Ethical Decision Making: Evaluate the social and ethical implications of decisions made in the public interest
The writer is required to use the same paper to add more information up to 8pages.
for the first question I need to have two more pages of information with two more reference. For the second question I need five more pages and five more references.
Question 1
MEMORANDUM
TO: The Mayor
FROM: Planning Staff Member
DATE: November 25, 2014
RE: Possible Plans for a Publicly Funded Water Park
Given that the city is a tourist destination that draws thousands of summer and winter visitors to a variety of privately-owned amusement parks in the city’s immediate area, there is need to outline plans for a possible publicly funded water park in the city. A recommendation on whether the city should or should not move forward with the water park project will be based on merit (Philippe, 2009).
The arguments in favor of the publicly funded water park can be outlined as follows. Establishing a public funded water park will usurp corrupt and unfair city and government policies. This project will help to demonstrate that corruption can be managed through openness. Corruption has been a major menace to the economy as millions of money has got lost in the hands of few greedy individuals. Secondly, this is a step that will improve the access to the water park. Water is very important in the park and this project is an opportunity s as it will make it easier for the users of the park to access it. In addition, another positive outcome that will be a result of the publicly funded water park will result to improved efficiency and consequently water will be treated as an economic resource for the city as a result of the implementation (Philippe, 2009). This means that, part of the water will be sold to the people or visitors hence generating income that will be ploughed d in the other development area of the region. Establishing a public funded water park will be a solution to the deteriorating public water systems that are currently feeling the triple-pinch of the dwindled federal and local funds. Water is considered a human right and not a business enterprise and hence this project would be a response to the rising public concern regarding water service availability.
The arguments against also underline the fact that water must not only satisfy the use domestically but also serve agriculture and the industry. This argument arises from the aims of this project failing to consider the farmers that as well require this water for their farming. Farming is an important ventured that allows the people in the city to have food on their tables and therefore, it need not to be out of the equation. The points against are that water should be provided by the government since the appropriate incentives will encourage it to solve the looming crisis. The government has an obligation to ensure that it provides water and other essential needs to the people. Secondly, it is argued that water companies should pay accountability to their shareholders, and not conversely to the society and hence they will not seek to provide the water to all citizens (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005). Additionally, opponents of the possible plans to a publicly funded water park will argue that water privatization will impact the poor negatively, besides stating that since water is a universal human right, it can therefore not be privatized or sold to humans. People with low level of income are vulnerable if this water will be sold at a fee. They will not be able to benefit from the water projects and yet it is the obligation of the government to ensure that such individuals as well access to clean water. As the pressure to investment in sufficient water supply increases, this burden will fall on the public water utilities that service over 80per cent of the US population. The problem of these artificially low rate public water utilities will be witnessed in the city if the public water park plan goes through (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005).
There several groups in the city that are concerned with the concerns of water provisions will obviously take a side of the plan to a public funded water park; some of the groups will favor the plan while others will oppose this project (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005). It is expected that the opponents will demand that the idea to create public funded water will salvage the right to water for the city participants and hence the mayor should prevent any privatization forms of these essential resource. The group may also demand their participation in the project to allow them criticize on the areas that require more amendments. The groups that are expected to be opposed to the plan are numerous environment, community, labor and youth organizations, and will rally against this plan. There are groups that will be expected to be at the fore front of favoring the implantation off the plan for a public funded water park including NGOs, The World Bank, Private water companies and a large number of the public that are not aligned to opposition (U.S. Geological Survey, 2005). These categories of group that favor implementation of the plan will have their specific reasons. For instance, the World Bank would view this project as a solution to the water shortage in the region. It is an opportunity to uplift the living standards of the people in the region, as they will be assured of receiving water.
Techniques for measuring the revenue and costs of water will need to be implemented to ensure that the financial planning is done. The Non-revenue water (NRW) refers to water that is lost after production before the customer manages to use it. The NRW will be a typical measure of the ‘lost’ volume of water as net water produced share (Foshee, 2007). NRW has a variety of audits and components that will ensure that the costs and revenue of water are well documented for the public funded water park. The International Water Association (IWA) has come up with a comprehensive methodology for the assessment of the various NRW components, which are accordingly: authorized consumption that is unbilled; losses that are apparent as a result of metering inaccuracies and water theft; and the real losses accrued from the mains of transmission, facilities of storage, mains for distribution or service connections (Foshee, 2007).
