Assignment 1- Scaffold Plank Incident Group Analysis Group-7: Gautam Venkataraman- @03021677, Prateek Gupta- @03022070, Swathi Shankar@03020187,

Sri Tulsi- @03021561

1. What are the relevant facts in the case? The relevant facts from the case study are: Bob and Mike were partners at White lumber a company whose chairman was John White the Company was small in size but had retained to be one of banks best account. The 12 inches of snow had resulted in halting the work at the construction site of the company which was still $5000 below break-even point in the month of February and the country was heading for a recession. Quality lumber was one of the best dealer accounts of white lumber. Bob received a call from Stan a lumber buyer at quality lumber of 3*12 dough fir-rough-swan-2 and better graded 16-feet long. Bob quoted a price of $470 per thousand board feet, Bob was quite happy about the deal but as bob got to know the requirements was for scaffold plank, he said that the plank was unavailable, but Stan insisted on buying the planks instead of Scaffold planks which were considered as the most reliable planks. Bob did not want to make the deal because he felt that it would be unethical. John White had to convince Bob to accept the order.

2. What are the ethical issues? The ethical issues from the case study are: White Lumber Company is selling its product to Quality Lumber Company. Bob from the latter Company is selling to Stan from the former Company. Bob sees the requirements and tells Stan that the requirements cannot be met since they dont have scaffold plank. But Stan tells that he wanted more thickness than scaffold plank and that he would sell this to his customers as scaffold plank. If he sells this then the safety for the workers will be less compared to scaffold plank. In the mean time, John White tries to convince Bob to accept the order which Stan had given. White tries to explain Bob about the life of his employees if the company were shut. Hearing this he gets confused. What will Bob do if he has to make sure that the safety of the unknown workers are taken care of? Should John White carry on the business keeping in mind his employees rather than the unknown users as a whole? Will Stan sell the lumber as scaffold plank when it does not give safety to the unknown users? Are Stan and White concerned about unknown users?

3. What are the possible alternatives? The possible alternatives from the case study are: He should take John White and Stan to the police to make sure that they follow ethical practices. From John White point of view he is saving his employees from going poverty, as they might not get job anywhere. If taken this situation to the judiciary, they might be able to provide appropriate jobs for the employees for whom John White cares a lot. If Bob wants to practice ethics, then he should mention in the invoice that it is not certified to be scaffold plank. If this is done, then the safety of the unknown users is secured and nobody will be affected from this. Inspite of John White convincing Bob, if he thinks its unethical then he should probably quit the job and work where he thinks its ethical.

4. What philosophical approach as described in Chapter 2 are you using for these alternatives? The Philosophical Approach used for these alternatives are: Utilitarian Approach: An ethical decision is one that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Quote from the Text). In this case, Bobs point of view is reduced to the other beneficiaries i.e., Bob worries about the unknown users of the plank and John White worries about his employees who will not be able to survive if they are unemployed. Moral Rights Approach: An ethical decision is a decision that best maintains and protects the fundamental rights and privileges of the people affected by it (Quote from the Text). In this case, Bob has to make the decision either to expose the situation or not. If he does expose the situation, then the welfare of the employees will be taken care by the Government once the White Lumber Company is closed. By this the employees are also protected from rights and privileges and decision is also taken considering the values of ethics. Justice Approach: An ethical decision is a decision that distributes benefits and harms among stakeholders in a fair, equitable, or impartial way (Quote from the Text). In this case, a decision made must protect the lives of unknown users and not destroy their lives. It can be said that the profits from this business is being exchanged to the safety of the lives of the unknown users of the plank.