By Tuesday, May 10, 2016, using the textbook and the South University Online Library, write a 1000-word (minimum) paper. Refer to the APA resources found in the course home page, and thoroughly address each of the following questions:

Families have changed greatly over the past 60 years, and they continue to become more diverse.

1. Why is the family considered the most important agent of socialization?
2. What caused the dramatic changes to the American family? What are those changes?
3. Describe the differences in marriage and family life that are linked to class, race, gender, and personal choice.
4. Do you feel the trend toward diverse families is positive or negative?
5. If the trend changed toward traditional (pre-World War II) families, how would that affect women’s rights?

You are an HR manager with Spring Valley Laboratories. The organization pays its employees according to specific pay grades and ranges but maintains secrecy surrounding the specific numbers.

Nancy Lopez, a highly skilled medical technician, discovers that a male employee whose qualifications, experience, and job profile are similar to Nancy’s is getting a considerably better package than she. Nancy serves a notice to the executive director, John Morrison, and threatens to resign if the organization does not grant her an immediate pay increase.

John does not want to lose Nancy because she is a skilled employee who has performed well in her eight-month career with the organization. John writes you an e-mail and seeks your advice on the case. You check Nancy’s employment records and find that Nancy was given the compensation package that she had asked for during her final interview. You also find that Nancy’s package is toward the lower limit of the pay range applicable for her job position. Nancy’s salary is due for review after four months.

Based on this information frame your response to John. The response should answer the following:

• Is Nancy’s case a situation where a pay increase is called for? Why or why not? Justify your response with facts.

• Is Nancy’s case eligible as a pay inequity grievance? Why or why not? Explain.

• How should Spring Valley Laboratories handle the situation? Provide John with a detailed plan of how the situation should be handled.

• What impact would granting or not granting Nancy an immediate pay increase have on other employees? Why?

Articulate your response to John’s e-mail. Your response should be in e-mail format and approximately two pages in MSWord. Use structured text (bolding, headings, bulleted lists, tables/charts) where appropriate to improve communicating your points. Ensure that the tone of your response is formal and appropriate for the audience and use references to support your response.

DUE 7:OOPM MST PHILOSOPHY 208

 In the Week Three Assignment, you discussed either deontological or utilitarian theory, applied that theory to the question, and raised a relevant objection.

By engaging with the course material, you now have had a chance to refine your thinking and broaden your understanding of the problem by approaching it from the perspective of multiple ethical theories.

In this paper, you will demonstrate what you have learned by writing an essay in which you

• Present a revised formulation of the ethical question and introduction to the topic.
• Explain the kind of reasoning you think is the best way to approach this question, and how that reasoning supports the position you think is strongest.
• Raise an objection, and be able to respond to it.

Instructions
Write an essay that conforms to the requirements below. The paper must be 1500 to 2000 words in length (excluding the title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

The paragraphs of your essay should conform to the following guidelines:

• Introduction
  Your first paragraph should begin with the topic question, suitably revised. It should be focused, concrete, and on a relevant moral problem. You should then introduce the topic in the way described by the Week One instructions, but reflecting the developed understanding and information you have gained about the topic and any necessary refinement of the scope.

  Follow this with a thesis statement that states your position, and a brief description of the primary reason(s) supporting your position. (See the handout on thesis statements provided). Finally, provide a brief preview of the overall aim and procedure of your paper.

• Explanation and Demonstration of Moral Reasoning
  This section of the Final Paper will explain and demonstrate what you believe to be the best way of reasoning about the question you have chosen, and showing how that reasoning supports the position you have taken on the question. You might explain the principles, rules, values, virtues, conceptions of purposes and ends, and other general ideas that you find persuasive, and show how they support concrete judgments.

  In the course of doing so, you must make reference to at least two of the approaches that we have examined in the course (such as deontological, utilitarian, or virtue-based), and utilize at least one resource off the provided list for each of the two approaches. One of these theories may be the theory you discussed in your Week Three Assignment, but your discussion here should be more refined.

  For example, you might find the reasoning associated with Aristotelian virtue ethics to be the most compelling, and reference Aristotle in the process of showing how that reasoning supports a certain conclusion. In the course of this, you could contrast that with a utilitarian approach, referencing Mill for instance.

• Objection and Response
  After explaining the ethical reasoning that supports your position, you should raise an objection and respond to it. An objection articulates a plausible reason why someone might find the argument weak or problematic. You should explain how it brings out this weakness, and do so in a way that would be acceptable to someone who disagrees with your own argument. Then, provide the best response you can to the objection, showing how it does not undermine your position. Your response should not simply restate your original position or argument, but should say something new in support of it.

• Conclusion
  Provide a conclusion that sums up what you presented in the paper and offers some final reflections.

Resource Requirement
You must use at least four scholarly resources. Two of the resources must be drawn from the list of acceptable primary resources on each of the two theories you discuss. For example, if you discuss deontology and virtue ethics, you would need at least one resource under the “Deontology” list and at least one resource under the “Virtue Ethics” list. The other two may be from either the Required or Recommended Resources, or scholarly resources found in the Ashford University Library.

• The textbook may be cited, but it does not count toward the resource requirement. If you cite the textbook, you will still need to cite at least four more sources that fulfill the requirements stated above.
• If you need help with finding additional resources, or are unsure about whether a particular resource will count toward the requirement, please contact your instructor.
• For sources to count toward the resources requirement, they must be cited within the text of your paper and on the reference page. Sources that are listed on the references page, but not cited within the paper, do not count toward fulfilling the resources requirement.
• For information regarding APA, including samples and tutorials, visit the Ashford Writing Center.