A general cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of the plan for a public water park can be enumerated to find out the costs and benefits that are associated with putting in place a public fund water park. The benefits that are both direct and indirect will impact the consumers, the industry investors, the government and the environment (Foshee, 2007). The consumers will have a better access to water more reliably securely and recreationally; employment opportunities will be provided, and water for recreational use will be available then on. The investors in the plan will have revenue increases, reduced costs and will achieve improved margin of reserve. The city-level water markets will be integrated allowing sufficient scale in water provision. There will also be an indirect benefit for irrigation water for purposes of farming. Farmers will therefore receive water at a reduced cost helping them increase their farm productivity. The government and hence the city council will have reduced fiscal strain as a result of the reduction of water cost investments. Additionally there will be reduced environmental impact as deforestation will be dealt with through the growth of land cover has ultimately resulting to sustainable development due to the more efficient use of the water resource (Foshee, 2007). Government as well stands a chance to gain from the revenue to be gained as a result of income tax on the people that will gain employment to render various services relating to the water park (Laslo & Gurevich, 2014).
Notably, there will be cost to the plan to create a public funded water park. There will be displacement of people in large scale as the communities in the areas that will be used in the implementation of the plan will be forced to relocate (Deutsche Welle, 2011). There will be costs to the investment as a result of the high cost of the initial phase of the investment. The government and hence the city will incur high costs of setup associated with the installation of a new water park. They will have to cater for the costs of the human resources, raw material and the costs in refunding the persons to be relocated to pave way for the implementation of the project. Environmentally, the ecosystem will be disrupted, as the project will involve disturbance of vegetation and animal population; this is a danger to the destruction and possibly extinction of various plant and animal species (Deutsche Welle, 2011).
Industry reform will make it possible to use tools to identify the location and timeframe of the public fund water project. The tool that will be utilized is a project management approach that will apply a purpose-developed geographic information system in the streamlining of the installation of 50,000 meters in just 15 months – identification of properties, expenditure forecasting, installation scheduling, contractor workflow implementation, and obtaining the first meter readings (Deutsche Welle, 2011). This innovative IT project tool for management has been previously acclaimed with an award as a result of the installation of efficient water meters as well as the automation of thousands of transactions daily , reduced water waste and leakage, while reducing the cost of water metering by over 50 per cent. This tool is efficient and will ensure compliance in compact time frame through technology, leveraging the expert’s knowhow, meeting strict deadline, hence resulting to efficiencies (Deutsche Welle, 2011).
The groups that are anticipated to favor the projects are also expected to collaborate with the city on the project, and consequently those groups anticipated to oppose the project are expected to actively campaign against the project (World Bank, 2011). The groups that are expected to be opposed to the plan are numerous environment, community, labor and youth organizations, and will rally against this plan. They will especially use the costs identifies in the CBA as the frameworks for arguing against the projects. There are groups that will be expected to be at the fore front of favoring the implantation off the plan for a public funded water park including NGOs, The World Bank, Private water companies and a large number of the public that are not aligned to opposition. These groups will argue on the basis of the benefits of the project and will support the implementation to achieve the projections according to the innovative IT project tool for management (World Bank, 2011).
Since it is a public funded project there should be avenues for providing public input and dialog about the progress of the project. There are key consideration that should be put into place to ensure the involvement of the public, and consequently, the project management team should incorporate details on the involvement of stakeholders, identification and deliverance of message, developing a plan for public involvement, citing the requirements for the public involvement in the various capacities especially in compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act, as well as incorporating the techniques and tools for the success of the project (World Bank, 2011). The public input would be crucial in pushing the project on the required timeframes and satisfying the customer needs. A flexible approach should be implemented to involve the public in all the stages of the implementation through including them in the management teams. Inclusion of the members of the public in most of the stages of implementation of the project will help the project move on smoothly with less resistance. Members of the public will feel valued and appreciated if the project incorporates them in all processes of its implementation (Viesojo et al., 2013). The project will affect them and therefore it is critical that they are included in its implementation and management. The avenues that can be identified in this setting are all the employment opportunities from blue-collar jobs to documentation, to stratification to involvement in compliance teams and the project management team of course. This is a public project, and for every stage, there should be avenues for identification and involvement of public stakeholders (World Bank, 2011). Involving public stakeholders is a clear indication of openness and transparency and therefore cases of misappropriation of funds will not surface.
