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FORD PLANT CASE STUDY
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National Ford Management
Your position at Ford is to oversee the plant operations and sales of trucks nationally. You assess markets, decide where new plants will be built or old plants closed, and control the flow of parts, pre-assembled modules and the final product between various manufacturers, assembly plants and dealers. You thus see pollution control at this one plant in the context of pollution control at all stages of production. "Small" expenditures for "simple" procedures, for example, become magnified when multiplied by the number of procedures for each truck part. Minnesota has highly demanding pollution control laws, and you have already been considering moving the plant to South Dakota, though it is slightly further from the relevant markets.
Ford has a national reputation to uphold, but it is also running a business. In your position, you know that you must consider employees (for good wages, job security and safe working conditions), shareholders (whose money is invested in the company), and consumers (in providing a safe, reliable and satisfying product). You are sensitive to the possible implications of Japanese competitors for shareholders and, indirectly, for employees. You are well aware of the environmental implications of Ford's products (not merely the St. Paul facility emissions, but also vehicle emissions), but you also recognize the freedom or liberty (as well as responsibility) of consumers to choose what kind of products they want.
Your challenge is to situate your commitments to Ford's stockholders and customers among those of this plant to its employees and community.
Some particular questions that you need to resolve:
- What is the ethical nature of your responsibility to stockholders? Under what conditions is profit morally justifiable?
- Do you have an ethical responsibility to preserve jobs for Americans, your "neighbors"?
- Should a manufacturer dictate what types of products will or will not be available (e.g. paint types or number of colors), or does this interfere with consumer liberties? (Should Ford decide whether it offers BC/CC finish, or two-tone trucks--or is this exclusively a consumer decision?) What should one do ethically in a competitive market where others will meet consumer demands, even if such choices may be irresponsible?
- How do your conclusions affect the local Task Force's decision on the operating permit for this plant?
Be sure to read the Background carefully for information that is relevant to these questions and your position.
Remember that the aim in adopting a stakeholder's perspective is not to "act out" someone else's role or to make decisions according to some stereotyped view of how another person "should" act. Rather, you should focus on the stakeholder's concerns and consider how YOU would act in a similar situtation.