| Course | MGT 414 Principles of Management |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 3 |
| Paper type | Ethics and social responsibility paper |
| Length | About 1,072 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MGT 414 Module 3
A Green Lake and a Large Member: Ethics and Social Responsibility at a Dairy Cooperative
Student Name
Business Administration Program, Aspen University
MGT 414: Principles of Management
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
A Green Lake and a Large Member: Ethics and Social Responsibility at a Dairy Cooperative
Driftless Valley Dairy Cooperative, a composite organization in southwestern Wisconsin, is owned by 140 member farms that supply milk to its cheese plant. Members elect a board, and the cooperative employs field representatives who visit farms to advise on milk quality. Last February, during a stretch of frozen ground, one of the largest members, with about 1,900 cows, spread manure on fields that drain to a creek because its storage pit was full. Four days later, rain and melting snow washed manure into the creek. By summer, Lake Wendt, popular for swimming and fishing, had an algae bloom that closed its beaches for three weeks. Two field representatives had seen the spreading and said nothing. Local residents are angry, and the board must decide how to respond.
Who Is Affected
Stakeholders include lake users and lakeside property owners, the town, other member farms whose reputation suffers, the cheese plant's buyers, the cooperative's employees and the member farm itself, which faced a real problem with full storage. Manure spread on frozen ground cannot soak in, so rain carries it into streams, which is why state runoff rules restrict the practice.
The Cooperative's Responsibilities
Carroll (1991) described corporate social responsibility as a pyramid of four kinds of responsibility. Economic responsibility, the base, is to produce goods and services profitably. Legal responsibility is to obey laws. Ethical responsibility is to do what is right and fair beyond what law requires and to avoid harm. Philanthropic responsibility is to contribute to the community. Carroll stressed that the levels are pursued together, not in sequence. Driftless Valley's economic responsibility to members is real, but it does not excuse the legal and ethical failure of allowing runoff the cooperative knew about.
Why the Field Representatives Said Nothing
Treviño (1986) proposed that ethical decisions in organizations result from an interaction between the person and the situation. Individuals' stage of moral development shapes how they reason about right and wrong, while individual moderators, such as locus of control, and situational moderators, such as organizational culture, the immediate job context and obedience to authority, influence whether they act on that reasoning. Interviews showed that both representatives knew the spreading was wrong. But the farm supplies about 9% of the cooperative's milk, its owner sits on the board and the representatives' job is described as milk quality, not environmental practice. No one had told them what to do in such a case. The situation, not their character, explains their silence.
Four Possible Responses
| Response | Economic | Legal | Ethical | Philanthropic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Say nothing publicly | Protects milk supply short term | Risks penalties if repeated | Fails lake users and other members | None |
| Pay for lake cleanup only | Moderate cost | Does not address cause | Partial; harm likely to recur | Visible gift |
| Expel the member | Loses 9% of milk | Clear | Punishes but may push the farm to a buyer with no standards | None |
| Set standards with support and consequences | Moderate cost, shared | Strengthens compliance | Addresses cause and fairness | Includes lake restoration |
Shared Value
Porter and Kramer (2011) argued that companies can create shared value by reconceiving how they produce, finding that addressing social and environmental problems often cuts costs and opens markets. For Driftless Valley, better manure management is not only an obligation. Cover crops reduce soil loss on members' fields, added storage lets farms spread manure when crops can use it, reducing fertilizer purchases, and a cheese brand that can credibly claim lake-friendly farming may earn a premium from buyers who face their own customers' questions.
Recommended Plan
The cooperative should adopt the fourth response. The board will set a standard that no member may spread manure on frozen or snow-covered ground, with a field check each winter. A violation will bring a written warning and a required plan; a second will bring suspension of milk pickup until storage is adequate. To make the standard achievable, the cooperative will create a $600,000 cost-share fund, paid from a one-cent-per-hundredweight deduction over three years, covering half the cost of cover crops and storage expansion. Field representatives' job descriptions will include environmental practice, and a reporting line to the general manager, not the board, will protect them. The cooperative will contribute $75,000 to the lake association's restoration work and will tell the town publicly what it is doing.
What the Plan Costs Members
The deduction of one cent per hundredweight costs a typical 150-cow member about $350 a year, and the largest members a few thousand dollars. Some members will object that they already manage manure well and should not pay for others' storage. The board will answer that every member's milk carries the cooperative's name, that the lake bloom harmed the reputation of all of them and that the fund is open to everyone on equal terms. Members who already meet the standard will be eligible for cover crop support, which most farms can use. The fund ends after three years unless members vote to extend it.
