Toyota Ethical Issues
Current Ethical Issue in Business Toyota Ethical Issue
Charlie Badell, Dawn Vinaguerra, Dotlyn Robertson, Farida Biobaku, Peter Daunoy
HCS 350
July 18, 2011
John Muench, MSM
Current Ethical Issue in Business Ethics are moral principles of knowing right and wrong. All human action comes under the ethics of right or wrong. In the corporate world, ethics may be known as moral business principles. As defined by Crystal (2010), “Business ethics is the behavior that a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world” (Para. 1). The company’s business ethics relate to the organization, its employees, consumers, and the surrounding community that may be the world. In business ethics, the line between right and wrong may be thin and misty. One of the world top automakers Toyota came to a serious event in 2009, the event made Toyota tend that misty line of right and wrong. The media reported the event of several Toyota vehicles with sudden acceleration issues. Toyota’s world and business took a turn around with this event. The objective of this paper is to define clearly the Toyota issue; the basis for the issue; identify ground rules that manifested the Toyota situation; and discuss what ethical deficiency that brought the Toyota issue to light. The paper will address the ethical systems that were at work for key individuals in the organization and how the leadership of the company handled the situation. The role of middle management and executive management in causing or resolving the issue and a proposed plan for revising the company’s ethical standards will also be illustrated. Toyota Issues on recall Toyota one of the biggest world automakers ran into some ethical problems with the accelerator of its several types of vehicles. The issue was that several vehicles had pedal entrapment while still running the vehicles causing it impossible to stop the vehicle. According to Cole (2011), “there were several
Charlie Badell, Dawn Vinaguerra, Dotlyn Robertson, Farida Biobaku, Peter Daunoy
HCS 350
July 18, 2011
John Muench, MSM
Current Ethical Issue in Business Ethics are moral principles of knowing right and wrong. All human action comes under the ethics of right or wrong. In the corporate world, ethics may be known as moral business principles. As defined by Crystal (2010), “Business ethics is the behavior that a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world” (Para. 1). The company’s business ethics relate to the organization, its employees, consumers, and the surrounding community that may be the world. In business ethics, the line between right and wrong may be thin and misty. One of the world top automakers Toyota came to a serious event in 2009, the event made Toyota tend that misty line of right and wrong. The media reported the event of several Toyota vehicles with sudden acceleration issues. Toyota’s world and business took a turn around with this event. The objective of this paper is to define clearly the Toyota issue; the basis for the issue; identify ground rules that manifested the Toyota situation; and discuss what ethical deficiency that brought the Toyota issue to light. The paper will address the ethical systems that were at work for key individuals in the organization and how the leadership of the company handled the situation. The role of middle management and executive management in causing or resolving the issue and a proposed plan for revising the company’s ethical standards will also be illustrated. Toyota Issues on recall Toyota one of the biggest world automakers ran into some ethical problems with the accelerator of its several types of vehicles. The issue was that several vehicles had pedal entrapment while still running the vehicles causing it impossible to stop the vehicle. According to Cole (2011), “there were several
References: Cole, R. E. (2011). What really happened to Toyota? MIT Sloan Management Review, 52(4), 29- 35. Crystal, G. (2010). What is business ethics? Retrieved July 16, 2011 from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-business-ethics.htm. Liker, J. K., & Hoseus, M., (2008) “Toyota Culture”. The Heart & Soul of the Toyota Way. McGraw-Hill New York, NY. Retrieved on July 14, 2011 from http://healthy organizations .net