Question

Widgets World Wide employs over 2,000 people at 10 different facilities across the United States, but is having serious financial difficulties. Due to incredibly high labor costs, they are considering shutting down their facility in a small town in California. The move would cost 250 workers their jobs in an area already experiencing high unemployment, but does increase the odds that the company itself may be able to recover long term. Explain and evaluate the implications of this ethical dilemma utilizing at least two specific ethical frameworks.

Answer 1

The ethical dilemma in the given situation is that the company needs to make a choice of whether shutting down the facility in California will be right or somehow incorporating the labor in the workforce and struggling the overall business of the company. Shutting down the facility in California will mean that the company will add 250 individuals in the already high unemployment rate of the region.

Exploring the ethical dilemma on 2 standard ethical frameworks:

• Utilitarianism: This ethical framework suggests that the most appropriate action in an ethical dilemma will be to choose the alternative, which will have positive impact on a greater amount of people.
  • In this case, if the company wants to follow the utilitarianism principle, then it must close the California facility. This will make the company stable and thus the lives of over 1750 employees and their families will get safeguarded. Compromising the financial stability of around 250 workers will have a smaller impact when considering about the greater good.
• Virtue ethics: This ethical framework suggests that when facing an ethical dilemma, then the alternative which a virtuous person will choose, must be considered. A virtuous person will mostly choose the alternative which will not hurt anyone.
  • If the company wants to follow the principles of virtue ethics, then it will try hard to adjust the workers of the California facility in the other facilities of the company. This way, the shutting down of California facility will not hamper the employment rate of the region and hence, will be the most righteous decision.