|
This
discussion assignment requires you to submit at least four posts: an
initial post, two reply posts to fellow students in threads other than
your own, and a revised post.
|
|
 |
Prepare: In preparation for your
first post in this discussion, you will become familiar with the case
of Perdue Farms by means of the material listed under Required Resources
(Generally). You will also find more material under Required Resources
(Per Subject Heading) because the specific task for this discussion is
to examine this case with an eye for any one of the following four
subject headings in business ethics: (1) the environment, (2)
advertising, (3) consumer safety and (4) moral responsibility. You must
select one of these subject headings and your selection will be the
specific focus of your work for your discussion. Accordingly, you will
be responsible to complete the readings and videos listed under your
chosen subject heading.
|
|
 |
Reflect: If you choose the
environment subject heading, reflect on the sheer density of chickens
raised at any given time in the Perdue facilities. The disposal of their
discarded remains and their processing for distribution, either
individually and most definitely together, pose a number of
environmental concerns.
If you choose the advertising subject heading,
reflect on how the two videos on Perdue farms present the sharp
contrast between the way the company presents its product and the way in
which it has been discovered to run its chicken farms. Consider whether
this is an example of failure to provide truth in advertising and how
you would support such a stance.
If you choose the consumer safety subject
heading, reflect on the way in which chickens raised in factory farms
risks consumer safety. These might include (a) bacterial contamination,
(b) the effects of antibiotics on the meat that is consumed, or (c) the
release of adrenaline, cortisone, and other chemicals resulting from the
acute stress endured by factory farm animals, which then becomes part
of the meat that is later consumed by humans.
If you choose the moral responsibility heading,
reflect on the stewardship role that may fall upon humans toward
non-human animals. Can we utilize them as mere means to an end (for
entertainment, companionship, or food)? Or do we have special
obligations toward them (e.g., not to mistreat or torture them and to
slaughter them quickly and without stress) because they are sentient
beings?
Once you have completed the indicated readings
and videos, reflect on the ethical theories that we have covered in the
discussions thus far and identify one that you want to apply for your
analysis in your discussion post.
Also, reflect on the regulations (or lack
thereof) in the factory farming industry in order to be able to examine
how our nation’s laws affect the operations of the business. You will need to research the applicable laws on the factory farming industry.
Finally, since Perdue Farms is an American
corporation, reflect on the mixed economic system in the United States
in order to articulate the setting for the operations of factory
farming, and then, be able to analyze the ethical actions of Perdue
given this setting.
|
|
 |
Write: In the first part of your
initial post, you will need to introduce the Perdue case within the
particular subject heading that you have chosen. In this introduction,
you will also need to (1) articulate the relevant characteristics of our
mixed economic system and (2) present the regulations for the factory
farming industry. These will provide the setting for you to be able to
examine how the nation’s laws affect its operations.
In the second part of your initial post, present
your analysis of the problem in a way that identifies which entities
(Perdue as a corporation, the economic system in the USA, the regulatory
control of the state, or all of these) have a role in the problem that
you have presented. In your analysis, you must assess the negative
effects of the interplay between business activity and one of the
following: the environment, advertising, consumer safety, or corporate
social responsibility. Your focus must be an ethical analysis of this
interplay, and it must be well supported by reliable and/or scholarly
sources by clearly identifying the ethical theory that you are applying
in your analysis.
|
|
| |
Revise: Read the feedback
provided by your professor to your initial post, either directly to you
or to your fellow students. Use this as an opportunity to learn from
your professor, especially with regard to the best ways to apply the
course material and your research to your analysis. On the basis of what
you have learned in this process, post an improved revision of your
initial post that applies the additional knowledge that you have gained.
Remember that your grade depends on the quality
of your initial and revised responses, not just on the submission of an
attempt at improvement. It is thus to your advantage to post the best
initial post you can and then to also improve that best effort as much
as you can through revision. Taking this process seriously will help you
develop the skills you need to do well on the Final Project.
|
|
| |
Requirements for Your Initial Post:
- Your initial post should be at least 400 words in length and have citations and references in APA notation.
