Case Study Rubric for BUS4474
This rubric will be used to evaluate all case submissions, including the final case. I also
encourage you to take it as the beginning point for developing your own approach to
ethical decision-making beyond this course. Blue numbers (across top) are possible
points for each area down the left. Green numbers down the left are multipliers toward a
possible 100% for each case. See syllabus for what % each case is of course credit.
Note that you are not scored by the specific answer, but by your thinking process.
Quality of Information
(summary of facts &
clarity of ethical issues)
X4
Mechanics
(Clear, professional
delivery)
X4
Considers and
identifies stakeholders
(Who is affected and
how)
X4
Chooses a course of
action
(Considers options and
chooses a solution)
X4
Analysis
(Solution is well
considered and
logically defended)
X4
5
Exceeds Expectations
Information clearly
related to the main
topic. It includes
several supporting
details and/or
examples.
0-1 grammatical,
spelling, or punctuation
errors. Logic strong.
Identifies and
prioritizes the impacts
on all relevant
stakeholders, their
various perspectives;
and identifies who
should be involved in
the decision-making.
Formulates a decision;
articulates a plan for
implementing that
decision; and evidences
an understanding of
the ecological, social,
and economic
implications of that
decision.
Uses inductive or
deductive reasoning to
make inferences
regarding premises;
addresses implications
and consequences.
3-4
Meets Expectations
Information clearly
related to the main
topic. It provides 1-2
supporting details
and/or examples.
0-2
Below Expectations
Information has little
or nothing to do with
the main topic. No
details and/or
examples are given.
2-4 grammatical,
5 or more grammatical,
spelling, or punctuation spelling, or
errors
punctuation errors,
logic weak
Accurately identifies
Fails to identify
some key stakeholders, relevant stakeholders
but demonstrates no,
and who should be
or insufficient,
involved in the
awareness of whether, decision-making.
or how, they should, or
can, be involved in the
decision-making.
Formulates a decision
Does not identify
that articulates a plan
and/or explain any
for implementing it,
appropriate decision or
but does not
a course of action from
demonstrate an
among alternatives
understanding of the
available.
ecological, social and
economic
consequences of that
decision.
Uses logical reasoning
Uses superficial
to make inferences
reasoning or
regarding premises;
unreasonable
addresses implications inferences regarding
and consequences.
solutions.
Selling Medical Ultrasound Technology in Asia
Linda Trevino and Alessandro Gubbini
A surprising ethical dilemma arose for a young engineer during his first business trip to Asia to
work with customers of his company’s ultrasound imaging technology. On the long airplane ride,
Pat was dutifully reading a travel book to learn more about Korean and Chinese cultures when he
was shocked to learn how ultrasound technologies were being used in these countries. A
technology that he had always considered to be a way to help people by diagnosing disease was
being commonly used to intentionally identify and interrupt pregnancies when the fetus was
female. As an engineer, Pat had been trained to be passionate about innovation and problem
solving. He was used to thinking about these technologies as innovative high-tech solutions to
serious health problems. He was also committed to developing higher-quality, more efficient,
affordable devices so that they could be used more widely. It had never occurred to him that in
some Asian cultures, where overpopulation combined with a strong patriarchal culture led to a
preference for sons over daughters, this technology that he considered to be innovative, helpful,
and supportive of people’s well-being might be used to eliminate female lives.
As ultrasound technology has advanced and become more available, it has been used more
widely in decisions to abort female fetuses in favor of sons. After some more research, Pat
learned that this practice has become quite common in China, which controls population growth
by allowing families to have only one child. In India, female children are more costly to families
because the culture requires the family to bear the expenses of their daughters’ weddings and
dowries. By comparison, an ultrasound exam is a small expense even for these poor families. Pat
was further surprised to learn that using ultrasound technology to identify fetus gender and
abort the fetus based upon gender information is unlawful in most of these countries (for
example, in India doctors are forbidden from disclosing the sex of fetuses). However, the
enforcement of such laws is difficult and spotty, especially in clinics that are far away from cities
and regulators. The problem is being exacerbated because many ultrasound machines are being
sold on the second-hand market, thus making ultrasound more available and more affordable to
these clinics. The increasing use of the technology to abort female fetuses is beginning to create
a huge societal problem because males are outnumbering females, distorting nature’s careful
gender balance. There are estimates that more than 150 million women are ‘‘missing’’ from
the world as a result of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide. That’s equivalent to
missing every woman in America! The 2001 Indian census demonstrated a huge drop in the
number of young girls relative to boys (927 girls for every 1,000 boys compared to 945 to 100 a
decade earlier), and the problem continues to worsen as the use of ultrasound technology
increases. According to UNICEF, China now has only 832 girls for every 1,000 boys aged 0–4.
