Nuclear Collapse Looms? Fukushima Reactor No. 4 “Leaning” (via RT)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

What are the business ethics problems revealed in this particular news article? First we have a with holding from the residents of critical information about their exposure to radiation. Second, we have worker safety issues on a very large scale. Workers have already died at the site. Third, we have a continuous underestimate of the radiation being released. It seems every time, TEPCO gives the public radiation numbers, it is later discovered to be too low.

It seems that the Japanese government and the utility, TEPCO, are in full damage control mode. They now hold one press conference a week. They invite only establishment press. They limit access to the site, not so much for safety’s sake but to prevent independent coverage.

As a business ethics disaster, these events will be featured in textbooks for generations.

James Pilant

Interesting Conversation [1] (via Nai2-tok ! where I ramble..non-stop)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Here is one small example of a worldwide problem but that is how the problem is usually felt, one human being at a time.

James Pilant

I always get my morning newspaper on my way to the office. In Indonesia, there are people who sell newspaper, magazine on the traffic light. So for you foreigners don’t be surprised by this sight. This is very common in Indonesia. And you can get all your media needs from them. Up until 1 year ago, I always buy my newspaper from this 1 person (let’s call him A). But then, in a sudden almost 1 week I coudln’t see him everywhere. I came in to concl … Read More

via Nai2-tok ! where I ramble..non-stop

Business Ethics Memo: Internet Kids’ Games as Junk Food Advertising (via guvedipivady)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Saying one thing and doing another as part of your business strategy is a failure of business ethics. Here we have a good example. This is not just an academic violation. This kind of marketing to children can take a terrible toll of lives lost or diminished.

Why would you want to do this? Is it just the ethos of let the buyer beware? The Ayn Rand concept of only profit as the measure of morality? Will they blame the often lower class families for poor decision making when they have gone to enormous, billions of dollars, lengths to persuade them to make those decisions?

In a prison, you can interview or survey the populations as to why they committed crimes. Some will tell you they had no choice, they were made to do it by forces in the larger society. Very few people buy that argument. But these corporate officials are quite likely to say things like, “If we don’t do it, our competitors will.” From their point of view social pressure forces them to do immoral things, and they are not to blame not only because they have to do it, but in a world with 100% free will (that’s right, many corporate officials believe in total free will), they merely provide a product, it is its misuse by a unlettered and immediate gratification oriented population that is the problem.

I don’t like the current corporate ethos, but with the “Citizens United” decision and a capacity for unlimited campaign contributions, new horrors await us all.

James Pilant

My thanks to guvedipivady.

Myriad processed-food conglomerates including General Mills, Unilever (which also owns Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream), Post Foods, Kraft and Kellogg’s, have pledged to stop or significantly limit their marketing of less healthy options to kids. But is seems that few if any of these companies are actually sticking to their word. As this excellent investigative report in the NYT?reveals, it seems all (except for perhaps Kraft, which is not mentioned) … Read More

via guvedipivady

Moral Implications of the Workplace Part 2 (via Ethical Realism)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I found this an informative post. There were things in it I didn’t know. It touches on many ethical issues, many of the critical ones in the lives of employees. Take this for an example –

Companies often pressure employees to get involved in civic activities, such as “running for the local school board or heading up a commission in the arts,” but such pressure must not constitute coercion (ibid.). Employees must not be disciplined or dismissed for a lack of participation, and even public embarrassment could be considered to be a form of coercion. For example, “[m]embers of the Army Band… won a suit claiming that the posting of names of soldiers who had not contributed to the United Way constituted coercion” (245).

Now that coercion is going to become far more intense. The supreme court’s Citizens United decision allows limitless spending on influencing employees.

And how about this?

Some businesses pressure employees to undergo “personal growth” to help people “realize their potential for perceiving, thinking, feeling, creating, and experiencing” (ibid.). There are many different kinds of intensive groups and companies often use “team-building groups to facilitate the attainment of production and related goals as well as to provide opportunities for improved human relations and personal growth” (ibid.). Again, intensive group experience can improve productivity, so it is relevant to job performance. However, employees should not be punished for refusing to participate.

This is one I find particularly loathsome. Chasing around as forced comrades in some strange locale for some strange idea of development inevitably tied in to some bizarre theory like “emotional intelligence,” is pretty close to forcing me to live in a version of a horror movie without hope of escape.

So, please give this writing your attention.

James Pilant

My thanks to Ethical Realism.

I have already discussed various moral implications of the workplace in part 1 of “Moral Implications of the Workplace,” and I will continue the discussion here by considering (a) privacy, (b) work conditions, and (c) job satisfaction. This discussion is based on chapter seven of Business Ethics (Third Edition, 1999) by William Shaw. Privacy We have a right to privacy, and a lack of privacy can endanger our livelyhood. We don’t want people to see … Read More

via Ethical Realism

Do Not Spam Me Again! (via Paul Daniel’s Views On The World, For What They’re Worth)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

As my regular readers are aware I love outrage. I think people should be angry about a lot of what is happening in the field of ethics. This blog is full of outrage and the good kind – directed outrage with an inclination toward action. Not only is our brave blogger upset – he is fighting against those wicked spammers. He should get awards and letters of congratulation. While others gripe, he lets the spammers know what he thinks..

I am delighted to repost this. There is an e-mail exchange he posts that is a must read. I like the wit, the intelligence and the outrage of our writer. Go get ’em.

James Pilant

Thanks to the web site, Paul Daniel’s View on the World, For What They’re Worth.

