LSB 3213 1st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Last Lecture Bill of Rights Free Speech o Child Molester Case example Market Place of Ideas 2nd Amendment o Example Search Warrants Lecture 5 Privacy Rights Personal information Confidential Data HIPAA health information o Specifically describes how to protect medical data Right to Remain Silent Individual vs corporate rights o An individual can be quiet but corporations can not So this is an individual right not a corporate right Criminal vs civil cases Document discovery o What you write or produce at work is discoverable when if a corporation business is being sued Discoverable means that what you write or say can be found and used in court against you Due Process 5th and 14th amendments The government cannot deprive a person or business of life liberty or property without due process Due process opportunity for defense Applies only to government actions These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Means that anything not related to state or federal government does not guarantee due process Examples o The ethics committee at OSU finds that you have cheated on an exam and immediately suspends you without listening to your defense This is not allowed One notice to pay property tax before the house is taken is not due process not allowed Equal Protection 14th amendment Equal treatment for similarly situated people and businesses Higher scrutiny for race gender national origin Rational basis review for businesses o Is there a rational basis for treating one business different than another Less highly scrutinized Iowa Gambling Case o Pre 1989 race tracks only o 1989 slots on river boats 20 tax o 1994 slots at race tracks 36 tax o Violation of equal protection o Rational basis Difference between race track and a river boat one on water one on land race track has two forms of gambling river boat only has one o The court ruling was straight forward stating that there was a rational basis Chapter 5 Business Ethics How to make the right business decision o It is hard to answer what is right Thinking about ethics Behaving ethically Unethical Practices Corporate Scandals o Enron o Worldcom o Arthur Andersen o Tyco o Countrywide Mortgage Unethical Reputation Lawyers How can you tell when a lawyer is lying o The lawyer s lips are moving How does an attorney sleep o First the lawyer lies on one side then the lawyer lies on the other This is most often not a true or accurate description of lawyers Three Frameworks to Determine Ethical Behavior Deontology Utilitarianism Virtue Ethics This semester s goal o Learn legal reasoning for business decisions Deontology Duty based ethics o Do your duty by following laws codes religion Categorical imperative humanitarian Kant s Categorical Imperative o People are not a means to an end Owe a duty to humans what is good for all is the right decision o Universalize the decision If it is okay for everyone else it is okay for me Utilitarianism Greatest good for the greatest number Measures severity and probability o Does the severity or probability of success failure outweigh the alternative decision Cost benefit analysis outcome based Virtue Ethics Aristotle we are what we repeatedly do Excellence then is not an act but a habit Being over doing opposite of duty based Inward focus Goal Look at our self and integrity then the actions will follow Learn different analytical frameworks Apply each of them to business questions Disciplined analysis Salmonella Example In charge of quality control at peanut processing company o The initial report says that a sample tested came back positive for Salmonella and possibly affected a shipment about to leave Holding the shipment could decrease profits miss deadlines etc Could also keep thousands of consumers from getting sick Apply Deontology Define the duty o Are there any regulations that say I have to stop the shipment Is there a duty to shareholders to maximize the value of the company and not ship the products Potential downsides to deontology o Doesn t specify which duty to follow o Struggle between what the duty says and what you feel is right Apply Utilitarianism Run a cost benefit analysis o Cost of not shipping the product vs the cost of legal fees or decrease in shares etc o Jobs and people affected by both scenarios Potential downsides to utilitarianism o It is based on outcomes and hard to predict Virtue Ethics Define the virtue o I never had issues with the product before so I am not going to stop the shipment now o Start with internal values Potential downsides to virtue ethics o Hard to define what is right depends on the person Context Matters Thinking ethically vs acting ethically o Acting ethically involves internal values Philosophy vs courage Systematic Approach Creating a system to solve ethical dilemmas o Help make better decisions o Provide documentation For defending decision and remembering why you made the decision and when Example Approach from the Textbook Gather facts Discuss brainstorm o get input Decide o Where ethical frameworks come into play Explain justify why you made the decision Evaluate results o At a later date to see how the decision has panned out or if the decision needs to be revised Studying for Exams More heavily tested on class discussion than the textbook o Understand and apply concepts not just memorize definitions Study guide with terminology will be posted on D2L next week will not help with how to apply the concepts No questions will come straight from the textbook that was not discussed in class o The textbook provides more background and detail on concepts learned in class Need a Green Scantron There will be quizzes before Exam 2 and 3 that will be over the same material as the exams and help to prepare for the exams o Quizzes are straight forward and rather simple o Exams are more in depth and challenging We will use clickers in class to practice for the exam Sample Question 1 Which legal philosophy does the following legal argument rely on most strongly Your honor Company A should be liable for stealing my restaurant s secret recipe Of course everyone knows that stealing has always been against the written law but most importantly this behavior is just plain wrong People should not be allowed to get away with stealing because it would erode the moral fiber of the nation Positive Law Legal Realism Natural Law