Looking to the future as these children grow up, some have predicted increasing trafficking of
women for prostitution and violent crime as young males compete for the smaller number of
available females.
In thinking through what he had learned, Pat found himself considering the patients, the
health-care practitioners, and the health-care industry as well as his company, other technology
developers, and the broader cultures involved. Patients benefit from access to life-saving
technologies that can identify diseases at an early stage so that they can be treated more
successfully. But patients can also be harmed
if, due to early identification of their child’s gender, mothers feel forced into abortions against
their will. In these cultures, many mothers apparently do feel compelled by cultural or family
pressures to abort female fetuses. Medical practitioners benefit from the ability to do faster and
more accurate diagnoses, but they too can be pressured to use these systems for unethical
purposes. The industry and the developers (including Pat’s company) certainly profit from the
production and sale of more of these products. But the company and industry risk sullying their
reputations if they are found responsible for selling these systems to unauthorized users for
unlawful purposes. Imagine what the media could make of that story. According to a prestigious
British medical journal, The Lancet (2006), the unlawful use of diagnostic ultrasound technologies
is contributing to an estimated 1 million abortions of female fetuses every year. Yet, these
diagnostic technologies still greatly benefit society worldwide in saving and improving the lives of
many millions of patients.
How should Pat think about this? Do the benefits to society of the technology outweigh the
harms? Even if they do, does the company want to be connected to a practice that many people
find immoral and that is illegal in many countries? Pat found this practice particularly distasteful
when looking at it from the perspective of the females who would not be born simply because of
their gender. Pat wondered, is this practice fair to them? And aren’t we all facilitating the
practice by looking the other way? What would happen if such gender discrimination were
globally accepted as normal practice? Could that ever be the right thing to do?’’ What would
international health organizations such as the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and
Biology (WFUMB), which provides training and education to doctors worldwide, have to say
about such practices? Pat wondered what his wife would think if she knew that his work involved
this unexpected result? Would she expect him to do something? What is his individual
responsibility here? What is his company’s responsibility?
Because Pat felt so confused by what he had read, and he didn’t fully understand the legal or
cultural environment, he never mentioned the subject to his Asian clients. But it remained in the
back of his mind. When he returned home, he kept thinking about it. There was no formal
structure for him to surface the issue within the company, so he decided to discuss the subject
with some trusted colleagues. He wondered whether they were aware of the issue and what they
might think about it. Were they as bothered as he was? It turns out that they were as unaware of
these practices as he had been. It also seemed more distant to them because they had not
traveled to Asia as he had, and there was no agreement about what to do. Engineers tend to
think about products only in technical terms— the potential for technical flaws and dangers that
might harm patients. They rarely encounter the ultimate end users, and they’re not trained to
think about cultural implications.
As a Westerner, all of this was particularly hard for Pat to deal with. He was caught completely
off guard. He asked himself: What do I need to do, if anything? I’m scheduled to return to these
countries to support our clients’ use of our technology, so I won’t be able to avoid the issue for
long. It seems almost ridiculous that I became aware of this issue through a travel book. If it
hadn’t been for that book, I probably never would have thought about the issue at all. My
company had not prepared me. It offered no special training on cultural or ethical issues for
employees they send to work overseas. It seemed like the company’s values of providing people
with the opportunity for earlier diagnoses prevented us from exploring the potential misuse of
our product. The company and industry focus on how to develop technologies to identify
life-threatening conditions earlier, better, and faster. We like to think of ourselves and our
technologies as saving lives, not risking them. The company’s stated value is to provide
health-care solutions to patients worldwide. But, in this case, our technology was being used to
both save and end lives. Do our values need to change? I think of our company as being good and
ethical, but we were obviously unprepared in this case. We had not done our homework. Even if
the company wanted to do something, Pat wondered what they could do. The company is an
original equipment manufacturer (OEM), meaning that it doesn’t sell directly to the end users.
