Clarifying Your Values - Assignment Example

Clarifying Your Values Clarifying Your Values Reports have indicated that the fuel tank, located in the rear end of the Ford Pinto, exploded as a result of collisions with other vehicles from behind. Such cases were common, but no action had been taken yet. This has resulted in fires, fatalitis and loss of life. These are the facts that I obtained as the recall coordnator for Ford. The vehicle was manufactured by Ford so as to counteract foreign competition in the small car market. The pertinent ethical issue was that Ford should stop production of the Pinto and recall all units that were perceived to be risks to human life.

Ethical conflict arose when important values of the company were to be considered in solving the Pinto fire cases. Ford, as a business, aims to achieve profits in all their activities. Thus, their values of being honest to their customers and ensuring success began to conflict. It would be hard to come up with a cost-benefit decision, which would be advantageuos to both the company and buyers of the Ford Pinto vehicle. The main affected parties were users of the Ford Pinto vehicles. Many of them were grieved with loss of life, yet other emerged unscathed, but still their lives had been at risk.

In many cases, their vehicles were destroyed as a result of the accidents. Moreover, other individulas were also affected by the accidents. This includes grieved families and the parties involved during an accident. The alternative courses of action were not encouraging to the company. This is because the price of the Pinto had to increase as Ford tried to improve the safety of their vehicles. This resulted in loss of market as their competitors, with cheaper vehicles attracted more customers.

The safety incentives would also lead to loss of trunk space within the vehicle, making it less competitive within the market. Moreover, the cost of prodcution would increase as the company has to construct new facilities to be used in improving their vehicles. A company is obligated to ensure that its products and services are safe for use by their consumers. Customer retention should be considered as this is facilitated by doing what is expected by the company (Berg, 2012). In the case of Ford, they did not improve the safety of their Pinto vehicle, risking the likes of its users.

Thus, they have not met their obligations to their customers. I have various community standards that guide me as a person of integrity. Harmony is one of them. It is a basic standard, which ensures that the various members of the community can interact peacefully. It acts as a guide to me as I interact with people around me and ensures a peaceful co-existence. Prior to this class, I would have answered the questions differently. This is because I have become aware of what is expected of a company and that certain ethical behaviors bear precedence over other ethical behaviors.

After this class, my views on ethical behaviour have changed. There are many ethical values and they vary differently among individuals. This can influence the decisions made between two individuals who share different ethical values.ReferenceBerg, R. (2012). The Anonymity Factor in Making Multicultural Teams Work: Virtual and RealTeams. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 404-424.