Legal Cases on Stakeholders - Essay Example

Answer In this case, there are number of stakeholders. Imperial Tyre Sales (ITS) company are the main stakeholders as they import the tyres that are sold in the US market. The Chinese Company, HZH1 Rubbers are also major stakeholders, who exports the tyres to ITS. The American consumers, who buy the tyres, are also important stakeholders as they are directly affected with the quality of the product and may become casualty to using defective and potentially dangerous product which does not conform to the federal regulation standards. National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is a vital stakeholder as government agency who has the duty to see that road transports maintain high standard of transports and transport maintenance that promotes safe transportation. Basically, there are many stakeholders involved along the supply chain from manufactures to the end users as outlined above. Answer 2 The two pillars that have been broken by Imperial Tyres Sales are the trustworthiness and responsibility. The company has abused the trust of its customers who expected goods of high standard that would be safe to use. The notion of trustworthiness posits that when we someone is trusted, he is given a leeway by others because they do not feel the y need contract assurances that the same person will meet his obligations. It involves being honesty, integrity, reliability as well as loyalty. However, these elements of the pillar of trustworthiness have been broken as a result of low quality products that were supplied by HangZhemHai. ITS’s actions have also been against honest communication with the law and federal agency who should have been informed about the inferior quality of the tyres. They have also shown crass disregard for professional integrity by looking for their self interest at the cost of its customers’ safety. The pillar of trustworthiness has been broken by these two as their actions did not put into consideration the people’s safety. On the other hand, the pillar of responsibility has been broken by Hang Zhem Hai Rubbers by not upholding the expected standards of producing quality products that would be safe to be used by the consumers. The pillar of responsibility states that we should be accountable for our actions by always striving to pursue excellence. HZH has not been responsible in its actions for not putting enough gum stripes in its tires. HZH has been extremely indifferent to the fact that their low quality of tyres could be potentially dangerous to the safety of human life. In actual fact it did not value the life and safety of the people. ITS on the other hand was not responsible when it delayed to notify the NHTSA about the defective tires as this put people’s lives at risk. They have been dishonest in their conduct and have violated the trust of their customers. Answer 3 The Imperial Tyre Sales Company should have informed NHTSA about the low quality tyres the moment it received the statements from HZH admitting that they had stopped adding gum strips on the tyres more than a year back. This would ensure its credibility as well as trust among the customers it dealt with by showing responsibility that they valued the people’s lives more than monetary gains from their business. Answer 4 Yes, the company must recall the tyres from the market because gum strips are major safety measures for the tyres. The absence of those strips makes it unsafe for the drivers of the vehicles using these tyres. It would also put the passengers as well as pedestrians’ life at risk as there would be likely more accidents. Answer 5 When Imperial says that Hang Zhem Hai should pay for any recall, they are actually relying on the third step of Ethical Decision model that states that ‘it is ethically right to violate an ethical principle clearly necessary to advance another true ethical principle, which according to the decision maker’s conscience, will produce the greatest balance of good in the long run.’ This model states that it would be noble to violate another principle as long as there would be a benefit for everyone in the long run. In this particular case, ITS should violate one of the principles of their business with HZH and do the correct thing of making them meet the costs of a recall as a way of encouraging them to act responsibly in the future for the benefit of all the stakeholders that would be involved. This model would be likely to give a lasting impression of accountability that would create mutual trust among all stakeholders involved in the longrum. . Answer 6 Imperial got into this debacle primarily because they were concerned with their financial gains and ignored the wider ethical implications of their actions in marketing goods of inferior quality in the first place. They could have easily averted this problem with huge financial repercussions in the event of a recall if they had acted promptly when they were informed about the issue of HZH not adding gum stripes. If they had reported earlier the issue of defective tyres, would have facilitated appropriate measures to be taken which could have prevented the disastrous situation obtaining on the ground. The sense of responsibility is the pillar that could have guided them through this situation. Sense of responsibility towards its various stakeholders is an important part of organizational ethics in that it would give them an obligation to do responsible things that would ensure the safety of the people. The organization must recognize that it has duties towards its stakeholders and must make efforts to meet the various needs of its clients as a way of establishing a mutually trustworthy relationship with its clients. If the company had followed the proper operations expected as stipulated by the pillar of responsibility, it would have made sure that its products and services regularly undergo quality testing so that the various stakeholders would not be exposed to the likely dangerous outcome of using low quality tyres. Basically the pillar of responsibility is concerned with accountability and should have guided them in their operations. Reference Josephson, Michael. (1997). Making Ethical Decisions. 4th Ed. JIE. CA. Read More