A Dilemma

A local manufacturing plant is experiencing the problem described below.  Several solutions are possible.  Your task is to evaluate the various solutions, examining the strengths and weaknesses of each one.  Consider also what values are represented by each choice.  Think about this issue: any decision regarding a solution to any problem involves values.  Then choose a course of action and explain your reasoning. 

A product manufactured in a local plant is regularly purchased by the Department of Defense and as well as other entities. It is not essential to national security, just a product that is used by the DOD because it is more durable and costs less than some alternatives. Here are other relevant facts.

• Recent studies have found that women exposed to a chemical used in the product have an increased likelihood of birth defects in their children; no correlation has been found with birth defects in the children of men exposed to the chemical.  (This fact does not guarantee that no correlation exists, merely that none has yet been found.)
• Jobs in this unit pay 15% more than other jobs in the plant for the same skill level.  These are among the best manufacturing salaries in the area.
• A safer substitute chemical exists, but it is less durable and more expensive.
• Installing equipment to reduce worker exposure will (if prices are changed to reflect the increased production costs) increase the cost of the product by an undetermined amount, but less than 20%.

What should be done?

• Do nothing.  Issue warnings to all workers about the risk.
• Bar women from the unit.
• Require that all pre-menopausal women working in the unit be sterilized. 
• Purchase the necessary safety equipment and raise the price of the product to make up the difference.
• Purchase the necessary safety equipment and reduce salaries in the unit, making up the cost in this way.
• Purchase the necessary safety equipment and absorb the cost, explaining the reason for the choice to stockholders.
• Switch to the safer substitute chemical, explaining the reasons to the DOD.
• Another course of action not listed above.

Once you have decided on a course of action, explain your choice in writing.  What are the benefits of this choice?  What are the drawbacks?  What values led you to make the choice you did?  What might have motivated people who made other recommendations?  What if anything do you have in common?

Form groups of three or four students and share your choices; you are the committee that must make a recommendation to the management of the firm.  Try to reach consensus as to what you will recommend, though issuing a minority report is an option.  Once all groups have finished their discussions, list each group's choice on the board.  Then and only then, click on the following hyperlink:

What really happened