George is a recent MBA who just joined a manufacturing firm George is a recent MBA who just joined a manufacturing
firms Cedar Valley plant as its only cost accountant Cedar Valley is a town of
20,000 people, and the plant is one of several owned by the firm Georges
boss, Arthur, tells him that management wants to automate this particular plant
with robots as a pilot project, to help judge whether the other plants should
be automated Arthur admits that the community will be in an uproar due to the
loss of jobs However, the firm can save some of the jobs through retraining
Once George releases accounting information showing that the upgrade is
necessary, the community will be less likely to resist

George points out that the report he sent to headquarters
last year found that automation would not benefit the plant But Arthur
responds that the report was based on cost assumptions and that these can be
adjusted as necessary to make the bottom line come out differently After all,
market prices fluctuate, and there is no solid proof that one cost estimate is
better than another

How would you deal with this situation?

What factors would you consider?

Is any of our reading helpful in analyzing the issues?

How, if at all, do virtue ethics bear on this case?

Are there other ethical approaches that might be helpful?