The essay discusses the utilitarian approach for the assessment of an issue pertaining to Ford Motor Company's decision followed by a moral judgement regarding a particular action. The essay tends to argue on the morality attached in the production of the Ford Pinto.
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Running head: UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS Name of the Student Name of the University Author Note
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1UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS The theory of Utilitarianism supports the activities, which results in happiness and rejects the harm causing actions. Utilitarian analysis is used for the betterment of the society byassessingthesocial,politicalaswellaseconomicdecisionsofan individual/group/company (Raam 20). In this paper, the Utilitarian analysis will be carried out for Ford Motor Company. The essay will discuss on the utilitarian approach for the assessment of an issue pertaining to the company’s decision followed by a moral judgement regarding a particular action. The essay tends to argue on the morality attached in the production of the Ford Pinto. Utilitarian approach reflects the act of involving in an action, which can benefit for most number of people. An action is analysed in regards of its outcomes by using Utilitarian approach (De George and Richard 9). The approach aims at attaining ‘the greatest good for greatest number’, which restricts the consequences of harming anyone (Boutilieret al. 190) The action, which will be analysed under the frame of Utilitarianism, is the morality intact in the production of Ford Pinto by Ford Motor Company. Ford Motor Company manufactured a subcompact car, Ford Pinto. It was manufactured for the mass as it was planned to be an affordable car option by Ford to compete with the Japanese imported cars. One of the ethical flaw of Ford Motor Company was that the model Ford Pinto was not tested for rear-end impact before the production in spite the engineers knowledge about the safety standards, which requires testing. They focused solely on the period of production for an affordable car by reducing the usual time. Ford Motor Company presented a target of 25 months of introducing the car line shifting form a usual of 43 months. The business managers of the company prioritized the impact of competing with an affordable option in the automobile segment than concentrating on manufacturing a safe as well as valued product. Analysis through Utilitarianism can reflect that the safety of the target market, which is the ‘most’ in this case, was not prioritized over the urge of acquiring market share by early production.
2UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS Another error committed by Ford Motor Company was completely unethical as even after testing the rear-end impact on the cars after the process of production; the company ignored the failed results. The design of the model stationed the fuel tank in a risky position. Even 20 miles per hour speed of a vehicle coming from the rear can damage the whole car by getting it to burst in fire. Although, the company was not unknown of the consequences of the failed test results, it did not restricted their decision of continuing with the same model without attaching a baffle for safety. The company’s justification for this action was their cost/benefit analysis in which they considered the cost of attaching the baffle would be more than the expected risk without the baffle. Moreover, the company ignored the responsibility of presenting an offer of selling baffle to the customers. The consequence of this action was devastating as thirteen cars were reported in the collision due to rear-end accident in between the year 1976 to 1977. Therefore, it can be understood that approach was against the theory of Utilitarianism as it did not considered the happiness and safety of the mass (consumers) for the benefit of cost (which constitute the small portion of ‘most’) involved in attaching the waffle. However, at the time of the Ford Pinto’s production, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rear-end impact standard was not in practice, which restricted the compulsion of the test. The company’s evaluation of costing can be one of the justifications of not attaching the baffle even after the failed test results. The company’s aim was to offer an affordable car to the consumers as well as to be able to compete with the Japanese exportedcars.Theneedforincreasingthemarketshareinfluencedthealterationof production schedule. Therefore, it can be concluded by the evaluation of the action through Utilitarian analysis that the company’s decision of continuing with the same defected model, which was prone to rear-end accidents, was morally wrong as well as does not comply with the utilitarian approach. The company should have taken considerable amount of time in
3UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS producing a car line to maintain the safety guidelines and even if the company could not bear the cost of attaching the baffle for safety reason, they should have at least offered the consumers of purchasing the baffle for the concern of ‘greatest number’.
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4UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS References: Boutilier, Craig, et al. "Optimal social choice functions: A utilitarian view."Artificial Intelligence227 (2015): 190-213. De George, Richard T. "Werhane’s Role in the Development of the Discipline of Business Ethics: A Critical Appreciation."The Moral Imagination of Patricia Werhane: A Festschrift(2018): 9-27. Raam, D. Shree, M. Ponmutharasan, and R. Sayee Krishna. "A utilitarian approach on reducingtheaccidentssignificantlyusingInternetofThings."2016Second InternationalConferenceonScienceTechnologyEngineeringandManagement (ICONSTEM). IEEE, 2016.