There are financial constraints and gains that would be effected by the water park. Much of the financial gains will be aligned in the elimination of water stress. As a result of the combination of problems, that include the growth of population, constrained supply of water and high poverty levels in the city, this project will assist the city from being hit hard by the water stress (Bosch et al, 2011). Resource-constrained and finance-constrained water stress which is part of many cities today will not be a trend that will affect the city. However, constraints will come in terms of the finances that will be channeled to the project leaving a vulnerability in the management of the health crisis of malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB, and now probably Ebola. These constraints may make the issue of the project lose its importance (Bosch et al., 2011). This is a heavy project that requires huge investments. For the project to conclude, it is expected dto costs colossal amounts of money meaning that some sectors budgets will be reduced to allow for completiodn of this project. Lack of high professoanl staffs to implement the projdect may compromise of the project. The project smay fail to meet the expect7ations sleadindg to losses. Other constraints include, resources wastage due to inappropriate management practices.
There are various instances of research, evidence, figures and comparisons that will need to be considered for the project on the city’s behalf. The city will really need a water park due to the decreased reliance and safety of water;
This a project that will improve on the number of people that are accessing improved drinking water, especially compared with urban growth;
Fig: Urban population gaining access to improved drinking-water compared to urban population growth 1990-2008 (Economist, 2003)
Consider the case of water pricing for a majority of Southern Tasmania urban areas was based on land value. There was a Regulator requirement for two part pricing (service fee and volumetric consumption fee) by 1 July 2012. Therefore, 52,000 meters water meters needed to be installed. Project Management applying a purpose-developed Geographic Information System streamlined the installation of 52,000 meters in just 12 months (Economist, 2003).
I do believe that the information provided is sufficient in enhancing understanding of the pros and cons of the project. Information provided is credible and substantiated with evidenced based research. It is therefore, up to you to deliberate on this information and evaluate whether indeed the project is worthwhile or not. I therefore hope this comparison will provide a merit on the best move regarding the project.
Planning Staff Member,
Best,
References
Bosch, Christophe, Hommann, Kirsten, Rubio, Gloria M., Sadoff, Claudia and Travers, Lee (2011), “Water, Sanitation and Poverty”, Intussen,[Accessed November 25, 2014]
Deutsche Welle (2011), “Water is a Human Right, UN Says”, Deutsche Welle,[Accessed July 11, 2011]
Economist (2003), “Private Passions”, Economist Magazine, [accessed November 25, 2014]
Foshee, Jack, et al. (2007), “Thirsty for Change: Concidering Water Privatization in Developing Nations”, Columbia University, [Accessed November 25, 2014]
Laslo, Z., & Gurevich, G. (2014). Enhancing Project on Time Within Budget Performance by Implementing Proper Control Routines. Management (1820-0222), 72: 53-69.
Philippe, Marin (2009), “Public-Private Partnerships for Urban Water Utilities”, World Bank, [Accessed July 11, 2011]
U.S. Geological Survey. “Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000: Public Supply.” February 7, 2005. Accessed November 25, 2014.
Viesojo S et al., (2013). Public sector project management efficiency problems, case of latvia. Region Formation & Development Studies, 11: 177-188.
World Bank (2011), “Paraguay – Community Based Rural Water Systems and the Development of Village Committees”, World Bank, [Accessed November 25, 2014].
Question
Introduction
Recycling electronic wastes is one way of protecting environmental degradation. This practice goes on in many states in the world as it contributes to resource utility. Conserving environment has become essential across the world to remedy environment and to ensure that the future generations enjoy their lives on this planet. This discussion deliberates on various aspects including social, political, and ethical implications in this case study
Background on case study
In the case study, the leader has signed the law I authored on protecting the environment. However, the law has seen transportation of electronic waste to third world countries. These wastes are melted down in the countries exposing children and workers that melt them to hazardous chemicals. Some of the workers have died due to this exposure to chemical compounds. Land, water, and food supply have been contaminated exposing people lives at risk
Political implication
Political systems in a country are fundamental in shaping the laws and the way processes run. The government has the duty to ensure that it protects the people it serves by ensuring that they pass laws that are just and fair. Even though this bill was signed into law, it is apparent that it had some flaws that could be sealed. It is a law that supports environmental conservation but on the other hand, it fails to provide tangible information that will ensure that people does not misuse its loopholes (Fahlquist, 2009).
