Widgets Ethics

Words: 550
Pages: 3

The President of Acme decided to go ahead with the plan proposed by the VP which involves marketing bypass valves for widgets as an alternative to marketing expensive superior quality widgets that would meet the strict government standards. This alternative to save money and costs in making widgets is not only cheaper but also fraudulent as it does not actually meet the strict standards and has triggering software to trick the government regulators in believing that their products meet the standards. The act by the president and her team is both illegal and unethical. Firstly, the president and his team have committed a tort of deceit by making false statements about the widgets and supporting it by fraudulent techniques with the intention …show more content…
However, these actions also raise questions about their ethicality which should be evaluated by analysing her situation and alternatives. As mentioned earlier, the primary reason to engage in some of these activities was to preserve her employment position. On the other hand, preventing layoffs of current workers due to the company’s low operating profits could have encouraged her behaviour. These workers are considered highly skilled and hard-working who bear responsibilities of running their households through the income from Acme. Therefore, it would not seem fair or ethical to lay off these workers for something that is beyond their control. Although, all of the president’s actions are not illegal but they are definitely unethical as they portray the president and company of having a poor character or virtue. By creating an atmosphere that emphasizes only on achieving its goals at any cost and extending this to a limit of adapting to fraudulent techniques, one can determine about the selfish culture pertaining in the company that places honesty at the bottom of its core values. Threatening lawyers and firing an employee for disclosing the truth about their widgets are other examples that support the arguments against their poor character and