Gilbane Gold

• You are David Jackson a young engineer working for the computer manufacturer, Z-Corp. Your studies into the waste emissions of Z-Corp indicate that they are a little bit over the boarderline of what is legally acceptable in the Gilbane metropolitan area. Two further issues complicate your findings. (1) Gilbane draws sludge from the river and sells it to farmers to cover their fields; if heavy metals are present in this sludge, they will be passed on to consumers who eat the vegetables grown in fields covered with this "Gilbane Gold." This could produce long and short term health problems for the Gilbane community. (2) Z-Corp has just entered into a new agreement with a Japanese company that will produce a five-fold increase in demand for their product. While this will also increase their emissions of heavy metals into the water supply by the same amount, it will not violate city regulations because these regulations only take into account the concentration of heavy metals in each discharge. Z-Corp merely dilutes the heavy metals dumped into Gilbane's water supply to reflect acceptable concentration levels. David Jackson holds that this loophole in environmental regulations could endanger the health and safety of the citizens in the Gilbane. But he has trouble sharing these concerns with his supervisors, Diane Collins, Phil Port, and Frank Seeders.
• David (you) has made several efforts to make his concerns known to Z-Corp officials, including Phil Port, Frank Seeders, and Diane Collins. Their response is that spending money on increased pollution control measures will threaten Z-Corp’s thin profit margin. Diane puts the issue even more strongly when she says that Z-Corp’s social responsibility is to provide the Gilbane community with good jobs and to obey local environmental regulations. If the city wants stricter regulations, then they need to pass them through the legislative process. But taking proactive measures on this count goes far beyond Z-Corp's ethical and social responsibilities to the Gilbane community.
• You are David. What values do you see involved in this situation? Design a solution that best preserves and integrates them.

Partial List of Characters

1. David Jackson: Young engineer whose measurements show that Z-Corp's emissions into the Gilbane water supply barely exceed local standards. He expresses concern to his supervisors on the impact on the safety and health of the local community.
2. Diane Collins: David's supervisor who is under strong pressure to maintain the Z-Corp Gilbane plant's thin profit levels. She is concerned about environment responsibility but defines it as staying within the limits of the law as put forth by the Gilbane community. Gilbane sets for the law and Z-Corp is responsible for staying within its limits. If the law is inadequate, then Gilbane is responsible for changing it.
3. Tom Richards: Environmental engineer hired to measure Z-Corp's heavy metal emissions into the Gilbane water supply. Richards warns David that he bears ultimate responsibility for Z-Corp's emisions into the Gilbane water supply.
4. Phil Port: Z-Corp's official in charge of the company's compliance with environmental regulations. He calls David during the TV documentary to claim that it portrays him as an "environmental rapist."
5. Frank Seeders: Frank is the point man on helping to gear up Z-Corp's operations to meet the new demand created by their recent venture with a Japanese company. He asks David to help him streamline Z-Corp's manufacturing process.
6. Maria Renato: Local reporter who produces documentary exposing Z-Corp's potentially dangerous emissions. She has prepared her report based on documentation provided by David Jackson.

Statement of Values List

1. Justice / Fairness: Be impartial, objective and refrain from discrimination or preferential treatment in the administration of rules and policies and in its dealings with students, faculty, staff, administration, and other stakeholders.
2. Responsibility: Recognize and fulfill its obligations to its constituents by caring for their essential interests, by honoring its commitments, and by balancing and integrating conflicting interests. As responsible agents, the faculty, employees, and students of the college of business Administration are committed to the pursuit of excellence, devotion to the community's welfare, and professionalism.
3. Respect: Acknowledge the inherent dignity present in its diverse constituents by recognizing and respecting their fundamental rights. these include rights to property, privacy, free exchange of ideas, academic freedom, due process, and meaningful participation in decision making and policy formation.
4. Trust: Recognize that trust solidifies communities by creating an environment where each can expect ethically justifiable behavior from all others. While trust is tolerant of and even thrives in an environment of diversity, it also must operate within the parameters set by established personal and community standards.
5. Integrity: Promote integrity as characterized by sincerity, honesty, authenticity, and the pursuit of excellence. Integrity shall permeate and color all its decisions, actions and expressions. It is most clearly exhibited in intellectual and personal honesty in learning, teaching, mentoring and research.

1. Watch the video and make sure you understand the situation from David’s point of view. At the end David makes his decision. You should be open to the possibility that there may be other decisions that can be taken in this situation that may be better from a moral point of view.
2. What is David’s problem? Try formulating it in terms of values that are under threat and conflicts between values. You may even want to identify information needs relevant to solving this problem?
3. What solutions do different individuals in the video recommend to David? How good are they in terms of realizing or protecting key moral values? Does David (and the video) pay sufficient attention to these different recommendations? Does he miss better value-integrative solutions?
4. Make your decision. Defend it in terms of key moral values. Use the values provided above in the UPRM College of Business Administration’s Statement of Values.
5. Give special attention to the links provided in this module. Are there solutions to David’s problem not mentioned in the video?

Ethical Leadership: In terms of the values mentioned in the SOV, discuss and rate the following characters in terms of the leadership skills and qualities they exhibit:

• Diane Collins
• David Jackson
• Phil Port
• Tom Richards
• Frank Seeders