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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”
– Nelson Mandela

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Mid Term Exam - Ethics in Communication

Mid Term Exam - Ethics in Communication

Q Directions: 1. Choose ONE case from your textbook that you have not posted about in the discussion board on Blackboard. 2. Read the case. 3. Answer each of the discussion questions at the end of the case. 4. Be thoughtful in your answers, and make sure to include some reference to ethics from course materials in your answers. 5. Make sure to provide your name, the case name and the page numbers of the case in your textbook. Case Study 6 Toyota-Oh, What a Feeling, or Oh, What a Mess? (pages 99 - 109) 1. Is it reasonable to expect corporations to serve community interests above their own corporate interests? What ethical standards that you have studied suggest corporations should serve community interests above their own? In what ways, if any, did Toyota serve community interests above its own? 2. What limitations, if any, should be placed on the ability of corporations to influence government through lobbying and related efforts? How might nonprofit voices be allowed to gain equal influence in policy making and regulatory processes?3. To what extent were the views of the general public present and/or silenced in the Toyota congressional hearings?4. How and why do you think Toyota employees many have convinced themselves that their company’s technology could not be responsible for the acceleration problems?5. If you were working for Toyota, would you have recommended a more transparent and dialogic communication stance earlier in the life cycle of the issue? Why or why not?6. What were the ethical obligations of Toyota, the NHTSA, and the general public in this case? How did each of these stakeholders fulfil those obligations?

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I think that it is reasonable to expect corporations to serve community interests above their own corporate interests to safeguard the lives of the general public. This is because if the interests of profit-making is only served by corporations, there can be lack of consideration of the precious lives of the general public and the customers. Serving community interests can bring corporations to the good books of the general public and existing customers. However, there must not be pretense shown while serving community interests.