firm. One tactic the firm would use is to threaten those posting negative reviews and comments about your clients with a libel lawsuit unless they remove their posting. Should that fail, your firm would generate dozens of positive postings to outweigh the negative posting. What would you say to your friend about their idea? What are the underlying ethical and/or legal issues?