September 1, 2012
“ETHICAL DELIMA AT NORTHLAKE”
WEEK #3 CASE STUDY

SYNOPSIS: Jim McIntosh is a vice president at Amalgamated Forest Products. Amalgamated Forest Products is a pulp and paper company located in the Northern Province on the river. The company is a major source for the local economy; many people depend on the company for their income.
Frank is a manager of corporate reporting who reports directly to Jim McIntosh. Frank is a longtime employee of Amalgamated Forest Products and was raised up in the system. Frank’s history is long one with the company that dates back to his father, whom worked at the plant before he did and started after High School just as Frank did. Frank started out as a yard man just like his father before a serious accident injured his leg; Frank then went on to work in the corporate accounting office and later becoming a manager of that section.
Jim finds himself in an argument with Frank over some reports he generated on pollution and cost benefit analysis of implementing new strategies to oversee the reduction of pollution into the local river. The pollution report is to be submitted to a subcommittee of legislators to show the effects of the pollution in the river, along with the toll it will take on the production cost of the company. However, Jim feels that Frank’s numbers are not matching with the goal they had discussed prior to the development of report. Additionally, the underlying issue here is the fact that Frank had picked up the report when he shouldn’t have and bounced the numbers against the previous year’s report. Frank found that the numbers were largely different and that they would be a detriment to the company as well as the environment. Jim feels it wasn’t Frank’s responsibility to analyze the numbers but, he felt it was the right thing to do, even though Jim had already outlined a set of standards for