Susan a design engineer in a major auto company receives two

Susan, a design engineer in a major auto company, receives two reports concerning engine fires and explosions that occurred in hot weather in the company’s popular economy car. At the time of the engine of this model had been approved and released for production, she had advised the plant that she felt the carburetor and gas lines were constructed so that under excessive head conditions there could be a gas leak. Upon receiving the two reports, however, Susan again presses for special testing under excessive head conditions and urges the company to warn the public and immediately recall all of the cars of this model. By this time, however, such a recall probably will cost the company between $500,000 and $1 million, and Susan again is told to mind her own business or she will be fired. In the meantime, four more reports of engine fires come in from a desert area in the southwest. The engineer is now convinced that she is right. What should she do? To what extent does she owe loyalty to the company, where she has worked for 15 years and has been promoted several times, and to what extent is she obligated to let the public know the truth? Because the company is removing the responsibility from Susan’s shoulders, should she do something about what she knows, or should she just drop the problem? Considering that the company may lose up to $1 million, what are its ethical obligations? What do you think of the way it has handled the entire situation?

Solution

To answer the question, we should first know in general the meaning of Ethics and how we can apply Ethics in our day to day life involving people, business, and community and so on. Ethics can be defined as a set of moral principles that distinguish between rights and wrong also it is the guiding philosophy behind every decision that we as a person take. There are two aspects to ethics:

Business Ethics: Business Ethics is the application of ethical behavior by a business or in a business environment. An ethical business not only follows laws and regulations, it also operates honestly, competes fairly, provides a reasonable environment for its employees, and creates partnerships with customers, vendors, and investors. It keeps the best interest of all stakeholders at the forefront of all decisions.

In the context of the case of Susan, the design engineer, it is a pure case of unethical behavior by the company that she is working for. She has enough evidence to prove that it is an operational failure of the company to maintain a safety standard of production procedures which were ignored by company even after serious warning given by the design engineer of the firm at a very initial stage of production. The faulty production process has caused the death of people using the car produced by the company. At the cost of loyalty to the firm, she should not let people die due to the failure of the firm. It is her moral obligation to disclose it to public and save the life of other people.

The Ethical obligation of the firm includes the following:

In the above case, the company has violated the ethical obligations by not communicating to its stakeholders. Regarding the losses to be incurred by the company, saving on those losses are a short term remedy, unethical behavior would cost the firm in the long run.