A. Interview a Business Manager

You will be required to interview a business manager of a company operating in the LA area. Let the interviewee know that you would like to find out some of the challenges corporations face and strategies companies use to meet these challenges. You are specifically interested in the Business Environment and Business Ethics. Sample questions might include:

General Business Environment

• Please describe your duties and responsibilities in this organization. What do you like most about your position? What do you like the least?
• What are some of the most pressing issues that you face as a business manager?
• What are some of the events within society that affect your business?
• We study about eight external environments that affect businesses. Which one of these has the biggest effect on your business? They are: economics, technology, social, political, legal, nature, competitors, and customers. How are you addressing these challenges?

Business Ethics

• Every day there are news reports of corporate scandals and ethical missteps. What are some of the ways your company seeks to foster ethical decision-making among managers and employees?
• What are some of the ethical issues that your industry and company are most likely to face? How are these issues addressed?

General Advice

• What advice would you have for someone like me, who has aspirations of being a business manager?

B. Submit a Summary of your Interview

You are to type a summary of the interviewnot a list of questions and answers. Your summary should include the following:

1. Tell about at least two challenges that the business faces and the approaches the company uses to address those challenges.
2. State your opinion about the companys response to its challenges. How would you evaluate the effectiveness of the companys efforts to address these issues? What additional recommendations could you make regarding these issues?
3. What ethical issues must the company address? How are they addressing these issues?
4. Using one or more of the ethical principles discussed in class (virtue, utilitarian, justice, rights, divine command, categorical imperative, and disclosure rule), how would you evaluate the effectiveness of the company in addressing its ethical issues?