Business Ethics and Virtue Ethics

Required Reading

Find and read the following journal article in the Library:

Sethi, S., Veral, E., Shapiro, H., & Emelianova, O. (2011). Mattel, Inc.: Global manufacturing principles (GMP) – A life-cycle analysis of a company-based code of conduct in the toy industry. Journal of Business Ethics, 99(4), 483-517. Retrieved November 19, 2012 from ProQuest.

While the Sethi et al. article is certainly a quite interesting case study, it is a very lengthy and fairly complex one as well. To this extent, I don’t want you to simply recount the storyline of the article in your response to the requirements. Rather, I want you to locate and evaluate the most salient business ethics issue, critically analyzing them within the context of virtue ethics – and the questions that I have posed for you below.

Assignment

In a 5-6 page paper (not including your cover page and references), please address the following:

Choose three virtues, and then discuss how the three virtues you have selected may have appropriately guided the actions and behaviors of Mattel, Inc.

Keys to the Assignment
•Choose three "virtues," and provide a clear definition of each (for example, you might choose such virtues as temperance, justice, honesty, or fairness);
•Apply each of the three virtues you have chosen to the Mattel case, describing how the virtue you have selected might have been used to more appropriately guide the actions, behaviors, and/or policies of the company (e.g., you may choose to discuss the company’s working conditions, worker safety, company fairness, or Mattel’s attitudes towards the environment).
•Considering the normative ethical theories we’ve studied in the first three modules (deontological, utilitarian, and virtue ethics), which do you believe is most useful in evaluating the Mattel case? Why?