George Mackee thought of himself as bright, energetic, and with lots of potential. “So why is this..

George Mackee thought of himself as bright, energetic, and
with lots of potential. “So why is this happening to me?” he thought. George,
with his wife, Mary, and his two children, had moved to Hondo, Texas, from El
Paso four years earlier and was now the manager of the Ardnak Plastics plant in
Hondo, a small plant that manufactured plastic parts for small equipment. The
plant employed several hundred workers, which was a substantial portion of the
population of Hondo. Ardnak Plastics Inc. had several other small plants the
size of Hondo’s. George had a good relationship with Bill, his boss,
»

George Mackee thought of himself as bright, energetic, and
with lots of potential. “So why is this happening to me?” he thought. George,
with his wife, Mary, and his two children, had moved to Hondo, Texas, from El
Paso four years earlier and was now the manager of the Ardnak Plastics plant in
Hondo, a small plant that manufactured plastic parts for small equipment. The
plant employed several hundred workers, which was a substantial portion of the
population of Hondo. Ardnak Plastics Inc. had several other small plants the
size of Hondo’s. George had a good relationship with Bill, his boss, in Austin,
Texas. The Emissions Problem. One of the problems George’s plant had was that
the smokestack emissions were consistently above EPA guidelines. Several months
ago, George got a call from Bill, stating that the EPA had contacted him about
the problem and fines would be levied. George admitted the situation was a
continual problem, but because headquarters would not invest in new smokestack
scrubbers, he didn’t know what to do. Bill replied by saying that margins were
at their limits and there was no money for new scrubbers. Besides, Bill
commented, other plants were in worse shape than his and they were passing EPA
standards. A Questionable Solution. George ended the conversation by assuring
Bill that he would look into the matter. He immediately started calling his
contemporaries at other Ardnak plants. He found they were scheduling their
heavy emissions work at night so that during the day when the EPA took their
sporadic readings they were within standards. George contemplated this
optioneven though it would result in increasing air contamination levels. The
Double Bind. A month went by, and George still had not found a solution. The
phone rang; it was Bill. Bill expressed his displeasure with the new fines for
the month and reminded George that there were very few jobs out in the
industry. That’s when Bill dropped the whole thing into George’s lap. Bill had
been speaking to the Mexican government and had received assurances that no
such clean air restrictions would be imposed on Ardnak if they relocated 15
miles south of Hondo in Mexico. However, Ardnak must hire Mexican workers. Bill
explained that the reason for relocating would be to eliminate the EPA
problems. Bill told George he had one week to decide whether to eliminate the
fines by correcting the current problems or by relocating. George knew that
relocating the plant on the Mexican side would devastate the infrastructure of
the city of Hondo and would continue to put contaminants into the air on the
U.S. side. When he mentioned the possibility to Mary, she reinforced other
concerns. She did not want him to be responsible for the loss of the jobs of
their friends and extended families.

1. Who are the stakeholders in this situation, and what are
their stakes?

 2. What social responsibility, if any, does Ardnak Plastics
Inc. have to the city of Hondo?

 3. What are the ethical issues in this case?

 4. What should George do? Why?

»