It should address the prompt in its entirety. This means that you
should not split your response to the prompt in multiple posts. Your
examination should be both thorough and succinct. This is a combination
that demands time and thought, so give yourself sufficient time to draft
and revise.
- Please be advised that until you post, you
will not see what your fellow students are posting. Once you submit your
post, you will be able to view the posts from your other classmates.
You can then proceed to reply to at least two different threads based on
the required material for this discussion.
- Your list of references for your initial
post should include the videos and the other required reading material
for this discussion, the Instructor Guidance, and any other
announcements presented to you by your professor. List all the course
material that informed your work in the list of references and cite
these too where appropriate. In addition, your references should include
any other sources that you consult to inform yourself (but not
Wikipedia or similar sources).
- Your initial post for this discussion should be submitted no later than the end of Thursday (11:59 pm, U.S. Mountain time).
|
|
|
|
Requirements for Replies to Other Threads:
- At least two of the four posts required should be in the form of replies to fellow classmates in threads other than your own.
- Each of your replies should be at least 200 words
and informed by the course material. As such, the replies must have
citations and references in APA notation. Your list of references for
each reply should include all of the course material that has informed
your reply, in addition to any research that you have obtained on your
own.
- Your replies should focus on the specific
examination presented by your fellow student, and these should include
an examination of whether or not the characteristics of the ethical
theory and/or economic system were identified well, and whether or not
their application and analysis was also carried out successfully.
Providing such an examination is not an attack on your fellow student
but an attempt to work together with your fellow student toward the
better understanding of the ethical theories employed, as well as their
application.
|
|
| |
Requirements for Revising Your Initial Post:
- Submit a revision of your initial post by
either replying to your own post, or to the feedback provided to you by
your professor.
- There is no minimum word requirement for
your revised initial post. But you should always explain the reasons for
revising your post so that it is clear what you are doing. If you are
revising only a few words, or an ethical theory, you should not just
submit a post with vague language such as: “duty ethics works better
here” or “I did not consider the economic system.” It is important to
recognize that no one can read your mind so you need to provide the
setting for your revision (Why? What prompted it? What course material
informed you?) , and it is important to write in clear language and
complete sentences.
- Your revised initial post is your chance to
correct any oversights or errors in your initial post, or show your
improved understanding of the material and its applications to the case
at hand. You may, for example, come to the realization that another
ethical theory is better than the one that you initially chose.
Accordingly, your revision should indicate that you chose another
ethical theory and an explanation why you find the replacement more
suitable. You may also find the need to revise any relevant portions of
your analysis. Or, you might have realized that your conclusion did not
take into account important factors necessary for your evaluation of the
situation.
- You should maximize the improvement of your initial post by employing your professor’s feedback as a guide.
Keep in mind that you may not always receive direct feedback from your
professor. But your professor will have submitted feedback in the
discussion to other posts. So read your professor’s feedback whether it
is addressed to you directlyor to other fellow students. This will give
you much to think about and apply to your own post.
- If your professor or a fellow classmate
responds to your revised initial post, and on this basis, you find good
reason to submit yet another revision, then by all means do so. The more
you improve your initial post, the more you will benefit both in terms
of your learning and most likely your grade. The first response to a classmate is below, followed by the second one. For this discussion, I chose to analyze the Perdue case regarding
moral responsibility. After watching the supplied videos, I can
understand why so much attention is needed in the factory farming
industry. When we think of consuming meat, we don’t take into
consideration the process our meat goes through before it gets to the
stores. Unfair animal treatment and the over use of antibiotics is
brought into question as farmers feed, confine, and breed their company
supplied chickens as agreed to in Perdue’s contract with the farmer
(Compassion, 2014). The fact that factory farming is
conducted with animals in confined spaces without exposure to their
natural habitat, should be a concern to those who know. As a solution to
supply food to our fast-growing world population, CAFO’s or
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations aided in higher productions on
farms and is regulated by the FDA, USDA, and EPA. It is surprising to
know that our government agencies don’t hold the same stringent
regulations and laws for livestock raising as the requirements for
steel, coal, or auto industry’s’ environmental discharge (Kirby, n.d.).
Under-regulation among the combination of three government agencies
draws concern as our government exercises capitalist characteristics.
