Questions for Discussion 1. The Ford Pinto met federal safety standards, yet it
ID: 1224285 • Letter: Q
Question
Questions for Discussion
1. The Ford Pinto met federal safety standards, yet it had a design flaw that resulted in serious injuries and deaths. Is simply meeting safety standards a
sufficient product design goal of ethical companies?
2. Gioia uses the notion of script schemas to help explain why he voted to not initiate a recall of the Ford Pinto. In your opinion, is this a justifiable explanation?
3. How can organizational context influence the decisions made by organizational members?
4. If you had been in Gioia’s position, what would you have done? Why?
5. Describe the four key decisionmaking lessons that Gioia identifies for neophyte decision makers. Discuss how you expect or intend to use these four lessons in your own career.
from the book Business Ethics : A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach page 91-96
Explanation / Answer
Ans. Ford was actually planning to launch a lightweight car with reasonable price which is easily affordable. In a competitive world, automobile manufacturers would always try to meet the safety standards but to put these safety features in a product requires money which would cause a rise in the cost of production and this rise in cost of production would be passed to the customers in the form of high price for a product. The gas prices are already high, so considering it, consumers likely do not want to spend even more money on their automobiles. If the automobile manufacturer meets all safety standards, it doesn’t mean that people are safe. In many accidents, people do get injured or get killed. If an automobile manufacturer only meets these standards, then they are unethical.
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