Ethical Issues at Union Carbide

This report discusses the ethical issues at Union Carbide, focusing on the Bhopal gas tragedy. It explores the breach of safety standards, unethical leadership, loss of company image, and the construction of the factory near residential areas. The report also covers the approaches adopted and suggested to address these issues.

Ethical issues
at Union
Carbide

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Ethical issues at Union Carbide.......................................................................................................1
Case Study...................................................................................................................................1
Ethical issues................................................................................................................................2
Approaches adopted.....................................................................................................................3
Approaches suggested..................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION:...............................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Ethical issues refer to the situation where a conflict arises and the decision is to be taken
in the proper manner. In this conflict both the individual and the business are involved in the
conflicts and the decisions are to be taken in the proper manner so that in future no conflicts will
arise. These issues or the conflicts are dangerous for the organisation and may breach any law so
the decisions are to be taken in the proper manner (Gelinas, 2017). Ethical issues are very
difficult they won’t be able to deal with the situation where no guidelines are given. It is a
situation where the controversies and the dilemma may rise in the organisation. The topics
covered under this report are the case studies and various ethical issues are studied in the proper
manner.
Ethical issues at Union Carbide
Case Study
The present case study is taken into consideration on Bhopal gas tragedy. It is known as
the Bhopal disaster. This was gas leak incident on night of the 2-3 December in year 1984 at
Union Carbide India limited (UCIL) pesticide plant. This is measured as worst industrial disaster
in world. From this, more than 500,000 people were unprotected to the methyl isocyanate (MIC)
gas. More toxic substance made way into and also around small towns that located near plant.
This was the first main industrial disaster of India. Around 30 tonnes of the methyl isocyanate
gas killed the more than 15000 people and also impacted more than 600000 employees. This
case happened at pesticides plant at the Bhopal, small town in Madhya Pradesh. The gas tragedy
harm environment as well as polluted air, soil and water nearby the areas. In regards to this, MIC
reacts and toxic more strongly when this is combined with some other agents consisting the
water. There has been official cause reported about non- maintenance and slack management of
safety systems at the plant through an organisation (Armstrong, 2018). Other than this, company
argues that this was result regarding international sabotage that lead about failure of the safety
systems and also water entered into tank. MIC was mainly stored and it resulted into boiling
impact in tank that caused the safety values to be lethal and explode white smoke in order to
attack Bhopal city. Smoke caused the non- fatal and fatal injuries that arise the different health
issues for an instance burns, blindness, problems in respirator system and others. Indian
Government paid compensation to all victims and also final legal charges against the Union
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Carbide and Chairman I.e. Warren M. Anderson. Finally, firm settled case with payment of the
of $470 million in year 1989.
Ethical issues
Ethical issues refer to the issues where the conflict arises in the organisation and the
decision is to be take place in a proper manner and will not affect the organisation. There are the
carious issues, actions and the reactions which is to be observed in a proper manner. Ethical
issues faced by the company also have an impact so the decision is to be taken in the proper
manner. Ethical issues are challenging enough so the decisions are to be taken in the proper
manner (Mothersbaugh, Hawkin and Kleiser, 2019). These issues are the cause of the concern
and the decision are to be taken in the proper manner so the issues arises at the Union Carbide
are described below:
 Breach of safety standards- Company and the management is responsible for the safety
standards. As the individual safety is very important the decisions regarding this are to be
taken care in a proper manner. The safety decisions are to be taken by doing the proper
audits in an organisation which help in taking the decisions as in the Bhopal gas tragedy
there in underinvestment in the safety standards and the precautions are not taken by the
company and there is lack of management by which there is high risk and Bhopal gas
tragedy occurs.
 Unethical leadership: There are the insufficient leadership and the insufficient standards
creates a chance of this tragedy. The various techniques should be used to control the
situation in a proper manner and should have a safety system so that if this situation will
arise in future it can be handled in a proper manner. The leaders of the company without
helping the members of the team left the India which shows that they are not ethical and
