Ethics Game

Ethics Game Simulation

The ethics game situation presented a fictitious scenrario in which I was the Quality Control Manager or QCM for a manufacturing company. As the Quality Control Manager I have specific responsibilities for ensuring high quality, profitable manufacturing of products. Those responsibilities extend into the necessity of protecting stakeholders. As I approached my morning I found that there were a number of variables contributing to this rather complex conundrum. For example, We had just received an award for our due diligence in the areas of Quality Control, our Bonus plan was re-structured to incentivise leadership choices that touted our exemplary ethical decision making, and to top it off the primary issue with which I was to struggle. I received a lab analysis of a number of lots of product we manufactured. The lab found that we had exceeded certain levels on a potentially harmfull component. The biggest challenge was that the product had already been released and was on shelf.

I must admit, working for a manufacturing company for the last 16 years and being aware of exacting release criteria, first time quality issues, recall impacts and a wide variety of Quality Contorl issues, I struggled with the validity of the process followed here. While this evolution was clearly designed to assist the learner in transerring knowldege about specific ethical decision making models, it lack of real world impact led me astray a bit. In a scenario where you have known product adulteration in the market that has a potential health risk for identified groups, you simply need to ger the product off the shelf. We have found that the recommendations of the simulation to inform the public and help them make educated decisions is ineffective. The reality is as soon as you say there is a contamination or recall with any product in your brand consumers will stear away from those products period. This year, we had some known issues with Raisenets,...