Posted: June 9th, 2015

Ethics Assignment 3

Assignment 3
1. Task
You work in the Ethics Department for ABC Company (ABC). Your department is dedicated
to advising its employees about their ethical obligations in the corporate setting. All
communications you receive in this capacity are confidential.
Luke, an employee of ABC, comes to you with the following scenario and asks for your advice.
He wants to fully consider the situation. Your task is to advise him on all perspectives on the
situation. Below are the facts that Luke provides to you.
*****
Luke has been asked to work on a project that involves developing land recently purchased by
ABC to build an adult entertainment retail store. According to the plan, the land is located on
the corner of the neighborhood where Owen, Luke’s brother, lives.
Luke knows that as soon as the plans for the store are made public, property values for the
surrounding neighborhood will decrease significantly. ABC plans to publicly announce the
project one month from today.
Luke is concerned about his obligations of confidentiality to his company. However, Luke is
also very close to Owen, who recently told Luke that he received an offer to sell his house at an
“okay” price given the current real estate market. Owen is considering selling but hasn’t made
any final decision yet. He wonders if he might get a better offer a few years from now when
the real estate market improves.
What is the ethical issue, why is this an issue, and what should Luke do about it?
*****
For assignment 3, prepare a memo to the Ethics Department file that considers ONLY the
following two theories that were discussed in class, in the online lecture on ethical reasoning,
and your readings – The Golden Rule and Virtue Ethics.
You may consider any of the resources provided in your text, and online lectures. However, it
is advised that you DO NOT consult the internet. Your papers will be graded based on the
required resources for GENB 4350. Additionally, most of the accidental plagiarism cases have
arisen from students using internet sources and failing to properly cite the work used.
Additionally, there are ethical reasoning steps discussed in your textbook. Keep in mind that
not all of the concepts presented in these steps may be included in this memo (but eventually
may be included in Assignment 4).
Finally, remember that Assignments 2 and 3 are considered “drafts” for Assignment 4, which
will require you to combine your analysis from both prior assignments into one paper.