the decisions is to be taken care in the proper manner. These leaderships have the impact
in the organisation.
 Loss of image of the company: The working condition of the Bhopal industry is very
poor as the maintenance is not good and there are no proper safety equipment’s or the
standards which are to be taken by the company if any tragedy arise. It main aim is to
save the money which was diminished due to the image of the company. It disowned the
moral responsibility and will affect the organisation so the decisions are to be taken in
proper manner when the business is starting. The image loss will affect the business and
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will not have a growth in the future. These business loss the image after the Bhopal gas
tragedy occurs as it affects the business and the decision is to be taken care in the proper
manner.
 Construction of factory near residential area: Company is dealing in the chemicals so
the chemical plants should be developed far away from the residential areas by which the
environment will not get affected and did not get polluted the decision is to be taken in an
proper manner regarding this (Murphy, Laczniak and Harris, 2016). By developing these
industries far away from the residential areas it will not affect the health of the individual
and have no negative impact on the air, water and the land. Quality controls measures are
to be taken in the proper manner so that the decision are to be taken properly in the future
and will not affect the business and the individual.
Approaches adopted
After analysing the ethical issues, the decisions are to be taken care in the proper manner
the approaches are selected in the proper manner so the future of an organisation can be saved
properly and the decisions regarding the social responsibility can also be taken in the proper
manner by which the tragedy is also faced before its negligence. The law has suit the US and the
India and the company has to pay the large amount for the victim’s treatment so that the image of
the company will built. In the year 1992 the plant was seized by the government and also get
announced for the sale of its assets so that the company can pay off its debts and can easily earn
the profit in the near future. The 17$ million is received to the Union carbide as the share of the
Bhopal gas tragedy and they donated to build the hospital near the Bhopal so that the victims can
be treated in a proper manner and help in getting them cure from the illness due to the Bhopal
gas tragedy. Company should conduct the proper audit and have strict policies that should be
monitored on the regular basis and safety hazards should be implemented so that the precautions
is to be taken when the tragedy arises and can helps the environment in the proper manner
(Simangunsong, Hendry and Stevenson, 2016).
Approaches suggested
To avoid the damages, the uncertainty and the unfortunate incidents can be avoided by
undertaking the environment and the economic factors and should have the proper report is
maintained before starting up of the company. The estimation of the profitability is to be taken in
the proper manner weather the project should start or not how much the profits will incur by
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which the organisation can grow in the proper manner. The company should properly use the
safety hazards which has the danger level of the products and the By-products in the
organisation. The chairman of the company should also have the moral and the social
responsibility which is to be followed by the individual in a proper manner (Stanton, Sinnott-
Armstrong and Huettel, 2017). The rehabilitation centres for the victims of the tragedy and the
economic compensation is to be given so that the decisions regarding the tragedy is to be taken
on the time. Without fighting everyone should work in the team and move out from this situation
and should be improved properly. They can restore the goodwill of the organisation and can
perform better.
CONCLUSION:
From the above report it has been concluded that the ethical issues are the issues which
are taken by the company and the issues related to the business are to be taken in the proper
manner. The ethical issues related to the Bhopal gas tragedy is to be maintained properly. The
safety lapses are to be taken by the company so that they can perform better and the serious
mismanagement of the company may hazard the life in an proper manner so the proper attention
is to be taken so that the repetition may not arise in the future.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Armstrong, G. M. And et. al., 2018. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson UK.
Gelinas, L. and et. al., 2017. Using social media as a research recruitment tool: ethical issues and
recommendations. The American Journal of Bioethics. 17(3). pp.3-14.
Mothersbaugh, D. L., Hawkin, D. I. and Kleiser, S. B., 2019. Consumer behavior: Building
marketing strategy. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Murphy, P. E., Laczniak, G. R. and Harris, F., 2016. Ethics in marketing: International cases
and perspectives. Taylor & Francis.
Simangunsong, E., Hendry, L. C. and Stevenson, M., 2016. Managing supply chain uncertainty
with emerging ethical issues. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management.
Stanton, S. J., Sinnott-Armstrong, W. and Huettel, S. A., 2017. Neuromarketing: Ethical
implications of its use and potential misuse. Journal of Business Ethics. 144(4). pp.799-
811.
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