Speaking to the Town
Residents learned about the cause of the bloom from a newspaper, not from the cooperative, which deepened their anger. The general manager will attend the next town meeting, explain what happened without naming the member, describe the plan and invite residents to the cooperative's annual meeting. Being open about a failure is part of the ethical responsibility Carroll describes, and it is the only way the cooperative can be believed when it reports progress.
The Member Farm
The farm that caused the bloom will receive the first warning and must submit a plan to expand storage before next winter, with access to the cost-share fund on the same terms as any member. Holding the largest member to the same rule is the clearest signal of the cooperative's values.
Measuring Results
The cooperative will track the number of members with adequate winter storage, acres in cover crops, violations found in winter checks and phosphorus levels in the creek measured with the lake association.
Conclusion
The algae bloom on Lake Wendt resulted from one farm's decision but also from a cooperative that had not made environmental responsibility part of its work. Carroll's pyramid shows obligations beyond profit, Treviño's model explains the silence of employees who knew and Porter and Kramer's shared value suggests that cleaner farming can strengthen the cooperative's business. Standards, support and consequences applied equally can restore both the lake and the community's trust.
References
Carroll, A. B. (1991). The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Toward the moral management of organizational stakeholders. Business Horizons, 34(4), 39-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/0007-6813(91)90005-G
Porter, M. E., & Kramer, M. R. (2011). Creating shared value. Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2), 62-77.
Treviño, L. K. (1986). Ethical decision making in organizations: A person-situation interactionist model. Academy of Management Review, 11(3), 601-617. https://doi.org/10.2307/258313
MGT 414 Module 3 instructions, in plain terms
Managerial ethics and social responsibility appear early in Aspen's MGT 414, and the paper usually asks students to analyze an ethical problem in an organization and recommend a responsible course of action. Requirements come from the Module 3 instructions posted for your section; here they are worked through for one cooperative. Describe the situation and who is affected. Identify the organization's responsibilities with a recognized framework. Explain the individual and situational factors that shaped behavior. Compare possible responses and their consequences for each stakeholder. Consider whether responsibility and business interest can align. Recommend actions with clear standards, consequences and support, and explain how results will be checked.
Inside the MGT 414 Module 3 example
The paper opens with Driftless Valley Dairy Cooperative, whose 140 member farms supply milk to its cheese plant. After a member with 1,900 cows spread manure on frozen ground in late February, rain and melt carried it into a creek feeding Lake Wendt. Carroll's Business Horizons article describes economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. Treviño's Academy of Management Review article explains ethical choices through individual moral development and situational factors such as culture and authority. Porter and Kramer's 2011 essay proposes that solving community problems can itself be a source of profit. A table rates four responses, from silence to expelling the member, against the pyramid. The plan sets a spreading standard, a reporting line and a $600,000 cost-share fund for cover crops and storage.
MGT 414 Module 3 rubric: what earns full marks
Ethics papers are assessed on a clear statement of the problem and stakeholders, accurate use of ethical frameworks, fair comparison of options and a recommendation that is both principled and workable. This example uses Carroll's pyramid to separate responsibilities that are often blurred. Treviño's model explains why good employees stayed silent, shifting attention from blame to the conditions that produced silence. The table compares options against every level of the pyramid. Porter and Kramer's shared value adds a business case without replacing the ethical one. The plan combines standards, consequences and support with measures.
MGT 414 Module 3 help: mistakes that cost marks
Ethics papers often conclude that the organization should simply do the right thing without saying what that is or how. Name specific actions, who takes them and what happens if they are ignored. Another weakness is treating one framework as the whole answer; use a framework for responsibilities and another for why people behaved as they did. Consider every stakeholder, including those without a voice, such as lake users. Compare realistic options, not just the best and worst. Explain any business case honestly, without suggesting ethics matters only when it pays. Finally, include measures, such as water quality or compliance rates, to show whether the plan works. Address how the organization will explain itself publicly.
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MGT 414 Module 3 questions, answered
What does MGT 414 Module 3 usually ask for?
Aspen's MGT 414 covers ethics and social responsibility in this module, so analyzing an organizational ethics problem and recommending a responsible response is typical. Consult your classroom prompt.
What is Carroll's pyramid of corporate social responsibility?
Four levels of responsibility: economic at the base, then legal, ethical and philanthropic at the top.
Why do employees stay silent about unethical behavior?
Treviño's model suggests situational factors such as organizational culture, authority and job pressures interact with individuals' moral development to shape behavior.
Where can I find a free MGT 414 Module 3 sample paper?
The complete paper above analyzes a dairy cooperative's response to manure runoff using Carroll's pyramid, Treviño's model and shared value.
What is shared value?
Porter and Kramer's term for profit earned by solving a social or environmental problem, for example cutting pollution in a way that also lowers costs.