Do Not Spam Me Again! As far as I’m concerned, most IT recruiters should be transported by air to New Zealand and dropped 30,000 feet into a boiling mud pool. Mind you, I do have a few colleagues who are recruiters, who are generally good people, but generally it hasn’t been a great experience when I have had to deal with them. Unfortunately, the one for whom I have the most respect supports Collingwood. Consider the following e-mail extract, reading from the bottom u … Read More

via Paul Daniel’s Views On The World, For What They’re Worth

Ethics & Blog Purpose (via Backtrack 4 R2 How-to Blog 4 Noob’s)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

This is a code of ethics for blogging. I like it. It is also a code of purpose.

Some might make fun of codes of ethics. I make fun of bad ones or ones not being followed. And I have a good time doing it. But I still like them. Aren’t the religions of Christianity and Buddhism in a way codes of ethics?

Codes of ethics are one way to spread the word about what is or is not acceptable conduct.

So, read and enjoy.

James Pilant

Purpose To educate myself and others about the weaknesses of computers and networks To provide a resource for myself and others on how to create a more secure computer, networking environment, and internet use For myself and others to be able to use this information to better protect themselves from spammers, bad hackers, and destructive people To create and maintain the information in this blog to be as accurate and user friendly as possible in … Read More

via Backtrack 4 R2 How-to Blog 4 Noob’s

Civil society do-gooders versus ‘dirty tricks’ department (Comment) (via pennsperry)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

Do-gooders is a title of derision and a major criticism in the United States. It implies giving help where none is requested and idealism in a situation where everyone is comfortable.

Here it is used in another sense, political newcomer, neophyte, starry eyed idealist, etc. That is only to be expected. Generally speaking to be effective, a wide ranging movement eventually becomes organized to maintain pressure over long periods of time. In the United States, organizations like C.O.R.E., the Congress of Racial Equality and the N.A.A.C.P., National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, carried on the struggle for civil rights for minorities in the United States. It was recognized that even though the public favored the cause, it required continuous pressure to make change possible.

A large unorganized movement can easily be broken by attacks because it has no mechanism for defense, no central leadership to react to these kinds of assaults. Hazare’s organization is not really organized. It is almost helpless against attacks in the media. Because of its diffuse membership, there can be a dozen different responses to crisis coming from different parties in different places.

I admire Anna Hazare but the next stage of the battle is about to begin. It will take continuous pressure over decades to change the endemic culture of corruption. I’m going to watch. India is no longer a backwater in the field of social change, it is the front line in a worldwide  battle for ethics and morality in public life.

This is a good article, a little more cynical than me, which is saying a lot. My heart and prayers are with the reformers. It is time for a change.

James Pilant

By Amulya Ganguli When Anna Hazare and his warriors launched their anti-corruption crusade in early April, they were acting like starry-eyed idealists ready to take on the world. Their ardour had something of the assurance, full of zest, which every generation felt when they embarked on a mission to usher in a new dawn. Although a few of those in the frontline are young – Hazare himself is a septuagenarian – their youthful fervour of those days w … Read More

via pennsperry

Majboori Ka Naam Mahatma Gandhi: Why? (via ArpitGarg’s Weblog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

This one is kind of fun. We take a historical figure, place a controversial title or descriptive word, that has existed about him for a long period of time and explore the meanings.

It’s a pretty posting. However, my knowledge of Indian culture is not strong enough to know if the interpretations are correct. But it has the kind of analysis that suggests sincerity.

I would like some feed back. I have to figure out about India. I think there is something important here.

James Pilant

Majboori Ka Naam Mahatma Gandhi: Why? “Kyon bhai sahab, aaj car ki jagah bus se travel?” “Kya karein, Mazboori ka naam Mahatma Gandhi.” We use this phrase all the time. Don’t we? If I ask you, “What does Majboori have to do with Mahatma Gandhi?” Most of you would be stumped. Come to think of it, don’t you feel odd that we have coined our Father of the Nation, Mazboori. In English, Mazboori means obligations, compulsions, and constraints emerging out of sheer helplessness. I asked man … Read More

via ArpitGarg’s Weblog

Radioactive strontium detected at Fukushima plant (via )

On By southwerkIn business ethics

The more kinds of radioactive material can be reasonably assumed to mean more leakage from the plant. Fortunately strontium is bad but not as bad as many other nuclear deposits.

James Pilant

Radioactive strontium detected at Fukushima plant Japan Broadcasting Corporation Tokyo Electric Power Company has detected high levels of radioactive strontium in soil inside the compound of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Strontium can cause cancer and like calcium it tends to collect in bones once humans inhale it. Up to 570 becquerels of strontium 90 per kilogram of dry soil were detected in samples from 3 locations. They were taken on April 18, about 500 meters from the N … Read More

via

Deadly Silence on Fukushima (via Udolicko’s Blog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This post discusses the defacto censorship by the Japanese government and TEPCO, the Japanese utility that owns the plants. There are also charges that dangerous levels of plutonium exist around the plant. Since No. 4 reactor ran hotter than any of the other nuclear plants because it was using a hybrid fuel of regular uranium and plutonium, it would only stand to reason that there must be some contamination.

There are also fairly lengthy discussions of Chernobyl, independent journalism and government censorship. It’s lengthy but it has to be to provide so much information.

James Pilant

Deadly Silence on Fukushima I received the following email a few days ago from a Russian nuclear physicist friend who is an expert on the kinds of gases being released at Fukushima. Here is what he wrote: “About Japan: the problem is that the reactor uses “dirty” fuel. It is a combination of plutonium and uranium (MOX). I suspect that the old fuel rods have bean spread out due to the explosion and the surrounding area is contaminated with plutonium which mean … Read More

via Udolicko’s Blog