The law has various loopholes that contribute to these implications experienced. One of the loopholes is that it fails to state clearly the procedures that should be taken to recycle the products once they are taken out of the industry (Kidwell, Farmer & Hardesty, 2013). These procedures should state clearly the location the recycling should take place and the processes or procedures to be used. The law also failed to highlight the chemical inherent in the products and their impacts to the people that participate in their recycling (Fahlquist, 2009). This would therefore informed the decision of their recycling as people would not be allowed to take part in this processes. Further, it is apparent that the region the law was signed into law was initially unaware that their recycling will ultimately have a child-labor component in the third world. It is clear that the region does not have much authority to control what happens in the third world region since it is governed by a different legislation (Duke, 2010.). The political economy of a place plays a major role as per capita income in the determination of the child labor level in the region. Therefore, political implications of this is that the bill signed into law should be amended to specify the procedures and the processes to help avoid subjection of children and experiencing of these deaths in the third world countries.
The political implications are that the third world regions practicing child labor should be coerced to increase their prosperity levels because this will reduce the incidence of child labor the total workforce proportion. Child labor cannot be eliminated with just one political legislation that bans the exercise, it is argued the elimination of child labor may leave then at a worse of a position than they were. It is also clear that the political system in these regions is defective. We cannot therefore blame the legislation entirely because it is the responsibility of the leaders to ensure that procedures are followed during this recycling. The fact that law exists does not mean that it is effective until it is implemented in the practical terms. Furthermore, ultimately wealth cannot explain or determine the child labor incidence and proportion of children in the workforce and the hazardous exposure. It is actually a structural reflection of the local economy and although most of the time it is correlated with poverty, most of the time it is determined by economical local structures, production and finance, as well as cultural practices and norms (Duke, 2010).
The regions will need to involve their political tenets to stimulate economic growth to increase demand for adult, skilled labor and increased educational returns, besides incorporating measures to curb hazardous waste impact on the locals. It is all about government policy in these regions, exclusion of children from the formal sector setting does not imply they are precluded from working, nor does excluding industrial recycling from these regions increase the safety levels; it’s all about poor environmental and labor policing in these countries. This logic is hard to sink, and this may result to the third world region blaming it on the region that signed the legislation into law (Duke, 2010). The third world countries experiencing this problem have the obligation to as well come up with their laws pertaining tor environmental conservation when it comes to recycling used products. The law should address the loopholes in the laws of the country where these products come from. The law should indicate clearly the processes and procedures that require adherence, the age of persons expected to work in the recycling company among many other things. This will help to reduce the level of child abuses and deaths experienced in this country. By doing so, the political system should as well expected to incur some economic losses. The country even though has many children in these industries, it will loss revenue the children generate and therefore, it will face financial challenges that will require it to look for alternative sources.
Social implications
The practices experienced in this third world country as well have social implications. Actions of the company affected society on different levels and magnitude. It is unfortunate incidence that require urgent measures to ensure that the lives of many chidden and workers and members of the community is not put at risk. Society is for many years believed to be the center of the nation. Putting at risk the lives of the people is like killing the society. The fact that the company is helping in conservation initiatives through recycling, these practices have very severe consequences/implications (Mangla, Madaan & Chan, 2013).
The first implication is exposing the lives of people at risk. Children and workers that work in this industry are exposed to hazardous chemicals that affect their health and even cause death. The chemical compounds may cause some deformities or disabilities to these children and workers making them encounter complications in future (Mangla, Madaan & Chan, 2013). These complications will then require the family members and the government to spend colossal sums of money in treating them the implication here is increased future costs of seeking health care. The taxpayers who are the members of the society will be expected to pay more to allow provision of healthcare. The member of deaths is also likely to increase (Mangla, Madaan & Chan, 2013). This is a liability to the society; as such individuals would have helped to develop the economy.
The toxics that flow into waters bodies such as rivers and those left on land will have negative impacts on the productivity. They will also affect other users of this water in areas the rivers flows (Hird, 2013). The community members will therefore have to suffer as they may develop various kinds of diseases that would deter them from attending to their everyday activities. They will not be able to provide for their family and this is likely to lead to family wrangles and conflicts leading to separations or persistent conflicts that will make it hard to provide good care to the children.