Therefore the responsibility for putting these technologies into the wrong hands is widely
dispersed across different manufacturers, distributors and local institutions. Pat also wondered
whether and how the company could influence these different parties to take action even if it
decided it was right to do so. On top of that, the company is in the United States, and these end
users are halfway across the world.
Case Questions
Consider Pat’s 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 may be 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, as well as the potential impact at least two cultural differences you can identify.
Additionally, your analysis should thoroughly identify and discuss at least two potential
courses of action that the company could take 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 adopt as a
resolution? Again, fully explain and justify your recommendations.
would implement each solution you have recommended.
Finally, explain how you
Selling Medical Ultrasound Technology in Asia
Linda Trevino and Alessandro Gubbini
A surprising ethical dilemma arose for a young engineer during his first business trip to Asia to
work with customers of his company’s ultrasound imaging technology. On the long airplane ride,
Pat was dutifully reading a travel book to learn more about Korean and Chinese cultures when he
was shocked to learn how ultrasound technologies were being used in these countries. A
technology that he had always considered to be a way to help people by diagnosing disease was
being commonly used to intentionally identify and interrupt pregnancies when the fetus was
female. As an engineer, Pat had been trained to be passionate about innovation and problem
solving. He was used to thinking about these technologies as innovative high-tech solutions to
serious health problems. He was also committed to developing higher-quality, more efficient,
affordable devices so that they could be used more widely. It had never occurred to him that in
some Asian cultures, where overpopulation combined with a strong patriarchal culture led to a
preference for sons over daughters, this technology that he considered to be innovative, helpful,
and supportive of people’s well-being might be used to eliminate female lives.
As ultrasound technology has advanced and become more available, it has been used more
widely in decisions to abort female fetuses in favor of sons. After some more research, Pat
learned that this practice has become quite common in China, which controls population growth
by allowing families to have only one child. In India, female children are more costly to families
because the culture requires the family to bear the expenses of their daughters’ weddings and
dowries. By comparison, an ultrasound exam is a small expense even for these poor families. Pat
was further surprised to learn that using ultrasound technology to identify fetus gender and
abort the fetus based upon gender information is unlawful in most of these countries (for
example, in India doctors are forbidden from disclosing the sex of fetuses). However, the
enforcement of such laws is difficult and spotty, especially in clinics that are far away from cities
and regulators. The problem is being exacerbated because many ultrasound machines are being
sold on the second-hand market, thus making ultrasound more available and more affordable to
these clinics. The increasing use of the technology to abort female fetuses is beginning to create
a huge societal problem because males are outnumbering females, distorting nature’s careful
gender balance. There are estimates that more than 150 million women are ‘‘missing’’ from
the world as a result of sex-selective abortions and female infanticide. That’s equivalent to
missing every woman in America! The 2001 Indian census demonstrated a huge drop in the
number of young girls relative to boys (927 girls for every 1,000 boys compared to 945 to 100 a
decade earlier), and the problem continues to worsen as the use of ultrasound technology
increases. According to UNICEF, China now has only 832 girls for every 1,000 boys aged 0–4.
Looking to the future as these children grow up, some have predicted increasing trafficking of
women for prostitution and violent crime as young males compete for the smaller number of
available females.
