Union Carbide Corporation and Bhopal

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Kvaqna

Business Finance

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Read the Union Carbide Corporation and Bhopal case that begins on page 384 of your Business, Government, and Society textbook. (I will show u pictures for u) In lieu of answering the questions that follow the case, you will respond to the prompt below;

Consider the concerns as described in this case and prepare a memorandum that addresses the concerns described below. Your memo should be completed in narrative form (you may use headings if you choose to do so for organizational purposes, but do not list your responses in bullet form). Maximum page length: 10 pages (double spaced).

Identify all of the potential ethical issues you see (if any). Describe and analyze the implications of each issue, including who or what were affected by the company’s response. In identifying issues and addressing their implications, your discussion should be as comprehensive as possible—you should consider any economic, social, or ecological implications.

Additionally, your analysis should thoroughly identify and discuss at least two potential courses of action that the company could have taken with respect to each issue you have discussed. Clearly demonstrate your reasoning process—identify and explain any ethical principles or arguments you are relying on; do not simply state unsupported conclusions.

If you choose to apply any approaches to ethical reasoning that you learned about in this course, clearly state what they are and how you are applying them to this case. Of the possible solutions you identified, which would you recommend that the company should have adopted as a resolution? Again, fully explain and justify your recommendations. Finally, explain how you would implement each solution you have recommended.

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Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Running head: UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION AND BHOPAL

Union Carbide Corporation and Bhopal
Name
Institution

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UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION AND BHOPAL

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Union Carbide Corporation and Bhopal
One of the most catastrophic and tragic events that ever occurred is the Bhopal Union
Carbide case. In the past three decades, the pesticide plant for Union Carbide in Bhopal, India,
brought a devastating tragedy in the history of industrial life in India. The toxic gas that is
famously known as methyl isocyanate gas leaked from the companies' plant leading to the death
of thousands of civilians and injured many Indians that lived in the surrounding area (Scheberle,
2018). The victims and the survivors from this catastrophic event sustained major injuries such
as burns on the skin and blindness. The primary cause of this accident can be attributed to
absence in the safety standards and poor decision making from the management of Union
Carbide, located in the United States and also management in India. India is held accountable
since the management in the country played a significant role in letting to the unfolding of this
event and subsequent horrific scenes.
Moreover, the management of Union Carbide in India can be blamed in this case since it
overlooked the safety of the plant and the surrounding population which could have given them a
clue on the most pressing aspect of the plant that required attention. This means that if the
management could have prioritized the safety of the employees at the expense of profits, more
lives could be saved. From the case study, it can be said that the aftermath of the incidence led to
blame game on who was responsible for such a colossal mess and who was equally responsible
for meeting expenses and compensation claims. From all these insights and conclusions about
this incidence, it is crucial to describe and identify some of the ethical issues that are present in
this context and offer alternative solutions that the company could have sought.

UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION AND BHOPAL

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Ethical Issues
First and foremost, the most important and most crucial aspect that the company failed to
follow is the moral value of protecting and prioritizing human life at the expense of
organizational profits. This assertion can be directed towards two leading players of Union
Carbide, the management at the U.S and Indian management. These two management levels
failed to protect the lives of immediate citizens including its employees plus the community of
Bhopal in general. It can be argued that from the issues presented in the case study, the Union
Carbide Corporation was more concerned with accumulating profit at the expense of protecting
human lives (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015). The Indian government was more concerned with
growing its production ration and failed to prioritize the working conditions and security of its
employees, an indication that the company was unable to respect and follow the ethical aspect of
protecting human life.
Second, the company and the engineers of the plant failed to follow work ethics that
require professionalism and competency. As for the part of Union Carbide's management of the
Bhopal plant, several steps could be improved. These steps can only be understood after analysis
of how the gas leak took place and necessary steps at each point of occurrence; The first phase of
mistake was when R. Khan, one of the operator of the plant project, when he neglected to insert a
slip blind at the water entrance (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015). This is a violation of work and
procedural ethics s...


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