Business Ethics
BAD 2853 Business Ethics
Unit 1 Assignment
Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
Due Date: October 17
Unit 1 assignment consists of seven parts. Each part will provide instructions for locating the required resources that are needed to complete this assignment.
You will be submitting a Microsoft Word document to the Unit 1 Assignment and posting to discussion boards for this assignment. The Unit 1 assignment link is listed in the Week 4 Module, under assignments. All discussion board posts for this assignment must ALSO be included on the Unit 1 Assignment Microsoft WORD document that is submitted.
Part 1- “Whistleblowing”
The President signed the “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act” into law on July 21, 2010. Section 922 of this act establishes a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Whistleblower Program which provides a monetary award (a percentage of the amount collected from the offender by the SEC) to individuals who report federal securities laws violations. In addition, the law protects employees from employer retaliation for “blowing the whistle.” Source: to an external site.). The SEC Office of the Whistleblower website is to an external site.).
Please go to to an external site.)
or Link (Links to an external site.)to locate the “CNBC Whistleblowers: The New Bounty Hunters” video. Watch the video and answer the following questions:
1. How do you feel about the, “greed being used to fight greed,” comment that was made in the video? Explain your answer (4 points).
2. Does the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act alter the textbook’s (Chapter 4) perception of internal versus external whistleblowing (4 points)? Explain your answer.
3. In your opinion, will this new law be an effective method for reporting federal securities laws violations i.e. will we see an increase in reported violations(4 points) ? Explain your answer.
4. In your opinion, do you think we will see an increase in the number of false whistleblowing reports filed? Why or why not(4 points) ?
Question number 1 answer will be posted to the Whistleblowing Discussion Board (3 points)
Part 2- “Sticky Fingers in the Workplace”
Please go to to an external site.)
Watch the video and answer the following questions:
1. Discuss the ethics behind office theft (4 points).
2. Discuss how the individuals in the video behaved unethically (4 points) .
3. Create a statement regarding employee misuse of office supplies, inventory, information and equipment(4 points) .
4. Can you think of any reason (s) from a social or business perspective, where a generous office supplies policy might be “ethical?(4 points) ” Explain your answer.
Question number 3 answer will be posted to the Sticky Fingers Discussion Board. (3 points)
Part 3- “Ethics of Company Perks”
Please go to the following 5 URLs to complete the Part 3 questions:
1.Google perks: The secrets behind America's favorite employer (Links to an external site.)
Watch the video/read the web pages and answer the following questions:
1. What elements would you use to describe the culture at Google (4 points)?
2. The information provided lists reasons why companies have incorporated employee perks. List three costs associated with these types of programs and three benefits associated with these types of programs. How does the company justify such a program (4 points) ?
3. What is your opinion regarding the ethics of Google’s employee perks program? Would you be a happier/more productive employee if your employer offered these types of perks? Explain your answers (4 points).
Question number 3 answer will be posted to the Company Perks Discussion Board. (3 points)
Part 4- “Corporate Culture at Lockheed Martin”
Please go to to an external site.) to view the Ethics section of Lockheed Martin’s website. Please review this web page and click on links to review additional Ethics information. Answer the following questions after reviewing the ethics material available on the website:
1. Do you think the Ethics section of Lockheed Martin’s website is effective as a method of integrating ethical culture? Explain your answer(4 points) .
2. Discuss how effective leadership, ethical leadership and a value-based culture appear to play a role in the corporate culture at Lockheed Martin(4 points) .
3. How could the appearance of an ethics based culture be damaging to an organization(4 points) ?
Question number 3 answer will be posted to the Lockheed Martin Discussion Board.(3 points)
Part 5- “Social Responsibility and Odwalla Juice Company”
Please go to the PDF titled, “Odwalla Juice Company Crisis.” Read the case and answer the following questions:
1. Which steps in the ethical decision making process did Odwalla fail to consider? Explain your answer (4 points).
2. How does Odwalla’s corporate social responsibility model differ from their actions and conduct provided in the case (4 points)?
3. What course of action would have supported Odwalla’s corporate social responsibility model(4 points) ?
Question number 3 answer will be posted to the Odwalla Juice Company Discussion Board. (3 points)
Part 6- Current Events
Please locate a current event relating to ethical and/or unethical behavior and provide the following:
1. A summary of the current event (3 points).
2. How this current event relates to ethical and/or unethical behavior (3 points).
3. Post a two-sentence summary, a two-sentence explanation of ethical/unethical behavior, and the article citation to the Current Events discussion board (3 points).
4. Source information for the current event. You must provide the URL or citation in your WORD document AND upload a copy of the source to the drop box either as another attachment or after your assignment answers. You must upload the source in order to receive a grade for Part 6 (3 points).
Part 7- Posting a Reply (1 reply)
You must reply to at least one discussion board post authored by another student in Parts 1-5 of this assignment. Please state whether you agree or disagree with the post and include your reasons (5 points) .
You do not have to reply to another student’s post for each part (1-5) of the assignment, just pick one part (1-5) and post a reply. The reply cannot be to a post in Part 6 to receive credit for Part 7.
