Writing About Ethics
Overview
This is the assignment sheet for the Unit 2 Project. Use this sheet to guide your writing and also to submit your project.
Purpose
The purpose of this assignment is to apply the ethical concepts introduced in Unit 2. Additionally, you will use research techniques and use visual elements of a document to complete this essay.
Topic
In Unit 2, we have studied how ethics play into the way corporations can treat the individual, other corporations, and society at large.
Among other ethical concerns, corporations have an obligation to respect intellectual property, treat its workers fairly, and ensure the safety of the public. In regards to public safety, the corporation has an obligation to ensure that its products are safe and that its manufacturing processes are safe for the environment. Overall, ethical business practices are demanded by law to make sure that a corporation is not doing an undue amount of harm to individuals or society. As an employee, you will have some obligation to ensure that your company is adhering to these guidelines.
A corporate environment has a set of standards to ensure the ethical treatment of its employees. Employees should not have the ability to treat fellow employees unethically, even when a power dynamic makes these behaviors tempting. Constructs that may favor one individual over another in regards to race, sex, and many other designations, are to be ignored entirely in ethical business practices. Here, the individual has a direct role to play in ensuring the ethical workplace of their fellow employees.
Depending on one’s chosen profession, adhering to ethical conduct will have a different set of issues about which to be aware. For example, an architect who owns their own business and works alone will not have to consider whether or not they are being fair to their fellow employees, but will have to be highly aware of the safety of their designs. Meanwhile, somebody who works in human resources will have to be highly aware of the ethical treatment of individuals, but may need little awareness of the dangers of their company’s products.
PROMPT
Considering your chosen field and position, what ethical considerations will be a part of your job?
Instructions
1. Choose a career field and position that you will write about. This position could be your real life goal, but doesn't have to be.
2. Learn about ethics in your chosen career field and/or position by doing primary and/or secondary research.
3. Receive approval for your project.
4. Integrate the findings of your research by quoting the subject of an interview or by giving a summary of a historical event that occurred in your field. Analyze how ethics were implemented in that event.
5. Type your approval code next to your name before submitting the document as a Word document or PDF.
Specs
800-1000 words in MLA format
Include at least one image
Cite at least two sources
Timeframe
Doing the research for this essay, drafting, revising, and editing this assignment should take about ten and one-half hours.
Standards of Excellence
The essay should be well-organized into sections that examine your field/profession from different perspectives, using the terms introduced in Practical Strategies for Technical Communication Chapter 2. It should be 800+ words and incorporate helpful graphics, where appropriate. The essay should give an account of an event that occurred within your chosen field that highlights the way ethics are used to analyze actions taken by individuals in that field. The text of the essay should be well-edited and clear.
The choice of profession is Mechanical Engineering