Considering the number of ethical issues associated with Amazon, you have been hired by the Board of Directors to evaluate the current code of ethics and leadership principles.
Please answer the following questions.
1. Does Amazon’s current code of ethics and leadership principles (referred to as values) address current ethical issues?
Justify your response by providing a description of the ethical issue at Amazon and an example of the applicable value.
Provide analysis of how the value either allowed the ethical issue to occur/persist or how if the value was followed should have prevented the ethical issue from occurring/persisting.
2. Does Amazon’s current code of ethics and leadership principles (referred to as values) support a stakeholder orientation?
Demonstrate you understand the stakeholder orientation concept.
Justify your response by choosing a current Amazon value and the stakeholder group that benefits or is harmed by that value.
Be specific about the stakeholder group and the ethical issue that is affecting the stakeholder group.
3. Create a new value to add to either the leadership principles or code of ethics that you believe would help encourage and enforce a more ethical environment at Amazon.
Provide a specific example regarding the current environment/ethical issue and justify how your new value would improve Amazon’s ethical stance.
Include analysis of why this new value is necessary.
In order to receive full credit, you must justify your choices and provide sufficient detail demonstrating your understanding of the values, stakeholder orientation, and the chosen ethical issues you used to support your analysis.
I expect you to provide at least two paragraphs per question and expect that the overall paper will be two pages in length, not including your works cited page.
Please provide your responses in essay form using the Professional Writing Rules for All Assignments guidelines. Professional writing rules are summarized at the end of the case study instructions.
Required Reading:
Company Culture NYT article from 2015 – https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html?_r=0 (Links to an external site.) PDF for download: Inside Amazon_ Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace – The New York Times-1.pdf Download Inside Amazon_ Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace – The New York Times-1.pdf
2020 OneZone Opinion Piece re: numerous ethical issues at Amazon – https://onezero.medium.com/its-now-100-unethical-to-shop-on-amazon-48d553181a6c (Links to an external site.)
Leadership Principles – https://www.amazon.jobs/en/principles (Links to an external site.)
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics – https://ir.aboutamazon.com/corporate-governance/documents-and-charters/code-of-business-conduct-and-ethics/default.aspx (Links to an external site.)
Sample of Amazon Ethical Issues – you may also use your own resources.
Covid-19 Virus Worker Treatment
https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/04/02/amazon-worker-who-was-fired-after-coronavirus-walkout-says-he-is-being-silenced/#1084836c2ba9 (Links to an external site.)
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/02/amazon-lawyer-calls-fired-warehouse-worker-not-smart-or-articulate.html (Links to an external site.)
Prime Employee Safety – https://www.revealnews.org/article/behind-the-smiles/ (Links to an external site.)
Numerous ethical issues – https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-employees-protest-communications-policy/ (Links to an external site.)
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/27/amazon-employees-protest-external-communications-policy.html (Links to an external site.)
Climate Protest – https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/26/21082650/amazon-employees-protest-policy-climate-change-amazon-employees-for-climate-justice (Links to an external site.)
PROFESSIONAL WRITING RULES – applicable to all assignments
Prior to submitting any assignment, please review the following professional writing rules and expectations.
These rules and expectations apply to all written assignments for this course. The assignment rubric may not explicitly list each rule/expectation, but you will be evaluated in the style section of the rubric based on these rules.
All submissions must be in Word doc format.
Apple Pages, PDF, or Google Docs are not compatible formats for the grading requirements associated with this course.
All submissions must have your name, course, and title of the assignment in the upper left hand corner.
All submissions must be submitted with the following format:
– Acceptable fonts: Calibri, Times New Roman, Helvetica, or Arial;
– Font size: 12 pt;
– Margins set to 1″ at top, bottom, right, and left margin;
– APA cited (see below) and
– Single-spaced.
