The administration agency that governs the regulatory compliance of the manufacturer is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA administers the laws that relate to the environment which include laws on water pollution, air pollution, pesticides, solid wastes and toxic substances ( Clements & Kotalik, 2016). In this case, the EPA is the administrative agency that governs the regulatory compliance of the marine paint manufacturer. The EAP is supposed to ensure water quality through the Clean Water Act that outlines various guidelines for the discharge of the pollutants into the water. Therefore, the guidelines of the Clean Water Act would necessitate the manufacturing company to report any issue that the fins in the internal study, such as the paint leeches discovered at the bottom of the boats that would affect marine life. Additionally, the EPA should not allow toxic materials to interfere with the marine life. Therefore, because the paint is already harming the marine life, then OSHA should also be involved, as the paint could also harm the employees in the manufacturing company.
Codes of ethics are written to guide behavior in an organization. Codes of ethics help in bringing sanity in an organization by curbing bad behavior. Ethics focus on the moral standards of individuals and organizations ( Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014) . In this case, the President and the Vice president of the company can be termed as unethical. The president of the common is wrong for instructing the vice president to erase the data that shows that the leeches on the boats are harming marine life. Therefore, the president and the vice president acted unethically. Eric the assistant vice president is in an ethical dilemma as he risks losing his job if he whistle blows the issue. In this case, Eric is put in a tough situation, which he needs to choose between right and wrong and his job.
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Decision making is important in a business activity. Decision making has an impact on future developments. Therefore, the vice president did the right thing by informing the president about the marine plant leech. However, the president made an unethical decision by asking the vice president to erase all the evidence of the study and tell no one. The president is also wrong for directing the vice president to erase the email. The authorities of the marine plant could find themselves in an ethical standoff if the hide the data about the paint leeching study from the boats.
In today’s world, business managers are expected to behave ethically by understanding what is good or potentially wrong for the business and the stakeholders involved ( Kolk, 2016) . The business can affect the stakeholders negatively or positively through its objectives, policies, and activities. similarly, the stakeholders can also affect the business positively or negatively ( Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014) . Stakeholders can be primary or secondary. The primary stakeholders are such as the owners, employees, customers, and suppliers. The secondary stakeholders are consumers, civil societies, environmental groups, the community, and the media ( Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014) . Therefore, a company that negatively affects the environment would be negatively affecting the stakeholders, such as in this case the marine life, the employees and the EAP. The company through the president will harm the employees, given that Eric is afraid to whistle blow the issue for fear of losing his job. I think that it is ethical for Eric to whistleblow on the issues as it will affect not only the marine but also the employees and the community. Covering up the issue of the leeches on the boat could also resulting in a legal battle if later discovered, which will be bad for the company’s image and it will also affect the stakeholders negatively.
Reference
Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder management . Nelson Education.
Clements, W. H., & Kotalik, C. (2016). Effects of major ions on natural benthic communities: an experimental assessment of the US Environmental Protection Agency aquatic life benchmark for conductivity. Freshwater Science, 35(1), 126-138.
Kolk, A. (2016). The social responsibility of international business: From ethics and the environment to CSR and sustainable development. Journal of World Business , 51 (1), 23-34.
