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Beginning in 1992, "Beavis and Butt-head," an animated series on MTV about two uncivilized teenaged misfits, became both a runaway popular sensation and the symbol of a heated national debate about violent and inappropriate programming on television. Especially after the show was blamed for inspiring a five-year-old to set a fire that killed his younger sister, the controversy posed difficult decisions both for MTV's parent company, Viacom, and for advertisers, including some of America's biggest.

Supplements the (A) case.

Charles Foley, vice president of the computer retailing firm Sayer MicroWorld, must decide whether or not to fire his employee, Kathryn McNeil, a 37-year-old product manager who has been unable to work as many hours as her colleagues due to her status as a single parent of a six-year-old boy. The company's recent risk-laden acquisition of another ailing firm has intensified the office's already high-pressure environment by necessitating that all employees work 13- and 14-hour days. Although McNeil appears to be doing her best to fulfill both her parental and professional responsibilities, her immediate supervisor insists that McNeil has not been able to complete her share of the work.

Supplements the (A) case.

A junior salesperson on FirstAmerica Bank's trading floor is assisting a top salesperson, Linda, on a deal to finance the construction of a new cruise ship for Poseidon Cruise Lines. While the terms of the deal are being worked out, he realizes Linda has taken advantage of the Poseidon executives' unfamiliarity with complex financial structures to build an outrageously high profit margin into the deal. When the executives become suspicious of the prices FirstAmerica is quoting, Linda asks the protoganist to send them an intentionally misleading fax so that the deal will not be held up. Holding the personal belief that "before a blind man you shall not put a stumpling block," he does not know if he can bring himself to send the information.

Supplements the (A) case.

A product manager at a health products company is responsible for marketing sharps containers, which hospitals use to store used needles in order to protect medical workers from being pricked with AIDS-contaminated needles. After hospitals report repeated instances of needles penetrating the container walls, she realizes the defective product poses a health hazard for medical workers. The product manager must decide whether or not to fix the containers when doing so would significantly decrease her profit performance for the year. The company mission statement stresses quality commitment to customers, but all compensation and advancement incentives are geared solely toward profit objectives.

A young investment banker returns home one night to find that her roommate and best friend has been laid off from Universal Bank because Universal is shutting down its capital finance group. Her roommate makes her promise to keep this information confidential because the news is not to be disclosed to the market for several days. The protaganist knows, however, that Universal's capital finance group is collaborating with her own investment bank on a leveraged buyout deal and that Universal's withdrawal could have potentially disastrous ramifications for the deal if her own investment bank is not notified immediately. She must decide whether to break her promise to her friend or to remain silent and expose her own company to great risk.

Supplements the (A) case.

Conoco faces challenges in formulating a proactive environmental strategy for its proposed oil development in Ecuador's pristine tropical rain forest region. The case outlines the innovative process in which Conoco collaborated with a wide range of often conflicting constituency groups to define and implement its policies, along with Conoco's successes and failures in reaching constituency consensus.

Many people believe that there is some single, overarching approach to business ethics: e.g., serve the shareholders, serve the stakeholders, or follow your conscience. In reality, however, the search for a grand, unifying principle of management morality often leads to frustration and cynicism. The moral dilemmas managers face are, in essence, clashes among very different spheres of responsibility. This article describes each of these spheres and presents a framework for resolving conflicts among them.

Describes the factors AT&T Consumer Products managers considered in deciding whether to locate a new plant for telephone answering machines in the United States, Asia, or Mexico. Describes in depth the restructuring of AT&T during the 1980s, the competition facing its consumer products division, the division's overseas manufacturing strategy, the Mexican economy, and the country's macquilodora program. Encourages students to analyze where a company's and an executive's responsibilities lie in making a complex plant-siting decision involving overseas operations, and in making decisions about pay, benefits, bribery, gender-based hiring, waste disposal, and so forth in operating in developing countries.

Describes the reasons why the courts found in favor of Ann Hopkins in the sexual discrimination suit. Also explains why the courts concluded she was the victim of sexual stereotyping.

Intended to help students understand the many barriers organizations face as their members and their management ranks grow more diverse. As a case on business ethics, it encourages students to discuss what "fairness" and "diversity" mean when an organization is also trying to create a sense of teamwork and "fit." Based upon the open court records of Ann Hopkins versus Price Waterhouse, a sexual discrimination and sexual stereotyping suit brought by a woman who was denied partnership at Price Waterhouse. (The court found in her favor.) Includes lengthy exhibits drawn directly from Price Waterhouse.

Describes the factors faced by Roussel UCLAF, a French drug company, in deciding whether and how to market a controversial new drug, RU 486, which is often called "the French abortion pill." Roussel's decision involved its relations with the French government, its parent company, the German chemicals giant Hoechst, supporters and opponents of abortion rights in France and the United States, and the research community. The objective is to show students the complex web of responsibilities managers face and the practical issues that arise from conflicts among those obligations.

Describes how Roussel UCLAF resolved the dilemma. Intended for use as an in-class handout.

Consists mainly of excerpts from Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill. Mill explains what utilitarianism is and gives his rationale for accepting it as a moral philosophy.

Describes how the attorney resolved the dilemma he faced, the reasons for his decision, and the consequences he suffered. Displays vividly the personal toll that moral conflicts can create for professionals with role obligations.

Presents a classic dilemma in legal ethics--the conflict between an attorney's obligations as an attorney, in this case to protect a client's confidentiality, and his or her own moral obligations as a person. An attorney must decide how to respond to the father of a missing young woman who has asked for information about her whereabouts. The attorney knows from conversations with his client that the young woman is dead and where her body is. Shows students what role-related obligations are, why they have strong moral claims, and the difficult dilemmas role obligations can create.

Describes all of General Motors' major alliances with Asian firms. These include Toyota, Fanuc, Isuzu, Daewoo, Suzuki, Nissan, and Hitachi. Students can discuss the rationale of each alliance, their risks, their management problems, and their likely evolution. Also shows the differences between alliances based primarily on cost considerations and those aimed at learning from other organizations.