From A Business Perspective Essays - Business Ethics, Applied Ethics

From A Business Perspective From a business perspective, working under government contracts can be a very lucrative proposition. In general, a stream of orders keep coming in, revenue increases and the company grows in the aggregate. The obvious downfalls to working in this manner is both higher quality expected as well as the extensive research and documentation required for government contracts. If a part fails to perform correctly it can cause minor glitches as well as problems that can carry serious repercussions, such as in the National Semiconductor case. When both the culpable component and company are found, the question arises of how extensive these repercussions should be. Is the company as an entity liable or do you look into individual employees within that company? From an ethical perspective one would have to look at the mitigating factors of both the employees and their superiors along with the role of others in the failure of these components. Next you would have to analyze the final ruling from a corporate perspective and then we must examine the macro issue of corporate responsibility in order to attempt to find a resolution for cases like these. The first mitigating factor involved in the National Semiconductor case is the uncertainty, on the part of the employees, on the duties that they were assigned. It is plausible that during the testing procedure, an employee couldnt distinguish which parts they were to test under government standards and commercial standards. In some cases they might have even been misinformed on the final consumers of the products that they tested. In fact, ignorance on the part of the employees would fully excuse them from any moral responsibility for any damage that may result from their work. Whether it is decided that an employees is fully excused, or is given some moral responsibility, would have to be looked at on an individual basis. The second mitigating factor is the duress or threats that an employee might suffer if they do not follow through with their assignment. After the bogus testing was completed in the National Semiconductor labs, the documentation department also had to falsify documents stating that the parts had surpassed the governmental testing standards. From a legal and ethical standpoint, both the testers and the writers of the reports were merely acting as agents on direct orders from a superior. This was also the case when the plant in Singapore refused to falsify the documents and were later falsified by the employees at the have California plant before being submitted to the approval committees (Velazquez, 53). The writers of the reports were well aware of the situation yet they acted in this manner on the instruction of a supervisor. Acting in an ethical manner becomes a secondary priority in this type of environment. As stated by Alan Reder, . . . if they [the employees] feel they will suffer retribution, if they report a problem, they arent too likely to open their mouths. (113). The workers knew that if the reports were not falsified they would come under questioning and perhaps their employment would go into jeopardy. Although working under these conditions does not fully excuse an employees from moral fault, it does start the divulging process for determining the order of the chain of command of superiors and it helps to narrow down the person or department that issued the original request for the unethical acts. The third mitigating factor is one that perhaps encompasses the majority of the employees in the National Semiconductor case. We have to balance the direct involvement that each employee had with the defective parts. Thus, it has to be made clear that many of the employees did not have a direct duty with the testing departments or with the parts that eventually failed. Even employees, or sub-contractors, that were directly involved with the production were not aware of the incompetence on the part of the testing department. For example, the electrical engineer that designed the defective computer chip could act in good faith that it would be tested to ensure that it did indeed meet the required government endurance tests. Also, for the employees that handled the part after the testing process, they

Spanish Jackass essays

Spanish Jackass essays The first form of government was a monarchy known as the Visogothic Kingdom. The kingdom first started in 587 A.D. and lasted until 712 A.D. One of the rulers of this preriod was King Rodrigo. He was defeated at the battle of Guadalete. The total number of years for the kingdom was 125 years. Muslim Spain was started by the Witiza Family. They caused the down fall of the Visogothic Kingdom. By the middle of the 8th century the muslims had made a strong hold in Spain. They put king Abd al-Rahman in to power. He feld the slaughter of 750 A.D. from Abbasid. Muslim Spain had a flurshing culture with libraies and other educational materials. The new Leader was Caliph Al-Hakam. Then it broke into smaller petty kingdoms known as Taifas. They soon broke up and caused even more petty kingdoms. Next the Christian Reconquest took place in 718. It lasted 774 years from 718 to 1492. During this period many new kingdoms came about such as the Basques. Much of Spain became under control of the reconquest when in 1492. It was completed by Isabel and Fernado by taking Granada. In October of that same year Columbus sailed to the West Indies. In 1469 Isabel and Fernado get married. The Spanish Empire began in 1516 with Isabella I and Ferdinand V that the newly united country began to build an empire. Spanish expansion overseas began for a number of reasons. The monarchs wanted to secure neighboring areas for defense against Muslim raids originating from North Africa, to protect Castile's shipping activities and trade in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The crown went to Charles I of Spain. Who united the two kingdoms of Aragon and Castile under one ruler. In 1556 Charles leaves the throne and leaves it to his two sons. Charles dies two years later. In 1714 Spain loses the war. Philip of Anjou becomes king and Spain loses Belgium Luxemburg Milan Naples Sardini and Minorca. This empire lasted 198 years. In 1588 ...