Post-Test - Case: Union Carbide Corporation and Bhopal

User Generated

Zlpngfnlf

Writing

Bus 4474

Description

Read the Union Carbide Corporation and Bhopal case that begins on page 384 of your Business, Government, and Society textbook. DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTIONS AT END OF CASE.

Your completed assignment must address the items required as outlined 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, 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 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.

Unformatted Attachment Preview

User generated content is uploaded by users for the purposes of learning and should be used following Studypool's honor code & terms of service.

Explanation & Answer

Attached.

Running Head: UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION TRAGEDY

Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal Tragedy
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation

1

UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION TRAGEDY

2

Union Carbide Corporation in Bhopal Tragedy
Back in 1984, a chemical company referred to as union carbide located in Bhopal
had a tragedy which cost the lives of thousands of people. Leakage from a tank which stored
a volatile chemical was the primary cause of the incidence affecting the residents living near
the company as well the workers. Rather than the fact that it was the gas leak that caused the
tragedy, more investigations done discovered the cause of the accident. According to the
inquiry, there were unethical conducts in the company which led to a great disaster. This
paper chooses to identify all the possible ethical issues within the pesticide plant which
caused the gas leakage leading to numerous deaths and severe injuries among the residents.
First, the carbide union company was located near residential areas which were
against the development plan of the residents. There was a plan by the Bhopal city to move
the industry away from the residents. According to them, the plant should be located 15 miles
away. Also, the Bhopal city had established a policy which restricted the plant from
manufacturing any harmful chemical. On the other hand, the management went against those
policies, they never relocated nor stopped producing the dangerous compound. This was
against the agreement between the residents as well those in charge of human rights, and they
termed it unethical.
The second ethical issue which can be identified from the MIC gas leak is that the
tank 610 was 75% full which was against large tank rule. A large tank should be filled up to
half, that is, 50%. Putting into consideration that the chemical was very harmful to be stored
in the seal tank, almost full it was very unethical. For instance, if the chemicals in the tank
were half filled, the rate of increase in pressure leading to leakage could take hence giving
enough time to act upon the explosion.

UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION TRAGEDY

3

Also, there were only three tanks in the plant which were supposed be storing the
MIC chemical. One tank was supposed to be left empty while the other two to be half -filled.
The empty tank was supposed to remain empty to act as a backup if one of the two tanks with
the chemical got damaged. It was supposed to serve as an emergency tank. In the plant, this
was not the case; they filled all thanks with the MIC liquid which was a great danger to the
workers as well as the residents in case of leakage or tank damage
It should be noted that most of the safety precautions were less put into
consideration by the company executives. For instance, some necessary safety precautions
were ignored to save the cost of production in the industry. According to investigations, most
of the safety gadgets were not in use even though they were in good condition. A generator
which was supposed to provide a co...


Anonymous
Very useful material for studying!

Studypool
4.7
Trustpilot
4.5
Sitejabber
4.4

Similar Content

Related Tags