CASE LENS ON ETHICS IN THE BACKDROP OF HOLLYWOOD MOVIE, JOHN Q
Synopsis
This Case Lens on ethics aims at sensitizing the participants/students to the importance of ethics in decision making. The thought provoking Hollywood thriller, John Q, was chosen to highlight various ethical and moral dilemmas through various sequences in the movie. The protagonist, John Quincy Archibald (John Q), played by the award-winning Denzel Washington’, aptly demonstrates how far a father can go to save his beloved ones when he was pushed to a brink with no options left. In the movie, John Q was confronted with a moral dilemma – accept fate and prepare for his son’s funeral as the Hope Memorial Hospital’s administrator suggests, or take matters into his hands? Is it ethical for hospital to turn away patients just because they are not sufficiently insured? Given the context of the situation, were John Q’s actions ethical or unethical?
Prerequisite Viewing/Mandatory Viewing
The students/participants need to mandatorily watch the movie John Q, honoring all the expected IPR issues. The temptation of either exhibiting the movie in the classroom or the students/participants downloading the movie from any hosting sites should be desisted lest we set unwarranted precedents in violating mandatory IPRs.
Classroom Orchestration
This Case Lens (The video introducing this Case Lens and the accompanying 5 questions) can be orchestrated in the classroom in the following suggested flow:
1. Asking the students/participants to view the movie 2-3 days before the classroom discussion
2. Playing/exhibiting the Case Lens video in the classroom
3. Ideally, faculty/facilitator would analyze the first question and the remaining four questions would be analyzed by the participants/students. The class should be divided into 4 Learning Teams and ask them to prepare for all the 4 questions. After giving them about 15 minutes, the classroom discussion/analysis should be attempted. This can happen either by asking one of the teams randomly to present their analysis or each team should be allowed to lead a discussion for each of the questions.
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Case Lens Positioning and Setting
This case lens, as a pedagogical tool, can be used in either of the following:
• MBA Programs:
- • Organizational Behavior course – Ethics in Decision Making or Values module – To understand the importance of ethics and moral values
- • Business Ethics course – Individual Ethics vs Organizational Ethics module – To illustrate the inherent tension between Organizational Ethics and Individual Ethics
• Executive Development Programs/MDPs – To sensitize the participants to the importance of ethics and moral values
Expected Learning Outcomes
At the end of this Case Lens discussion/analysis, each of the participants/students should be able to understand/appreciate:
- • Differences between a bad decision and a wrong decision as well as the importance of outcomes and processes for any decision
- • Whether John Q’s decisions were ethical or not, given the magnitude of collateral damage involved
- • The role of rules and procedures in discharging one’s responsibilities
Assignment Questions
The assignment questions, as outlined in the Case Lens video, are:
- I. What do you think are the personal values of John Q and his family? Contrast the same with the views of James Palumbo (James), comparing values with value in the movie between 01:09:41-01:10:55.
- II................
Preamble to the Case Lens Discussion
Ethical decision making is one of the important life skills that all the professionals need to inculcate. It would help them in taking effective decisions even in difficult situations. The purpose of this Case Lens is to understand the importance of ethics in one’s personal lives as well as professional careers. Assuming that the students/participants would have watched the movie before the classroom discussion, this Case Lens poses a series of questions which enable an understanding of various ethical dilemmas posed in the movie at various instances.................
Case Lens: Classroom Discussion and Analysis
I. What do you think are the personal values of John Q and his family? Contrast the same with the views of James comparing values with value in the movie between 01:09:41-01:10:55.
Faculty began the presentation by analyzing the economic background of John Q. John Quincy Archibald had a small loving family. Though he was a factory worker, he and his family were able to live a happy life even with low income levels. Faculty listed out all the instances in which John Q and his family demonstrated good personal values [Exhibit (TN)-III]....................
The above instances clearly depict good personal values of John Q and his family. However, Faulty opined that his friend, James, had a different perspective about the values that John Q had been adhering to during his lifetime. When John Q created crisis at Hope Memorial Hospital by taking the ER staff and patients as hostages, James was contacted by a media person, Tuck Lampley (Tuck), to share his views about John Q. James shared that John Q always strived to put his personal values first before anything else and he never gave any importance to ‘value’ (money) because of which he landed into this disaster. James felt that had he been a millionaire, he wouldn’t have to undergo all this trauma. Towards the end of the movie at 01:36:59, John Q also realized this and advised his son to make as much money as he can and not to be stupid like his father................
Exhibits
Exhibit (TN)-I: The Case Lens’ Classroom Orchestration
Exhibit (TN)-II: Discussion Questions
Exhibit (TN)-III: John Q’s Personal Values
Exhibit (TN)-IV: Differences between a Wrong Decision and a Bad Decision
Exhibit (TN)-V: Decisions based on Process vs Outcome
Exhibit (TN)-VI: Movie Characters and their Various Decision Types
Exhibit (TN)-VII: Reasons behind Mikey’s Precarious Health Condition
Exhibit (TN)-VIII: Various Instances of Movie vs. Various Ethical Theories
Exhibit (TN)-IX: Various Ethical Theories and their Impact on the Movie Sequences
Exhibit (TN)-X: Decision Making through Means vs. Outcome Matrix
Exhibit (TN)-XI: Movie Instances between John Q and Lester
