The Problem: The Case of the Sick Building This week you received a memo from one of the members of the Human Resources Department. He suspects the aging building which houses your division is filled with mildew and other agents which cause respiratory distress. These agents are circulated throughout the building and will cause more and more illnesses to occur. He recommends that this problem be quickly remedied. While you sympathize with him, the changes hes suggesting will have to come from the money the company was holding in reserve for the next product launch. The company owns the building and the current market value is $2 million. While you have insurance, you also have a $250,000 deductible. Thus, to cure the alleged Sick Building Syndrome you will have to spend $250,000 and the balance of the expense will come from insurance. If you do not fix the problem, it will continue to worsen. Further, the Human Resources team has forwarded the following memo to you:

To: Human Resources From: Marcus Keller RE: Illness This memo is to inform the members of the Executive Committee that I will be taking an extended leave of absence due to my acute respiratory problems. My doctor informs me that the symptoms and severity of the problems are likely due to "Sick Building Syndrome." Marcus Keller

Currently, three people are sick. While the health care policy you provide for employees covers the expenses associated with the illness, your insurance premium is tied to the use of the policy. Thus, if people continue getting ill with a long term illness, the cost of insurance will increase. Please complete each section of this worksheet. Some people find that writing the answers out on another page and then "cutting and pasting" them into the worksheet lets you think through the problem better. If you only have time to do part of this worksheet, click the "save work" button at the bottom of this page. At any later time, you can then return to this worksheet and continue.

Be Attentive: Set the Context

1. Ethical Actor

The first step is to identify the ethical actor. In a sentence identify the ethical actor for this problem.

2. Stakeholders

The next step is to identify the stakeholders. List the other stakeholders for this problem.

3. Assumptions

In two or three bullet points, identify any assumptions you are making about the problem.

Be Intelligent: Identify the Issue and the Values in Tension

1. Issue

In one sentence, identify the issue for this problem.

2. Values in Tension

In three or four bullet points, identify the values in tension.

Be Reasonable: Explore the Options

1. Influence Factor In this first step, list the stakeholder groups that will be influenced by the decision. For each group, note the number of stakeholders in the group. Also note the impact that any decision will have on each group. The impact is expressed on a scale from 1 to 10. Note that the sum of all impact numbers should add up to 10, and each impact number must be greater than zero. PLEASE NOTE: At least 3 stakeholders must always be defined for the ethical dilemmas. To add a stakeholder group, click the "+" button. To delete a stakeholder group, click the "" button next to the row containing the group you wish to delete. Note that these actions affect all tables on this worksheet.

Stakeholder	Number in Group	Impact (1-10)	Influence Factor
		012345678910
		012345678910
		012345678910

		10 Remaining

2. Criteria for Happiness

In this next step, list the criteria for happiness associated with the stakeholders and the issue at hand.

Stakeholder	Criteria
na
na
na

3. Units of Happiness

After brainstorming with the leadership team, you have identified four options: Spend the money on the repairs to the building.

Set aside required money to handle the increased premiums due to the illness of employees.

Do nothing and handle those who become ill through the existing health care and short term leave policies.

Buy a new building and sell the other building for the value of the land.

Choose three out of the four options to analyze. For each option, calculate the units of happiness (utils) for each stakeholder group. Utils are measured on a scale of 1 to 10.

Select Option... Happiness Utils for Option 1 Happiness Utils for Option 2 Happiness Utils for Option 3 Happiness Utils for Option 4

Stakeholder	Utils	Rationale
na	0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
na	0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
na	0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4. Greatest Good

Once you have completed your analysis of this ethical dilemma by means of the tables above, it is possible to determine the total weighted units of happiness. In this final step, you can see which option truly does produce the greatest good for the greatest number.

Be Responsible

1. Choose an Option Select one option to implement within your Division:

Spend the money on the repairs to the building.

Set aside required money to handle the increased premiums due to the illness of employees.

Do nothing and handle those who become ill through the existing health care and short term leave policies.

Buy a new building and sell the other building for the value of the land.

2. Explain Your Decision

Using the guidelines for how to write a memo, write a memo to be shared with the rest of the leadership team which explains your decision.

When you have completed all sections of this worksheet, please click the "continue" button below. This action will save your answers and advance you to the next worksheet in this assignment. If you wish to save your current work and then return to this worksheet at a later time, click the "save work" button below. Please note that this action will truncate any response that exceeds the 8,000 character limit.