Case Study: Something's Rotten In Hondo

767 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social responsibility of a business organization

Something’s Rotten in Hondo Key Points Considered from the Case: • George Mackee and his family moved to Hondo, Texas and was now the manager of Ardnak Plastics plant, a small plant that manufactured plastic parts for small equipment (Buchholtz, Carroll 600). • George Mackee had a good relationship with his boss Bill, who was located in Austin, Texas (Buchholtz, Carroll 600). • The smokestack emissions at George’s plant were always above EPA guidelines and because of this George received a phone call from the EPA stating that fines were going to be levied (600). • Once George informed Bill about the problem and fines, Bill told George that the headquarters were not going to invest in new smokestack scrubbers and that he would have to come …show more content…

Concepts/Ethical Ideas Used to Analyze the Case: • Moral suasion is a government tool. It refers to the attempts made by the government or a government to persuade a business to act in the public interest by taking or not taking a particular course of action (Buchholtz, Carroll 338). • Negative externalities is the result of when the manufacture or use of a product give rise to unplanned or unintended side effects on third parties i.e. air pollution, improper disposal of toxic waste, water pollution (Buchholtz, Carroll 340). Conclusion (answers to the questions in the text): 1. The stakeholders in this situation is the manager George and his family, Bill, the consumers/ civilians of Hondo, and the employees. George’s stake would be that he would have to relocate himself and his family once again but this time it would be out of the country. Bill is the boss which makes him a stakeholder also and fines that were being implemented on Ardnak are his responsibility too as well as following EPA guidelines in Texas. The consumers/ civilians are at stake because if Ardnak relocated to Mexico, the economy of the city Hondo would be devastated and would still be impacted by the air contaminants that could travel 15 miles from Mexico back to Hondo, Texas. And lastly the employees are at stake because they would lose their jobs. If Ardnak …show more content…

The social responsibility that Ardnak Plastics Inc. have to Hondo, Texas is to ensure that they are not causing harmful chemicals to be in the air, water ext. that can lead to serious illnesses to the people of Hondo. It is their responsibility that they are administering EPA guidelines rather than trying to avoid them. It is the people of Hondo who have been keeping Ardnak in business and it is up to them as a business to ensure that they are not polluting the environment and contributing to air contamination. 3. The ethical issues in this case include should Ardnak continue to stay in Hondo and continue to contaminate the city without paying fines, or should they relocate to Mexico and continue to contaminate the city of Hondo as well as the city in Mexico. Some key concepts that relate to these ethical issues are social costs and negative externalities. 4. George should implement a new strategy for Ardnak Plastics Inc. so that they do not consistently go over EPA guidelines, and should speak with headquarters so that they could invest in new smokestack scrubbers. Over all relocating will not solve the problem but would only make matters worse. George and Bill should pay the fines that have already been levied and find ways that would allow them to continue with their emissions but under the correct

Show More
Related

  • Company Analysis: The Helena Chemical Company

    1922 Words  | 4 Pages

    The amount of air and water pollution Helena Chemical had cost the disadvantaged and vulnerable population of Mesquite, and the way the company has handled its practices are unethical. Rawl's theory of justice also proves Helena Chemical has made many unethical and unfair decisions in regard to the vulnerable residents of Mesquite, NM.

    Read More

  • BP Oil Spill

    966 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ethical issues in this case are the impact on tourism industry of Gulf of Mexico and its beaches, unemployment around area because of closure of business, wildlife and the environment destruction and concerned with human health and post incident trauma. It has been almost year but world is still recovering from the devastation of disastrous oil spill. It destroyed the environment and wildlife all over the place and its total impact is still unknown. Environmental impacts may be noticeable for years to come.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Pollution in Utah

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first think that I see when I walk outside everyday is the layer of haze that looms across the Wasatch Front. It doesn’t surprise me that The American Lung Association gave Salt Lake City an F, on our “State of the Air” report card. (American Lung Association,2013).What companies are the biggest contributor to our pollution? Should our children suffer the consequences of pollution? There are many causes and effects of pollution along the Wasatch Front, which includes large industrial companies, commercial companies and household pollution.

    Read More

  • Comparing Three Ethical Paradigms

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    This specific situation can analyzed to any extent that it allows. Theories and ethics can be applied to any problem but it goes to show that one must apply them carefully and orderly.

    Read More

  • Discussing the Issue of Smoking in Cars

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    An externality is when the production or consumption of a good or service affects a third party, negatively or positively. There are two types of externalities: negative and positive externalities.

    Read More

  • Louisana Clean Air Act

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    For this research paper, I chose to discuss the Louisiana air quality and its effects on the community. I was raised here in Baker, Louisiana which is north of Baton Rouge. Growing up I noticed something very striking and odd. We are overly exposed to chemical plants and their outputs. Driving around Baton Rouge at night and seeing a distant flame I often wonder what it really was. I wonder how this was affecting the community. How was this affecting our health? Upon doing research, I discovered it is called upset emissions. Upset emissions are unplanned events which release VOCs into the air. The Bucket Brigade which is an anti-energy group refers to emissions as accidents. Every year they release an annual report which gives information on the State of Louisiana air quality. A group called Energize LA made a rebuttal against the report. They argued that the Bucket Brigade facts were inaccurate. The views of both will be explained in detail. For this research paper, there will be a discussion on the upset emission effects on communities and health. As well how it correlates to the previous class discussions on the Clean Air Act.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Fenceline: A Company Town Divided

