Case Study Assignment
Purpose
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your grasp of one of the general ethical theories and one of the
normative leadership ethical theories by applying the theories to a real-world case of your selection.
Objectives
To identify a case with ethical implications; to identify the relevant ethical issues; to apply recognized
ethical approaches to the case; to evaluate the case and make an argument for resolution.
Prompt
Think of yourself as an ethical consultant. Your goal is to demonstrate your ability to effectively apply
one of the general ethical theories and one of the leadership-specific theories to explain and evaluate a
real-world ethical situation. You will both evaluate the choices made by the actors in the situation and
prescribe other or additional actions they should take.
Specifics
There are two graded parts to the assignment. The proposal (40 pts) will come first, followed by the
final paper itself (100 pts.)
Look for a situation that is reasonably well documented with identifiable ethical concerns. It may be
easier to go with cases that are relatively recent, but not too recent. 3-10 years old is a good range to
look for, but that is not required.
The proposal should be 250-500 words (approximately 1-2 double-spaced pages, not including works
cited/references pages). The proposal should briefly outline the relevant details of the case and
identify the ethical issues under consideration. Look to justify the consideration of this specific case
in an extended analysis.
The final paper should be 1500-2500 words (approximately 6-10 double-spaced pages, not including
works cited/references pages). There is no minimum number of sources to include, but all relevant
information should be sourced and all sources used should be properly cited using one of the three
major style sheets (APA, MLA, or Chicago).
Evaluation
An approved proposal will receive full credit. Receiving approval on the proposal may involve several
rounds of questions, editing, and additional research.
An “A” level paper will engage with the situation thoroughly and soundly, identifying and dealing
with the relevant issues in an argumentatively sound and well-supported way while also demonstrating
proper form about spelling, grammar, and citations.
A “B” paper will have some, but not many and not egregious, errors in issue selection, argument, or
evidence, and/or will have several formal errors.
A “C” paper will have several and/or egregious errors in issue selection, argument, or evidence and/or
frequent grammatical, spelling, or citation errors.
Tips for success
As you search for a topic, I recommend balancing complexity with clarity. That is, and a topic where
you can relatively easily see the ethical issues under consideration, but also one where those ethical
issues are sufficiently complex to spend time on. As an example, in 1995, the Malden Mills textile
factory was destroyed and the CEO of the company chose to continue paying the employees despite
their being unable to work. Generally, the CEO was lauded for doing right by the workers. The ethical
issues in that case are easy to see, but there is also not much complexity to them. Other than
balancing the well-being of the workers against the company’s revenue, there is not much to dig into.
On the up side, the Supreme Court has some rules about when a justice should recuse her or himself
from a case, such as when he or she owns stock in a company that is a party. In both the 2015 and
2016 terms, a justice was discovered to have such a conviction only after the case had been heard and
discussed by the court. The ethical issues that revolve around direct stock ownership and conflicts of
interest could be sufficiently complex to work on, but the ethical concerns themselves are probably
not immediately evident unless a justice is knowingly hearing a case with a contact. Since both of
these cases were accidents and the justices in question took care to remedy the situation (one by
recusing, one by selling the stock), the concerns are almost entirely hypothetical. Both the Malden
Mills and the Supreme Court issues mentioned here would probably not make for good case studies
(though I’m open to persuasion if you think otherwise).
Your first section should outline the situation in some detail. Tell me what happened, relying on the best
sources you have available.
In the second section, be clear about what ethical frameworks you will use. Once you have identified
them, outline them to explain what they are. Then use the principles you discussed to render a
judgment; did the actors in the case behave ethically or not?
In the third section, make a prescription. If the actors in the case did not behave ethically, what should
they have done instead? If they did behave ethically, what should they do next? What could other
actors in similar situations learn from this situation?
I am available to help via email and/or Zoom conferences. Please do not hesitate to ask questions!
Here you’ll submit the proposal for your final case study for the course. The final case study assignment is attached here, so you’ll know what you’re ultimately writing toward.
For the proposal, you will need three elements:
Outline the details of the case itself. Think in terms of the 5 W’s: What, Who, Where, When, Why. Provide a summary of all of the relevant details that someone would need to grasp the case.
Identify and briefly justify the two theoretical approaches (one general approach, one normative approach) that you plan to use in the analysis.
Briefly outline what the analysis will look like. Using those theories, what are the relevant parts of the scenario? How do the two theories fit together?
With each draft proposal you submit, I will make comments and ask questions intended to clarify the argument. You will revise and resubmit the proposal until it gets approved. Once approved, the proposal will receive full credit. I don’t expect any proposal to be approved on the first draft; you will be revising. That’s a good thing because, with each new draft of the proposal, you will get closer to an easy writing process for the final case study.
