Part 1

An ethical decision?XYZ, Inc is a small company building trusses employing 50 people in the shop. The 10-year-old company is financially stable, has a healthy market share, and a dedicated workforce. The company has a good safety record with few lost time injuries since the company began. Their workers compensation carrier has not had to pay any claims for over 5 years. The owner takes pride in the order, efficiency, cleanliness, and the safe working conditions of the company.

The company makes safety a top concern. Each year, the company brings in outside consultants from the insurance industry and from OSHA to audit the plant for unsafe conditions. The company corrects any unsafe issues with new equipment, repairs, training, and workflow design. Although the annual audit always finds some issues, the safety of the workers continues to improve.

The attorney representing XYZ is opposed to the annual safety audits. The attorney argues that the audits provide an historical record of unsafe conditions which can be used against the company if there is a lawsuit. The owner recognizes the downside of the audit but believes the annual audits are critical to having a safe workplace for all employees. Managers report that the employees have responded positively to the audits and the fixes.

Is the approach to creating and maintaining a safe work environment used by the XYZ owner and managers ethical? Discuss if and how, the owner applieseach of the 5 Core Ethical Principles.

Part 2

Power and obedience. Watch the Milgram Experiment on obedience. The experiment illustrates that a person who has neither ability nor expertise to make decisions, especially in a crisis, will leave decision making to the leader. Discuss the following:

• What does this tell you about leaders and power?
• How can a leader discourage such obedience?
• How can a leader encourage employees to "speak up" when they think something is wrong to do?

Requirements

• Respond to all parts of each question
• Clearly identify the question you are responding to. State question number as a header before you write the response.