    1708 Words  | 4 Pages

    They try to prove that the emission of chemicals from the Shell company are actually hazardous and are released at unsafe concentrations. With respect to the Ecological Model of health, the focus here is the relationship between the citizens and their environment, so any change in the environment can affect the health of citizens (Drummer. 2008). Another focus is the location relative to the Shell company that is an issue. The residents of this town are faced with health problems due to the location of the Shell company, which enforces that Health Geography is a big influence here (Drummer. 2003). Citizens within the Diamond community report increasing rates of asthma in children, along with machines in their house to help prevent/cope with allergies. The location plays a major role as to why these negative health effects are occurring since the chemical plant is emitting these chemicals nearby. When the air was tested, multiple chemicals were found but one that stood out was Benzene which is known to have cancer causing effects (WHO. 2018). Even with this knowledge, the Shell company continued to claim that the living conditions within this city were adequate (Grunberg.

    Read More

  • Obstacles To Pollution Prevention

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    The problem with pollution prevention is that it requires people to understand more than the intimate details of the production process; they must also understand the technical possibilities. Many corporations have environmental managers, which are generally responsible for helping corporations comply with the law. According to the case study, the work of environmental managers often expose them to many pollution prevention solutions, but they often have trouble getting access to production areas. Production often sees Environmental Managers as "the compliance police".

    Read More

  • Pittston Coal Company: Tort Law

    1251 Words  | 3 Pages

    Arnold & Porter chose to sue Pittston rather than the Buffalo Mining Company because the value of the corporation allowed for adequate compensation to the victims. Author and head lawyer for the plaintiffs, Gerald M. Stern, writes that the original goal was sue to sue for $21 million for the disaster to have a material effect on the cooperation (51). To avoid responsibility Pittston attempted to prove that the Buffalo Mining Company was an independent corporation with its own board of directors. The lawyers for the plaintiffs disproved this claim by arguing the Buffalo Mining Company never held formal meetings of the board of directors and was not independent of the parent company. During this case Pittston’s Oil division had applied to build an oil refinery in Maine. The ...

    Read More

  • Arguments Against Environmental Racism

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    For example experts argued that the siting of landfills in Warren County made no scientific sense. This explains that the pollution sources are purposely placed in the vicinity of minorities despite the knowledge of the fact that it will the residents drinking water. Also, as shown in the article, “Environmental justice: Income, Race, and Health, “... Asthma prevalence in the U.S in significantly higher in minority and low-income populations than in the general population. Unequal exposure to environmental factors that triggers or exacerbate asthma may play a role.” This shows how the government places hazardous companies in minority dominant communities, which exposes them to toxic hazardous and unsafe conditions. This demonstrates how environmental racism is marked by contamination from different sources of

    Read More

  • The Four Ethical Lenses and The 4+1 Decision Process

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    The method of ethical decision making which was developed by Dr. Cathryn A. Baird presented two components contained in all ethical decisions which are; The Four ethical Lenses and the 4+1 Decision process. The Four Ethical Lenses issue claims that different ethical theories and the means in which we tend to approach the situations which form part of our ethical traditions are looked at in four different perspectives. From each perspective there are different values on which to decide whether the action taken is either ethical or not and each lens also lays emphasis on determining whether the decision made is of ethical requirement. In the 4+1 Decision Process, people who are responsible for making final decisions in an organization do it using four specific decision making steps and eventually will end up with one extra decision which gives a chance to reflect. The 4+1 decision process allows the decision makers to give solutions when faced with complicated ethical issues (John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, 2000).

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Safety In Unsafe At Any Speed By Ralph Nader

    1879 Words  | 4 Pages

    In L.A. alone there were 2,700,00 automobiles that were burning 5 ½ million gallons of gasoline and a combine 8,000 tons of contaminants. The automobile companies may not have thought their cars were causing all this damage not only to the city of L.A and to the whole entire country but the APCD (Air Pollution Control District)

    Read More

  • The Case Study Concerning Joelle

    1080 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... the pollution, it can be concluded that total external population has the most number of population that will benefit from the decision. Generally, the position that Joelle must take is to mention the illegal dumping modus operandi of her company.

    Read More

  • Case Study Analysis: Government Firefighter Training Facility

    816 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...he firm foresaw the significant probability of harm to firefighters using the training facility and acted to communicate the discovered risks to the government organization awarding them the contract. Communication was essential in persuading the government to address the safety issues because the site met the requirements set forth by law, reducing the perception of risk, and the design choice of replacing jet fuel with liquid propane created the unintended consequence of an increased risk that otherwise may have gone unnoticed if not for the actions of Giffels’ consulting firm. Giffels’ strategy to remain persistent in refusing to complete the contract and highlighting the significant risk his firm discovered proved successful when dealing with a client that at first appeared to have taken a minimalist approach by staying with the minimum requirements of the law.

    Read More

  • Positive Externalities In Health Care

    715 Words  | 2 Pages

    Externalities are considered to be any impact on people who are not involved in an economic transaction. Externalities can be positive or negative. In the healthcare industry, there are positive and negative externalities due to the care that’s provided to other people. The people who are not directly involved in the treatment benefit from others being healthy because it decreases the chance of them catching the same illness. This is one of the many positive externalities that exist from others receiving health care services.

    Read More

More about Case Study: Something's Rotten In Hondo

Open Document