Mordidas Case StudyPresented by:

Greg EhmerWesley Kean

Reid MacArthurBhargav Viradia

Case Synopsis

Setting: Mexico City, Mexico

Traffic officers pull over cars, officer presents law confirmation of prohibited action, driver slips a bribe (mordidas in Spanish)

Smooth, efficient, and routine transaction widely accepted by both officers and drivers

Suburb mayor single handedly makes traffic tickets illegal, resulting in stopped payoffs but a free driving zone in suburb

Despite being wrong, the process is economically efficient, cutting out the middle men in getting officers paid

Video: http://businessethicsworkshop.com/Chapter_4/Mordida%20in%20the%20booklet.html

Cultural Relativism vs. Traditional Ethical Theories

Cultural Relativism = The suspicion that values and morality are culture specific and not the result of universal reason. They’re what a community believes.

Traditional Ethical Theories = Formulating rules for action that everyone—people in all times, places, and communities—must obey if they want to consider themselves ethically responsible.

Confliction: For cultural relativism, all guidelines are culture specific and one set of rules is not wrong or inferior to another. Conversely, traditional ethics are to be followed in all cultures

Traffic Ticket System in Mexico City

Values

Inconsistency

Ease

Efficient

Advantages

Equitable distribution of wealth

Cuts down on government costs and court traffic

Money always goes to the officers

Ethical Justification

Cultural relativism: Mordidas is a long standing and accepted means of transaction

between the police officials and the violators.

Help cops survive

Cops are not paid as much as they are in US

Traffic Ticket System in the United States

Values

Integrity

Accountability

Fairness

Advantages

Universality

Consistency and protocol

Ethical Justification

Idea of fairness: Aristotle: treat equals equally and unequal unequally (progressive

nature of ticket)

Right to trial

Community as a whole benefits

Mexico City vs. USA Ticket Systems: Does Mexico City’s

Prevail? Yes.

Cops in Mexico are paid much less than in US

Widely Accepted and long standing in Mexico

Trust issues between government and people Money may end up with a corrupt political

Not enough money to run an efficient court system

No

Encouraging corruption (slippery slope)

Makes the law subjective Allows upper class to be beyond reproach

FedEx Branch visit in Mexico City

Situation: Does culturalist ethics support your reimbursement claim to FedEx for two mordidas paid out-of-pocket?

No

Traffic ticket is a personal demeanor and the company should not pay for it.

FCPA and Mexican government

FedEx New Recruits

Situation: New FedEx recruits come to Mexico City. For mordidas advice, do you counsel a culturalist approach or advise to obey the books?

Obey by the book

Consistency and accountability: Not compromising the values of the company

Kant: 1st version of categorical imperative: universalized action. Mordidas would screw up Mexico.

Office Space in Mexico City: Accept the Cash

Gift? Situation: You are opening a new FedEx office in

Mexico City. Do you play by local rules and take a generous cash gift in exchange for a certain office space?

Yes

Location is of utmost priority because of the nature of the industry FedEx is in.

We will be paying the money back in rent

It is a gift (incentive).

Win – win. Person offering the most money might have a better place.

Office Space in Mexico City: Conflicting Cash Bribes?

Situation: You are opening a new FedEx office in Mexico City. You have two equal spaces and each owner offers you a bribe, one being larger. What do you do?

Take the money.

Given that both are giving a bribe, it’s time to make the most of the situation (enlightened egoism)

More money shows that he had a great willingness to sacrifice for business.

My Common Virtues

Prudence, Justice, Courage, Faith, Hope, Charity/Love, Respect, Fairness, and Honesty

Shaping Social Institutions

Religious institutions (The Catholic Church - Seven Virtues)

Education (pre-high school)

Family

Friends

Television

Applying Virtues in Mexico City Driving

Violation Situation: You are caught by officer for driving a bit fast in

Mexico City? What do you do? What virtues apply?

Not pay mordidas:

We are representing our company

Don’t want to be caught up in USA for your transgressions in a foreign nation

Doing the right thing

Virtues

Integrity

Honesty

Fairness

FedEx New Recruits, Bribery, and Virtues

Situation: You are training FedEx recruits in Mexico City. In dealing with bribery, what virtues do you instill in them and what previous life experiences could the recruits have to prepare them for the Mexican streets?

Virtues

Integrity

Honesty

Fairness

Previous experience

Not taking the easy way out by cheating on a test

Halloween: Only taking one piece of candy i.e. doing the right thing when no one is watching

Generally, taking the high road or not taking the easy route

The Mexico City Suburb Mayor and Virtues

Situation: Could the mayor’s actions of canceling traffic tickets be considered part of the government’s role in virtue ethics, and if so what virtues? What effect would this have in developing better practitioners of those virtues?

Yes

Virtues Instilled

Honesty

Fairness

Obedience

Integrity

Self accountability

Provides for a primary tasks of ethics:

Provide education about those virtues (towards the self and family)

Provide experience using those virtues to better represent society

Allows the people to grow and develop together