1. A case study on
the Rana Plaza
Issue

2. The Rana Plaza
Tragedy
Rana Plaza was a nine story building
situated at Savar, housing five
garment factories as well
as a bank and shopping mall.
On April 24, 2013, the building
collapsed, killing 1,100 workers and
injuring 2500 more

3. The Rana Plaza
Tragedy
Although a crack across the building
was discovered, the workers were
forced to work under risk on the day
of collapse of Rana Plaza.
And the workers were threatened of
cutting their salary off if they were
absent.

4. Ethical Issues
01 02
Irresponsibil
ity towards
the crack
identified in
the walls
Unethical
practices in
the
construction
of Rana
Plaza

5. Ethical Issue 1: . Unethical practices in the construction of R
 4 additional floors were constructed without permission
 The building lacked supporting walls needed to hold
heavy machines and generators used by the factories
 The lot where Rana plaza stood was formerly a pond
which was filled only with sand
 Inferior building materials were used to construct Rana
Plaza
 In total, no accordance with government’s rules and
regulations in construction

6. Unethical in the light of :
1.Mill & Bentham’s Utilitarianism theory
2.Hobbes’s 2nd natural law that says – “We
should keep promises and perform contracts
to which we have agreed”.
3.Virtue theory’s implication in business
4.Hobbes’s 8th natural law that says – “We
should not do to others what we don’t want
them to do to us”.

7. Unethical in the light of :
Legal offense:
•Registered for four stories but raised the building to nine
stories
Management’s point of view:
As per Friedman’s view, the main responsibility of a business is
to make profit. Thus managements decision was right because -
Additional floors were used for factories that were to make

8. 1. Lack of inspection by authority
2. Dishonesty of the authority as they allowed to construct the building in
an unethical way
Alternative actions by management:
Constructing the building with a base of raising it to nine stories
Filling the pond with stronger material and creating a well-formed base
Using quality material in construction of building
Adding supporting walls for the machines of the factories
Outsider’s view :

9. Ethical Issue 2: Irresponsibility towards the crack
identified in the walls
 No evacuation even after noticing crack across the
building
 Hiding information of the true condition of building from
the workers
 Change in the decision of evacuation after the meeting of
the inspector

10. Ethical Issue 2: Irresponsibility towards the crack
identified in the walls
Unethical in the light of :
1.Mill & Bentham’s Utilitarianism theory
2.Hobbes’s 4th and 8th natural law
3.“Good ethics is also good business” (Solomon & Hanson)
4.Virtue theory’s implication in business
5.Hobbes’s 8th natural law that says – “We should not do to others what
we don’t want them to do to us”.

11. Management’s point of view:
•Providing workers information about the condition of the building would
create environmental unrest including strikes, resulting in closing of
factories
•The day before the accident, an inspector suggested evacuation of
people but then after a meeting with Sohel Rana, he changed his
statement
•Sohel Rana’s intention was not fair, even after knowing about the crack
he acted dishonestly and convinced the inspector to present untrue facts
Outsider’s view:

12. Evacuation of the people from that building
Closing all the offices and factories after observing the
deteriorating condition
of the building
Alternative actions by management:

13. Punishing the
owners of Rana
plaza and
factories
Not creating proper
foundation
Raising additional
4 stories
Not evacuating the
people
Positive Negative
Critical
Decision
PointsGiving financial and
medical support to the
families of the
deceased and injured
people

14. KEY PROBLEMS
Corrupted
practices in all
sectors of
authority
Less or no
example of
punishment in this
type of cases
Less or no safety
guards in most of
the factories and
offices
Providing less or no
information to the
workers about the
organization

15. Giving examplary
punishment in this
type of unethical
cases
Strict inspection
of RAJUK
Ensuring
safety
sectors in all
factories
Solution

16. Government’
s Role
General Approach Developed from
This Case
General
people’s roleMNC’s role

17. ? ANY QUESTION?

18. THANK YOU