Theory Building Activities: "Responsibility and Incident at Morales"

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Author:

William Frey

Subject:

Business

Institution Name:

Connexions

Collection:

Connexions

Grade Level:

Post-secondary

Abstract:

The "Incident at Morales" dramatizes a fictional industrial accident that occurred at a chemical plant in the village of Morales. Produced by the National Institute for Engineering Ethics with a grant from the National Science Foundation, this video raises a series of important ethical problems that engineers and other professionals face when they make decisions and solve problems in the dynamic, competitive context of business. This module provides a theory-building activity where students plan and carry out an imaginary public hearing into who is responsible for the incident. It sets forth summaries of the different senses of the concept of moral responsibility, outlines the different constituencies participating in the public hearing, and provides a time line for preparing for, carrying out, and debriefing on the public hearing. Students learn about moral responsibility by using different responsibility frameworks to prepare public statements, raise questions, and reach blame assessments about the incident at morales. This module is being developed as a part of an NSF-funded project, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF SES 0551779.

Course Type:

Learning Module

Languages:

English

Material Type:

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Media Format:

Text/HTML, Downloadable docs

Conditions of Use:

Creative Commons Attribution 2.0