Children working in these industries are not attending to school and this is a great implication on the education sectors, the society will have people with little or no education. This is a serious path this will have negative consequences in the future of the children and schools. A society without people that are educated has no focus and is preparing for hard times in future. The only solution is to allow these children to attend to school to gain skills and knowledge that will help them to lead a better life in their future. Furthermore, the child labor practices and instances of negatively impacting hazardous waste will change the lives of the third world locals by a very big proportion. These practices will result to significant financial losses as a result of health complications caused by the industrial activities. This will be a significant blow to this local economy (Lee, 2013). Surprisingly, workers will still work no matter the condition of the work environments and the impact they have on them, even for the child laborers. A National Hazardous Waste management Pan should be provided to these regions as a suggestion to improve the management of hazardous waste, while borrowing from the progress that has already been achieved by the local policy as well as the legislative changes that have been incorporated before this recycling efforts were introduced. These efforts will be targeted in enabling prevention collection, regulation, self-sufficiency, and legacy issues in terms of child labor, guidance and awareness, implementation of the suggested plan, and public consultation and involvement in any policies that will impact their lives by this magnitude in the future (Lee, 2013). This is a firm that generates negative externalities and that will need to consider its effects of its location on the surrounding population and social environment since their respective neighbors have a right to demand for compensation from the impacts of the hazardous waste as well as increase the transaction costs of location.
It is clear that the region that signed this legislation into law varies both in value individuals place on the environment and in the residents ability to organize socially. Firms like this one that process hazardous waste, when making a decision on where to expand capacity, should put into account the variations in the potential for the collective action against the negative impacts of the waste and the child labor instances (Lee, 2013).
Ethical implications
Practices and behaviors of individuals and entities are expected to uphold to ethical standards every time. Human beings are different animals from other animals and they must exercise their moral obligation well when making decisions pertaining to various aspects in their lives (Etzioni, 1991). Being in a position to differentiate between right and wrong is part of ethics.
In this case, scenario, it is evident that there are breach of ethics and this has a number of implications to various parties including the government, political systems, individual and the community members among many others. Allowing children to work in the factories is unethical. Children are protected by the law and do not require subjection to industrial or commercial practices (Guiltinan, 2009). This behavior needs discouragement. This violates the rights of the children, exposing children to such environment affects their psychological/mental abilities that is likely to impact on their development and perception about life.
Allowing workers to get exposed to these materials requiring recycling is also unethical. Such workers require appropriate protective gears to protect and prevent them from working in the factories without such gears. The implication of denying employees protective clothes increase rates of diseases, hospitalization and increased hospital costs. The affluent left to seep into water bodies as well as on land causes risk to the users of this water. This could be avoided because the act that harms others.
Furthermore, it can as well be argued that the issue discussed in the scenario involves three principles directly related to ethical issues regarding child labor and inappropriate waste management: protection beyond national borders; protection of future generations; and the burdens of future generations. Radioactive waste should be managed in such a way that it should make sure that possible effects of the radioactive waste on the human health and the environment beyond national borders is taken into account; part that the signed legislation failed to consider (Bogard, 2009). In regard to protection of future generations, hazardous waste should be managed in these third world countries in such a way that the predicted environmental, health and beyond impacts will not exceed the relevant impact levels that are acceptable in the third world region. This legislation signed into law, and unfortunately, it will result into a burden for future generations if not checked. It is a provision for the region that signed the legislation into law to assist the third world regions impacted by hazardous waste and child labor to manage the waste firm such that it will not impose burdens on their generations in future; at least they owe them that for a faulty legislation (Bogard, 2009).
The legislation therefore, has not considered the future of the people in the country and the future generations. The law seven though aimed at ensuring environmental conservation, it however seems tor makes the situation worse. These children and workers face risks of succumbing to death or failing sick because of the chemicals (Guiltinan, 2009). This are things that can be avoided and ensure that the workers work in a conducive environment. There is no effort by the government institutions to help the workers with protective gears even as they provide their services in these companies.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this case has provided an insight on how legislations that pertains to environmental conservation can be tricky and complex. Such legislations before becoming law it is important that they are scrutinized to determine their impacts on political, social and ethics. Political systems in place should scrutinize the bill and as well evaluate the impacts of the bill on these systems. Society is important unity and it must be factored when making such decisions similarly to ethical consideration. In this study, the political, social and ethical implications of the child labor practices and the negative impacts of hazardous waste exposure are manifold. The legislation needed to have put into considerations these loopholes before signing it into law. A collective effort from these regions to the third world countries where the impact is felt will ensure successful mitigation of these negative implications, fast forward even, the law might be pulled down if these trends cannot be contained (Bogard, 2009). Children face many challenges and risks just because of breaches and loopholes in the law that is supported to protect them. Environmental issue on initiatives needs to focus on the future generation. Parties should therefore play their roles with diligent and commitment.
References Top of Form
Bottom of Form
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Mangla, S., Madaan, J., & Chan, F. (2013). Analysis of flexible decision strategies for sustainability-focused green product recovery system. International Journal of Production Research, 51(11): 3428-3442.
