CASE ANALYSIS: APPLICATION OF THE 6-STEPS OF MORAL REASONING

“You are working in a company as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) that is owned by Mr. X
who is your “godfather”. Your family is so indebted to Mr. X., because first, he provided
employment to your father for 25 years, and he likewise provided you with a scholarship
until you graduated from college. Often, whenever your family needs help, be it
hospitalization, educational support, birthday celebration, or whatnot, Mr. X. provided
some help, assistance, or support. Indeed, your family has a close tie with that of Mr. X.
Unfortunately, because of stiff competition and other factors, the company of Mr. X
where you are working started to lose some profit and there is a possibility of going into
bankruptcy if no intervention will be undertaken. If this happens, certainly your boss will
lose the company and many will become jobless including yourself. To aggressively
deal with the situation you, together with the other senior officials, were strictly advised
by your boss, Mr. X., to make drastic and somewhat unorthodox actions. Among other
interventions, you were given a marching order to misrepresent the income of the
company such that you will reduce the tax being paid to the government to about 70%.
You were also required to implement unfair competition against rival companies as well
as unfair labor practices by removing some benefits and emolument that are legally
provided to your employees. This situation has certainly put you into in moral dilemma.”

Presented above is a hypothetical case but let us assume that you are truly in the
situation. The issue is that you are compelled to respond to the marching order of
your boss who you are so indebted and obviously, the situation imposes a moral
dilemma that requires you to resolve in a hard way. How are you going to decide?
You are called upon to make a wise or ethical decision by employing the 7-Steps
Moral Reasoning Model by Scott B. Rae (as presented in LM 12, 13, and 14). You
will be required to make use of the prepared table or template below.

7-Steps Discuss your answers in this column

(numbered or bullet points as required in each
steps)
1. Gather the facts - That the family of the CEO is indebted to
 List three (3) important facts Mr. X
about the issue that we - Mr. X provided employment to the father
know for 25 years
 List at least three (3) - Mr. X. provided
relevant facts that we need some help, assistance, or support.
to know - What kind of person really is Mr. X?
- Does the company will be saved if the
CEO will follow the order of his boss?
- Do the CEO really need to follow those
kinds of orders just to save the company?
2. Determine the ethical
issues.
 These are moral values and
virtues.
 These are the conflicting
issues that create the moral
dilemma which mentally
disturbs you most as you try
to make a decision.
 List at least four (4), these
will be two pairs that in
conflict with each other as
can be gleaned from the
case above
3. Determine what virtues /
principles have a bearing
on the case
 These are being dictated or
prescribed by our cultural
values, religious principles,
constitutions and laws and
whatnot.
 Identify at least 4 virtues
and principles that are
relevant to the issue above.
4. List the alternatives
 These are the possible
courses of action for your
dilemma.
 List at least 4 possible
courses actions that will
solve by your moral
dilemma
5. Compare the alternatives
with
the virtues / principles
 Assess or evaluate the 4
possible actions (in step 4)
in relation to the 4 virtues
and principles you identified
in step 3.
- were severely advised, along with the
other senior officials to take drastic and
somewhat unorthodox moves in his
company.
- The CEO was also compelled to engage
in unfair competition with competitor
businesses.
- The CEO was also ordered to minimize
the amount of tax they paid to the
government.
- To remove some benefits of their
employees
- In order to repay the kindness to Mr. X
- In order to gain the trust of Mr. X
- To give justice to the employees to be fair
on what they really deserved as an
employee
- Being fair to other competitors
- Follow the orders of Mr. X
- Talk to Mr. X to consider his decisions
- Do not follow the orders of Mr. X
- Resign to the company
- If I follow Mr. X orders, I can repay his
kindness
- If I try to Talk to Mr. X to consider his
decisions and make another plan maybe
the company will be saved
- If I do not follow the orders of Mr. X, he
will lose his trust in me
- If I resign in his company and threaten
  Try to prioritize/rank them
(which is the lesser evil?)
6. Consider the
consequences
 Based on your evaluation of
the alternatives in step 5,
conduct elimination by
choosing two alternatives
that you evaluated as
having lesser moral
problems and present their
pros and cons
 Use bullet points
7. Make a decision
 From the 2 alternatives that
you evaluated in step 6,
state the one that you will
choose.
 This has the least number
of problems / painful
consequences.
him that I will report to the police on what
he is planning to do, the employees will
be saved.
- If I follow Mr. X orders, I can repay his
kindness. In this alternative, this is one of
the best choice I have because Mr. X
really helps us to be successful but If I do
this there’s a possibility that I will go to jail
because of his decisions
- If I try to Talk to Mr. X to consider his
decisions and make another plan maybe
the company will be saved. This
alternative is the best but there is no
guarantee that Mr. X will listen to me as
for the company is close to bankruptcy
-
- Try to Talk to Mr. X to consider his
decisions and make another plan to save his
company.