In thinking through what he had learned, Pat found himself considering the patients, the
health-care practitioners, and the health-care industry as well as his company, other technology
developers, and the broader cultures involved. Patients benefit from access to life-saving
technologies that can identify diseases at an early stage so that they can be treated more
successfully. But patients can also be harmed
if, due to early identification of their child’s gender, mothers feel forced into abortions against
their will. In these cultures, many mothers apparently do feel compelled by cultural or family
pressures to abort female fetuses. Medical practitioners benefit from the ability to do faster and
more accurate diagnoses, but they too can be pressured to use these systems for unethical
purposes. The industry and the developers (including Pat’s company) certainly profit from the
production and sale of more of these products. But the company and industry risk sullying their
reputations if they are found responsible for selling these systems to unauthorized users for
unlawful purposes. Imagine what the media could make of that story. According to a prestigious
British medical journal, The Lancet (2006), the unlawful use of diagnostic ultrasound technologies
is contributing to an estimated 1 million abortions of female fetuses every year. Yet, these
diagnostic technologies still greatly benefit society worldwide in saving and improving the lives of
many millions of patients.
How should Pat think about this? Do the benefits to society of the technology outweigh the
harms? Even if they do, does the company want to be connected to a practice that many people
find immoral and that is illegal in many countries? Pat found this practice particularly distasteful
when looking at it from the perspective of the females who would not be born simply because of
their gender. Pat wondered, is this practice fair to them? And aren’t we all facilitating the
practice by looking the other way? What would happen if such gender discrimination were
globally accepted as normal practice? Could that ever be the right thing to do?’’ What would
international health organizations such as the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and
Biology (WFUMB), which provides training and education to doctors worldwide, have to say
about such practices? Pat wondered what his wife would think if she knew that his work involved
this unexpected result? Would she expect him to do something? What is his individual
responsibility here? What is his company’s responsibility?
Because Pat felt so confused by what he had read, and he didn’t fully understand the legal or
cultural environment, he never mentioned the subject to his Asian clients. But it remained in the
back of his mind. When he returned home, he kept thinking about it. There was no formal
structure for him to surface the issue within the company, so he decided to discuss the subject
with some trusted colleagues. He wondered whether they were aware of the issue and what they
might think about it. Were they as bothered as he was? It turns out that they were as unaware of
these practices as he had been. It also seemed more distant to them because they had not
traveled to Asia as he had, and there was no agreement about what to do. Engineers tend to
think about products only in technical terms— the potential for technical flaws and dangers that
might harm patients. They rarely encounter the ultimate end users, and they’re not trained to
think about cultural implications.
As a Westerner, all of this was particularly hard for Pat to deal with. He was caught completely
off guard. He asked himself: What do I need to do, if anything? I’m scheduled to return to these
countries to support our clients’ use of our technology, so I won’t be able to avoid the issue for
long. It seems almost ridiculous that I became aware of this issue through a travel book. If it
hadn’t been for that book, I probably never would have thought about the issue at all. My
company had not prepared me. It offered no special training on cultural or ethical issues for
employees they send to work overseas. It seemed like the company’s values of providing people
with the opportunity for earlier diagnoses prevented us from exploring the potential misuse of
our product. The company and industry focus on how to develop technologies to identify
life-threatening conditions earlier, better, and faster. We like to think of ourselves and our
technologies as saving lives, not risking them. The company’s stated value is to provide
health-care solutions to patients worldwide. But, in this case, our technology was being used to
both save and end lives. Do our values need to change? I think of our company as being good and
ethical, but we were obviously unprepared in this case. We had not done our homework. Even if
the company wanted to do something, Pat wondered what they could do. The company is an
original equipment manufacturer (OEM), meaning that it doesn’t sell directly to the end users.
Therefore the responsibility for putting these technologies into the wrong hands is widely
dispersed across different manufacturers, distributors and local institutions. Pat also wondered
whether and how the company could influence these different parties to take action even if it
decided it was right to do so. On top of that, the company is in the United States, and these end
users are halfway across the world.
Case Questions
Consider Pat’s 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: 6 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 may be 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, as well as the potential impact at least two cultural differences you can identify.
Additionally, your analysis should thoroughly identify and discuss at least two potential
courses of action that the company could take 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 adopt as a
resolution? Again, fully explain and justify your recommendations.
would implement each solution you have recommended.
Finally, explain how you
Purchase answer to see full
attachment