Case Teaching Package
A case teaching package is available for this case. It includes strategies for case presentation, key concepts, solutions to the assignment questions in the case, and suggestions for the most effective ways to work this case into your course.
Length
This case is
4 pages in length and its case teaching package is
10 pages.
Abstract
George Nash, the Vice President of Real Estate at Dare Air, has just sold an undeveloped property to Fledgling Industries without disclosing information about possible environmental hazards on the property. Dare is a financially troubled company now being run by a job-cutting CEO, Benton Williams. An environmental audit cleared the property six months ago, but Nash has now been informed that apparently toxic containers have been seen on the property. Nash is uncertain whether he has a legal obligation to disclose the information and has been told it would take several weeks to check out the dangers. Nash goes to see Williams but loses his nerve when Williams demands that he close the deal and says nothing about the problem. Nash prays and talks with his wife and goes ahead and closes the deal.
Although there are court decisions that involve somewhat similar fact patterns, this case is entirely fictional. It is a revised version of an earlier case by the same author called Desperate Air.
Linkages to Textbooks or Journal Articles/Fit Within a Course
Dare Air can fit into the standard business ethics course or module at several different points depending on the instructor's objectives. It may be used at the beginning to introduce basic ethical theories and frameworks. If not used for that purpose, then the case may be used to demonstrate elements of managerial decision-making relating to environmental hazards.
The following are some suggestions as to how the Dare Air case fits with some of the standard textbooks and casebooks on business ethics.
Beauchamp, Tom L. and Norman E. Bowie. 1997. Ethical Theory and Business. 5th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. May be used to introduce Chapter 1, Ethical Theory and Business Practice, or with Chapter 4, Acceptable Risk.
Boatright, John. R. 1993. Ethics and the Conduct of Business. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. May be used to introduce Part 1, Theories of Ethics or with Chapter 13, Occupational Health and Safety.
Carroll, Archie. B. 1996. Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management. 3d Ed. Cincinnati: South-Western Publishing Company. Could be used to introduce Chapter 4, Business Ethics Fundamentals, or as part of the coverage in Chapter 11, The Natural Environment as Stakeholder.
DeGeorge, Richard T. 1986. Business Ethics. 2nd Ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Would fit as an introduction to Chapter 2, Conventional Morality and Ethical Relativism.
Donaldson, Thomas and Patricia Werhane. 1996. Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach. 5th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. May be used in conjunction with the general introduction to ethical reasoning. Also fits with the coverage on the environment at the beginning of Part Four.
Halbert, Terry and Ingulli, Elaine. 1997. Law & Ethics in the Business Environment. 2nd Ed. St. Paul: West Publishing. Could be used in conjunction with Chapter 7, Environmental Protection: Biodiversity and Property Rights.
Hartman, Laura Pincus. 1998. Perspectives in Business Ethics. Chicago: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. May be used to introduce Chapter 3, Individual Decision Making: Lessons Learned from the Foundations, or in conjunction with Chapter 13, Ethics and the Environment.
Jennings, Marianne Moody. 1996. Case Studies in Business Ethics. 2nd Ed. St. Paul: West Publishing. This text has many excellent short cases. Dare Air could be used in conjunction with this text at the very beginning as a means of introducing formal ethical frameworks.
Solomon, Robert C. 1992. Ethics and Excellence: Cooperation and Integrity in Business. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Although on first impression the Dare Air case might seem irrelevant to this discourse on virtue ethics, the case can be used to emphasize the difficulty and complexity of many business decisions. The question must always be considered as to why there are so many instances where the information is not revealed. Is it merely because the decisions are made by those lacking virtue? As Solomon stresses, the organizational environment and its relationship to virtue cannot be ignored.
Trevino, Linda K. and Katherine A. Nelson. 1995. Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How to Do It Right. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Dare Air would seem to be a good fit with the discussion in several Chapters. It may be used in conjunction with the two "deciding what's right" Chapters, 4 and 5. It may also be used to demonstrate the difficulty and complexity of ethical decision making by managers in conjunction with Chapter 6, Ethical Problems of Managers or Chapter 7, Managing for Ethical Conduct.
Velasquez, Manuel G. 1992. Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases. 3d Ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. May be used to help introduce moral reasoning in Chapter 1 or ethical principles in Chapter 2. May also be used in conjunction with Chapter 5, Ethics and the Environment.
Study Questions
Did Nash do the right thing in failing to disclose the information?
Was Nash the right person to make the judgment of whether or not to disclose?
What other steps might Nash have taken to help insure that he did the right thing?
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