OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:

1. Describe the four ethical communities

2. Apply the ethical communities to your personal case situation

Troy Dulles

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The organization I picked is called Markham Contracting which is a construction company in

Phoenix Arizona. This company specialized in excavation and land management. They are
responsible for making pads and foundations for buildings and they also deal with water
management. This is an important part of the construction phase and it is what initiates all other
construction to begin. They are one of the biggest excavating companies in the state with a great
reputation and countless successful projects. My role in the organization is the project manager
of the excavation process of the new TSMC plant out in Anthem Arizona. My role is to oversee
and supervise the building of the pad for the new semiconductor plant being built. I have to
organize the contractors and the excavators in order to get the pad to its completion before
construction can begin.
2) Describe how the ethics of the organization influenced the situation.

Markham prides itself on ethics and its way of doing business. In the world of
construction, companies only last and survive if they are ethical and willing to do the
right thing. Markham has been an ethical contractor and excavator sine the day it began
serving customers back in 1977. The company has been able to win bids as well as
produce quality work which helps in promoting ethical action within the company. The
situation is intertwined with ethical dilemmas because there is always the ability to make
the right decision or the wrong one that tends to be taking short cuts. Markham does not
take short cuts and they pride themselves on making good decisions with the customer in
mind.

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 Cutting corners with a project of this magnitude could be as easy as saying an area of
ground has been over excavated when it actually hasn’t. This unethical behavior would
result in issues with the construction of the facility as well as it sinking into the earth over
time. If we didn’t follow ethical procedures, the entire construction process could be
hindered due to the lack of care associated with that unethical behavior. In order to
continue to get contracts, you not only have to come in as a low bid but you have to be
ethical and hold a good reputation within the community. Every decision in the
construction industry has the potential to effect the ethics of a company and the entire
construction process. It is critical that the right decisions are made in order to uphold the
ethical requirements of not only the company that is being contracted, but for the overall
construction process.

3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

Ethics is one of the most critical things to follow in business in order for an organization
to prosper and be successful. If people fail to recognize the importance of ethics, projects
can become unsuccessful and impartial. In the case of Markham, every employee has to
understand the value of ethical action and what it translates to for the completion of a
project. Ethical actions take place in both the office and in the field so identifying where
improvements can be made is vital for the success and health of the organization. If I had
to improve on any aspect of this within Markham it would be the ethics of internal
communication and bidding. In big projects, internal communication on the cost of
projects can be very inconsistent making bids and costs higher than they need to be.

Being the winning bid is a critical aspect to project success as well as getting contracts. I
think there could be more communication between vendors and suppliers in order to have
a more accurate understanding of the cost of projects and that would help with ethics as
well because it would create a more fair offer for both the company and the purchaser.
The operators within the company that are working on this project understand the
importance of ethics and they do their jobs with that in mind. This is why I would try and
improve upon the bidding process so that the customer can get a better deal while also
being more ethical in the process.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about ethics.

Bidding is a complex process because it not only involved quotes but it also involves
making sure the company making the bid comes out profitable in the end. If the

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company making the bid comes in way lower than the bid was, that mean the more profit
there is in that job and contract. I think this is unethical and a form of price gauging and
it can easily be improved by offering something like rebates if the contract came vastly
different than what was agreed upon. Having a way go negating over priced contracts
would be a way of improving upon the internal ethics of companies especially
Markham’s.

Bidding is a very complex and difficult process because once your offer is made, you
have to stick to it. That means if you go over budget, it falls on the contractor to cover
the excess because it was over the agreed upon cost. This is why contracts often come up
far over the cost of actual construction or come under which is every organizations goal.
This process is complex and it involves a great deal of ethics in order to come up under
budget and bid successfully. By improving the bidding process, it would make an
organization more ethical and it would also make the organization more appealing to
customers which would be beneficial for future growth and development. Without ethics,
there is not future for an organization especially one of Markham’s size and stature.

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 Reference or References

Menu. Markham Contracting Co Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2023, from http://
www.markhamcontracting.com/
About TSMC - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 26, 2023, from https://www.tsmc.com/english/aboutTSMC