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Thursday, September 22, 1994
Sherwood FawcettSherwood Fawcett took up the question of ethics by recounting the circumstances of four decisions he had to make at various points in his business life. He invited the audience to recognize with him the various perspectives, states, and ethical frameworks which enter the process of making a decision and taking the consequences.
At age 17 he and a friend sold "chocsicles" at a refreshment stand in Conneaut, Ohio. Chocsicle had a promotion--if the filling turned out to be strawberry rather than vanilla ice cream, the chocsicle was free. After some research they were able to identify which chocsicle had the strawberry filling. The alternatives open to these two teenagers were to: eat the free ones themselves, give them to pretty girls or to friends, continue to give them out randomly to the public. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?
24 year old Navy Captain Sherwood Fawcett's small vessel (24 enlisted, 4 officers) was assigned to transfer supplies from large ships to port. The sea off the coast of Italy was a mine field and a shooting gallery for German artillery. Early one morning Captain Fawcett awoke to find that the officer on watch had fallen asleep and they were dragging anchor in these dangerous waters. Clearly the duty officer had put the lives of all on board at peril. Reporting his offence would lead to a court martial, with the possibility of a death sentence for the young man. Court martial would also require the ship to leave its post. It might also delay Captain Fawcett's pending reassignment to the United States. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?
At age 46, Dr. Fawcett was sent by Battelle to Richland, a small town in Washington, to direct a plutonium plant. The plant was unionized but was an open shop. A strike resulted when union demands for a "union shop" were refused by Battelle. The strike adversely affected everyone involved: the town, the lab, the people. Believing that the concept of the "union shop" violates individual freedom in the workplace, he was faced with an ethical dilemma. Should he impose his principles on a whole town? WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?
Battelle was working on a large reactor project for the Atomic Energy Commission. The AEC site manager was interfering and dictatorial. When the project ran over budget, he placed the blame for his own mistakes on Battelle's two project leaders and demanded that they be fired. Now 50 and CEO of Battelle, Fawcett faced the choice of agreeing to that demand or pulling out of the project with consequences for about 1200 Battelle employees and the firm's reputation. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE?
While leading the discussion, Dr. Roy Lewicki proposed "diagnostic questions" for use in assessing ethics dilemmas. (1) What is the specific ethical concern? (2) What criteria are being used to make the decision? (3) How does the perspective of the one making the decision compare to that of others who will directly experience the consequences of it. (4) Is the decision being made by one person or by a group? (5) What happens when the best "business decision" is not synonymous with the best "ethical decision?"
 
 Council for Ethics in Economics
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