CAFO’s are strictly for-profit companies that have a large demand in
product which results in a billion-dollar industry that is supported by
politicians or government officials. Our government at times does have
pressure from multilateral trade institutions and trade partners to
eliminate protectionism in agriculture trade to protect US factory
farmers from imported food competition (Messerlin, 2005, Long et.al.,
2013). There is about 2% of livestock farms that produce 40% of all meat
and other products consumed around the world, creating inadequate
farming practices (Kirby, n.d.). The socialist characteristic our
government shows is in 6 companies that have been allowed to dominate
the agribusiness industry. Perdue, Tyson, Smithfield, Cargill, ADM, and
Land O’Lakes control processing, packing and distribution which allows
them to control much of the poultry and livestock production in the
United States (Kirby, n.d.). In 1994 the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS
Agreement) was adopted by the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade
Negotiations (that the U.S. is a part of) where members report
sanitary/phytosanitary measures along with necessary changes to other
members (Long). As seen when trading internationally with Europe,
questionable farming practices including hormone and antibiotic usage
caused ethical and safety concerns abroad leading to a ban; the U.S.
increased tariffs on all of Europe’s agriculture products in return,
showing financial intentions only (Donovan, 2015). In 2014, The Food Safety Modernization Act
was created expanding the FDA’s authority with attempts to require
farmers to have better plans for disease prevention (Donovan, 2015). The
effectiveness of this act will take some time to see, yet many think
the FDA needed to do more instead of have more control in an area that
is under regulated already.
The utilitarianism theory is seen when animals are raised to benefit a
large majority of the world. It is for the greater good that more
people have food to eat. Animals raised in farm settings are viewed as
product for consumption instead of a pet or companion. Animal rights
don’t apply the same for animals in factory farming; however, proper
treatment is needed for the animals to ensure their best health so when
consumed, contaminates or diseases are not spread. Perdu is working with
a hand full of local farmers using them as a means to an end instead of
branching out to incorporate cleaner farming practices. There is
clearly government interest regarding food but laws are vague and few to
enforce serious change. This presents the moral dilemma within Perdu
because their treatment plans for animals appear to follow regulations
yet food born illnesses and disease continue to rise along with global
population. Perdue should exercise corporate social responsibility and
lead the way for factory farm improvements. The second response to a classmate is below. According
to the video produced by CompassionUSA (2014), over the course of six
weeks, in a house of 30,000 Perdue chickens laying side by side, it is
considered normal for more than 1,000 of those birds to die in each
flock. The birds are not allowed to go outside to get fresh air or see
sunlight. They are crammed into a warehouse where they are overfed and
are prone to illness, genetic problems, and injury from being so tightly
packed together. These concentrated animal feeding operations
(“CAFOs”) emit large quantities of air pollutants that are harmful to
public health, sickening people and damaging the environment. Some of
the pollutants include ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, nitrous oxide,
methane, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
(Hoover, 2013). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is in charge
of regulating air pollution in these industries and are failing
miserably when it comes to factory farms and pollutants. Factory
farming most definitely falls under the capitalistic nature of free
market economics. Fieser (2015), defines this by saying “businesses
should be governed by the laws of supply and demand, not restrained by
government interference. The idea of competition in a free market is
sometimes compared with the evolutionary notion of survival of the
fittest.” In other words Perdue justifies its mistreating of animals
and the process to discarding the chicken’s remains, by using the shear
realistic need for large quantities of food to be mass produced. These
actions degrade and conflict with the use of utilitarianism ethics in
Perdue’s business model. In order for Perdue to succeed in running
their organization, they need to focus on maximizing pleasure for all,
and to reduce suffering (Zúñiga & Postigo, 2015). By allowing the
chickens the freedom to roam outside in the sunlight and get fresh air,
it maximizes the pleasure and life of the chicken, while simultaneously
reducing the suffering of the chickens being stuck inside a warehouse
with 30,000 other chickens side by side. This creates a better overall
product to the end consumer. Additionally if Perdue and the EPA were
more environmentally conscious about the pollutants they were putting
into the air, then they could maximize the pleasure and reduce the
suffering of the chickens and the farmers living in that environment.
|
