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FORD PLANT CASE STUDY
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Environmental Advocate (member of "Earth Protector")
You are well aware of the environmental problems of vehicles and roadways, and would sooner see private cars and trucks banned entirely than condone any further emissions from an auto paint facility. The uncertainty of the health risks of the emissions in this case may seem insignificant, perhaps, when compared to the certainty of the adverse effects of the vehicles themselves and other aspects of the production process--from the mining of steel and coal to the energy used in transporting parts, etc. (You might note, for example, the semi-solid hazardous paint sediment from the water wall scrubbers--waste that the community here never has to confront directly.) Much of Earth Protector's (and your) mission, though, is to build grass-roots support for environmental legislative candidates at the state and national level, and for campaigns against local environmental problems--and you must work to build a following. You also rely on contributions from individuals in communities like Highland Park to support and fund your programs.
Some particular questions that you need to resolve:
- What are your own ethical responsibilities in achieving your aim? Do you need to moderate your stance in order to maintain support for "getting the basic message out"? Do you need to reshape short-term goals in order to succeed ethically, here--or does any compromise represent an unethical betrayal of ideals?
- Can you imagine viable alternatives to maintaining the operation of this plant--alternatives that might be acceptable to Ford employees and residents of Highland Park?
- Would closing this plant, alone, be desirable if Ford merely moved its operations to South Dakota? What are Ford's responsibilities, generally? What is an ethical solution in this case, and by what standards should one measure this?
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.