CSRGOVE K33: Journal Entry #4
Mika Adarna September 14, 2015 CSRGOVE K33
(temp)
Today’s activity concerning social ethics involved being divided into groups of 9. Groups 1, 2, and 3 discussed the first case, groups 4 and 5 talked about the second case, groups 6 and 7 talked about the third case, and lastly, groups 8 and 9 talked about the fourth case. The first case was about the company, Enron, manipulating its financial statement in hopes of boosting their chances in getting more investors. However, one vice president, whose name I cannot recall, was concerned about the matter and wanted to solve it through either (1) secretly correcting the financial statement through an auditing firm or (2) exposing the truth to the public. If I were the vice president, I would choose to correct the financial statements so that no dishonor will befall on my co-workers and company and after fixing the problem, I would then talk to the board of trustees of Enron about the issue in hopes that they will enforce proper judgement, reparation, and restitution to involved parties. The second case was about Maiden Mills, a company which manufactures Polartec Fabric which is used for outdoor apparels. In 1995, a fire broke out in the textile mill and destroyed most of it. The owner of Maiden Mills was able to recover some money because of his insurance. With that said, he was given the option to stay in the community or relocate to another one and the owner decided to stay in the community despite there being much higher costs and he gave paychecks to his employees until they could work again. The owner did the ethical thing of choosing the welfare of his employees over the benefits he would gain if he relocated his business. The third case,
We were given different situations per case; I happened to be part of group 8 which took on the fourth case and the situation given was if I were to find an iPod on the floor in a classroom without anyone looking or knowing I just found it, would I keep it, return it, or just leave it? Our group unanimously reached the consensus of returning the iPod to the owner. We further discussed as to why we chose what we did and discovered that it is not because we fear the consequences that we decided to return the lost item but because of our strong sense of honesty and virtue to do what is right. I placed myself in the shoes of the one that lost the iPod and reflected on what would I feel if I had my belonging stolen from me, and I felt horrible; knowing how bad it would make me feel made me resolve that I would never want anyone to experience that kind of terrible feeling.
I am the kind of person that lives by the golden Confucius adage that states “Don't do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you.” I firmly believe that the first step to change is to first change yourself; and by being a righteous and ethical person, I hope to inspire my peers and community to do the same for the better livelihood of everyone.