Examples Of Ethical Issues In Erin Brockovich

Ethics is the guiding force in any respectable organization. With a moral compass, especially in the leadership of organization, a company can become compromised and fall into a quagmire of legal issues, a tarnished reputation, and devaluation of company stock if it is a publically traded company. In pursuit of examine my own ethical lens I will analyze the ethical traits of an admired leader, my own traits as exhibited in the Ethical Lens Inventory, and how I make a decision concerning a particular ethical dilemma.

While they acknowledge that they are dumping a chemical into the tap water, they lie to the residents of Hinkley by telling them that it is a different type of chromium, chromium III, that isn’t dangerous. Lying is the simplest and biggest ethical mistake there can be as it is always intentional and causes harm to the other side who believes what is being said. Not only does PG&E lie about the type of chromium being dumped, they also try to cover it up through various methods. First, they have paid the medical expenses of people in the town as a way to show that they are doing their part to help, when really this is a small expense compared with what the ethical dumping of chromium or an alternate form of chemical would consist of. Secondly, they are bribing the people with large amounts of money to buy their homes and the land they are on, which holds the dangerous chromium. Once again this is a cheaper way to hide their issue compared to the cost of having to fix their practice or losing their company. They even try to give out large amounts of money to stop the case when they know that one is being started against them. The people of Hinkley have trouble seeing past this, because of the good that PG&E does for the community overall with jobs and their economy, etc. This is an issue with Utilitarianism ethics. It is hard to see past what is good overall for the most majority of people and realize the negative effects this overall good is having for some people.

By having knowledge of the chromium in the water supply, PG&E should have been required to let the people know that were affected by it. By not telling the citizens, they were withholding information that affected these people’s lives. Because a risk was created, consequences came, and nothing was done to prevent such injuries that did occur, PG&E should have been considered negligent.

This report will examine the Ethical issues of Harvey Weinstein as well as providing an in-depth look into the countless sexual abuse allegations facing Harvey Weinstein and the knock-on effect that it will have on the future of his Company. The report will further identify the ethical issues associated with the Harvey Weinstein case and give an insight as to how this particular case will affect Society as a whole. In addition the report will include recommendations as to how the companies involved can improve or enhance the future of their Organisation.

Ethics, in business, refers to moral principles and standards that define acceptable behavior in the world of business. Ethical decisions foster trust among individuals and in business relationships. Recognizing ethical issues is important in the workplace. An ethical issue is an identifiable problem requiring a person or organization to choose from among several actions that may be evaluated as ethical or unethical. When you’re determining is a situation is ethical or not, there are three factors to take into consideration. Individual factors, organizational factors, and opportunity. Individual factors are sets of principles that describe what a person believes are the right way to behave. Organizational factors include the influence of managers, coworkers, and the work group. Opportunity is a set of conditions that punish unfavorable behavior or reward favorable behavior. “Target thrives on competing to win in the marketplace. We compete and negotiate actively, but always with integrity. Taking advantage of anyone by manipulating or concealing

Erin Brockovich is in a car accident that is not her fault and hires attorney Ed Masry to defend her. He gave her the impression that she would be getting a good settlement, but she lost the case. She is a single mom of three, has no money and is unable to find a job. She blames him for losing the case (due to lack of preparation) and forces her way in to a job at his law firm. Because of the way she dresses and acts, nobody takes her seriously and treats her with respect. She is given a real estate pro-bono file to open involving the purchase of Donna Jensen’s home by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PS&E). As she read through the documentation, she found it confusing that there was medical

The author Robert Solomon argues that ethics has to an integral part with regard to business management. He does not believe that business management must include unethical or illegal methods to be able to succeed. Solomon preaches that business management is not as simple as obtaining revenue. “Businesses need to abide by fair policies and their owners have to be ethical in dealing with their customers” (Shaw p. 37). The author acknowledges that while illegal practices in business management could bring positive results at first, eventually the business is bound to fail. This is why Solomon recommended eight important policies that can help businesses in integrating ethics into their operations.

The movie Erin Brockovich is based on actual events involving a corporate business called Pacific Gas & Electric who knowingly endangering the health of residents and the water supply in the town of Hinkley. Erin is the mother of three children who is out of work. In the midst of her job search she got into an auto accident and was injured. Erin has an ethical and moral responsibility to feed her children so she forces her lawyer Ed Masry to give her a secretarial job after he failed to get her a settlement from the auto accident. Erin has difficulty fitting in at the firm, the other female co-workers do not approve of her attire or her cleavage! The women in the office do not include Erin or help her out when she asks for assistance. Erin stumbles across a case file about real estate which confuses her because it contained medical records. She got curious about the case and asked permission from her boss to work on it. This is the first ethical issue that comes up because she is not a lawyer and should not investigate the case without the proper legal experience.

Ethics and moral obligations are issues we all encounter at one time or another. In the professional setting, all people should act in a manner that would uphold the good of society. To be ethical, one has to determine their obligations, moral ideas, and moral philosophy (Boatright, p. 19, 2009). The case analysis involving Jacob Franklin was a perfect example of how an individual can face the dilemma of doing what is right or wrong. Businesses have their own code of ethics, and the employees within the business have to determine whether or not they will follow the company’s code of conduct. I will discuss several ethical issues in the case analysis including; failure to report information, remaining silent regarding faulty equipment,

This case study analyzes the experiences of Courtland Kelley at General Motors (GM). Courtland Kelley a third generation GM worker put his job on the line by pushing the GM managers and executives to fully respond to the safety issues found while working as a safety inspector at the company. Kelley along with his supervisor Bill McAleer first discovered the issues while auditing GM cars at rail yards across the country, a spot check of vehicles before the cars were cleared to be delivered to the dealers. McAleer was taken off the audit as a result, who subsequently sued the company seeking whistle-blower protection. The case was eventually dismissed by a judge in favor of GM. The judgement only increased Kelley’s

There are many ethical issues in the movie Erin Brockovich. This movie is about a mother of three who uncovers a water poisoning case by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in southern California. Erin has the responsibility to feed and educate her three children and she has a general distrust of people. She begins by forcing her lawyer Ed Masry to give her a secretarial job after he failed to get her a settlement from an auto accident.

Ethics determine what is considered decent and acceptable behavior in society and it is a key aspect of life, whether it is at work, home, or in society. As bizarre as it seems, some things may not be illegal, but can be extremely unethical. Yet in the same sense what is unethical varies by the person. The purpose of this paper is to expound the differences between the three main ethical theories in criminal justice. While elaborating on how an agency can be improved when applying the correct theory to the problem.

Situation involves two correction officers breaking the code of silence, within Corcoran Department of Correction; by exposing unethical and illegal practices of other correction officers within the department. According to Cooper, (2012), ethics is a practice of doing what is right and the behaviors are grounded in logic, values, beliefs and principles and are used to defend morality. In the professional arena ethics examines justice, veracity, and develops a code of conduct for the person to follow.

(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.

It seems like business morals and ethics are being whisked to the side in lieu of the ever growing demand of higher stock prices, rising budget goals and investor profits. Despite the increased regulation of corporations through legislation, such as, Sarbanes-Oxley, some corporations still find themselves struggling to maintain ethics and codes of conduct within the workplace. In reviewing the failings of the Enron Scandal, one can heed the mistakes that both individual and organization malaise, such as, conflicts of interest, lack of true transparency and the sever lack of moral courage from the government, executive board, senior management and others, contributed to the energy giant’s downfall.