Abstract
Examples of greed and environmental beneficence will be discussed in this chapter. The first example involves the crash of Wallstreet in 2008. Subprime mortgages instruments, complex derivatives and overleveraging in investment banks were major provocateurs in bringing down the economy. Volkswagen’s deceptive practices in measuring diesel fuel efficiency follows. The final example of greed is Boeing and the shoddy decision-making processes on the Boeing 737 MAX that led to the catastrophic crashes resulting in 346 deaths. Good news examples comprise the second focus of this chapter. Some corporations have also demonstrated practices of good will, particularly toward the environment. We focus specifically on Interface Carpets, Unilever and 3M.
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Notes
- 1.
Portions of this section come from chapter seven in: Obstacles to Ethical Decision-Making: Mental Models, Milgram and the Problem of Obedience, Patricia Werhane, Laura Hartman, Crina Archer, Elaine E. Englehardt, and Michael Pritchard. London: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
- 2.
Portions of this section come from the paper: “Leadership, Engineering and Ethical Clashes at Boeing,” Elaine E. Englehardt, Patricia H. Werhane and Lisa H. Newton, Sci Eng Ethics 27, 12 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-021-00285-x
- 3.
A detailed discussion of Ling’s life and career can be found online under Joseph T. Ling.” National Academy of Engineering. 2008. Memorial Tributes: Volume 12. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/12473. Comments here on Ling are based on that memorial tribute. The success of the 3M3P program is prominently featured on 3M’s website, although Ling’s contributions are not. For a more detailed account of Ling’s career and accomplishments as an environmental engineer at 3M, see Pritchard and Englehardt, “Ethics, Sustainability, and Management Leadership,” in The Sage Handbook of Responsible Management, Dirk C. Moosmayer, Kenneth C. Brown, Carol Parker, and Oliver Laasch, eds. Sage Publishers, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2020, pp. 92–109.
- 4.
In 1976 Ling was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering ‘For leadership in environmental engineering, specifically in pollution control of air and water.
- 5.
For more on the advent and potential of business management programs that focus on sustainability, see Pritchard and Englehardt, “Ethics, Sustainability, and Management Leadership,” in The Sage Handbook of Responsible Management, Dirk C. Moosmayer, Kenneth C. Brown, Carol Parker, and Oliver Laasch, eds. Sage Publishers, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2020, pp. 92–109.
- 6.
A leading proponent of making environmental sustainability a prominent feature of all levels of formal education is philosopher Randall Curren. Among his many writings on this topic, especially see his “Sustainability Ethics Across the Curriculum,” in Englehardt and Pritchard (2019), Ethics Across the Curriculum, pp. 273–287.
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Englehardt, E.E., Pritchard, M.S. (2021). Tales of Greed and the Search for Remedies. In: Pritchard, M.S., Englehardt, E.E. (eds) Everyday Greed: Analysis and Appraisal. Ethical Economy, vol 58. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70087-4_2
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