Compose an essay of 300 to 500 words in which you describe an ethical dilemma faced by an individual working within a business organization that is based in the United States. Please make sure to satisfy the following criteria:

1. Clearly identify both the individual (to the extent possible) and company involved. Depending on the situation, you may or may not be able to identify by name the individual faced with the dilemma (i.e., while we know the names of CEOs and other high-level managers, we usually do not know the names of lower-level employees that may also be faced with ethical dilemmas). In all cases, do your best to describe the individual who is faced with a choice in this case. What is their role and responsibilities in the organization? To whom do they report?

2. Provide a link to a newspaper article describing the dilemma and/or the context in which it takes place. Find an article published by either The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal that describes the ethical dilemma or its context. Include a link to that article.

3. Describe the ethical dilemma, including the range of options available to this individual. Make sure your description of the dilemma focuses on the individual you identified and the choice that person has to make. What is this choice? What makes this choice so difficult (i.e., what makes it a dilemma)? What background information would a person need to know in order to understand this dilemma? Remember that dilemmas are, by definition, situations in which there is no clear solution. Thus, at some level you should be torn about what this person should do.

To decide on a topic, it may be helpful to first think about the companies you do business with most often, companies that interest you (for whatever reason), or companies that you see covered by news media. If you search The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal for articles on a particular company, the results are likely to yield many situations in which individuals were faced with difficult ethical choices.

It is preferred that you select your topic from current events (i.e., situations that are either ongoing or occurred sometime in the last year or so). Exceptions to this rule can be made upon request.

The style and tone of your writing should be appropriate for the business context; avoid use of the first person (“I”, “we”, etc.).

Finally, please note that at this point in the project you do not need to decide what the person should do in the situation you describe. Rather, it is your job now to set the scene, by introducing the individual and describing the difficult choice this person has to make (or has made).