Managing Business Ethics: Green Company

Paper instructions:

The following case comes from Managing Business Ethics, by Linda Trevino and Katherine Nelson.

You are a management consultant, who has been asked by Green Company to help design an ethics communication and training program for all Green Company employees. Your meetings to date have been with the head of human resources, and your contract with the company has been negotiated with him. Once the papers have been signed, you begin your research and are quickly stymied by Green’s corporate counsel. He says that you will not be allowed to ask employees about ethical dilemmas that have occurred at Green. He specifically asks that you get your information from other sources, such as press accounts of problems in the industry, or from other organizations with which you have worked. In addition, the head of human resources has told you that you will be unable to meet the three most senior executives, because they are busy negotiating a large acquisition. You will have access to other high-level managers, who can tell you what they think the senior leaders want. You are instructed to write a code of conduct for the company, supported by a mission statement on ethical conduct, and prepare presentations on corporate expectations and values that will be used by the senior leadership when they meet with their employees sometime next month.

Some questions you might want to consider:

– What are the fundamental issues concerning this case?

– Why do you think the corporate counsel has put such stipulations in your way and do you think they are justified?

– Can you think of a way to complete this assignment – regardless of the stipulations?

– What would you do if you were the contractor in this scenario?

Your response should be provided in 2 – 3 pages in APA format.