Nicola Ramkissoon -816015356

Shavani Williams -816001028

Reneise Jogee-Ali -816006525
Leshan Stephes -816021199
Rachel Ramsaroop -816014267
Kirsten Hutchinson -816019197
Rachel Joseph -816019692

Group 8
MGMT 3035

THE ETHICS OF
THE FILM
‘HIDDEN FIGURES’
Table of Contents
Executive Summary...............................................................................................................................1
Summary of Movie................................................................................................................................3
Primary and Secondary Stakeholders....................................................................................................4
Ethical Issues.........................................................................................................................................5
Ethical Theories Found..........................................................................................................................7
Recommendations...............................................................................................................................10

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Executive Summary

In this project, we will examine the film 'Hidden Figures.’ we identified and analysed ethical
issues and provide recommendations and suggest solutions to said misconducts to improve
the workplace mentioned in the film. These milestones were achieved through act
utilitarianism, enlightened egoism just to name a few. It also aims to identify primary and
secondary stakeholders. The ethical issues/misconducts found in the film and discussed are
conflict of interest, employee benefit violation, racial discrimination, fraud, intimidating
behaviour/abuse and lying. Corresponding theories and recommendations to solve the ethical
issues were suggested to reconcile the ethical issues found and to improve the workplace and
relationships between stakeholders.

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Summary of Movie

Hidden Figures is a historic biographical drama film that follows the life of three female
African-American mathematicians, Katherine Goble, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson,
who work at the Langley Research Centre in Hampton, Virginia for the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) in 1961 The film begins with Katherine’s, the
protagonists’, story. She was shown to display exceptional mathematical knowledge and
capabilities since she was a little girl, foreshadowing her exceptional work ethic for the rest
of the plot. The film continues in 1961 in the NASA workplace detailing the daily sexist and
racist undermining and discriminatory misconducts that the main characters have to endure
from their fellow mostly white, male colleagues, in pursuit to winning the Global Space
Race. In the film we see each woman’s experiences and struggles and how they use their raw
talents to fight for recognition and a level of acceptance and respect in their engineering
careers.

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Primary and Secondary Stakeholders

Stakeholders are those who have a part to play in the operations of an organization or task. It
comprises those who can directly affect or be affected by the organization and its operations.
There were found to be both Primary and secondary stakeholders in the film “Hidden
Figures.”
The primary stakeholders in the film would include all employees within the organization,
those being the directors who spearhead the programme as they are the final decision makers,
on what would be the best course of action to take for the project to be completed. The
analytics and mathematics team (computers) who provide the information necessary for
undertaking experiments, making the project as accurate as possible for the safety of the
astronauts. The astronauts who must personally command the rocket into space and back. The
engineers who create and build the rocket who inspect and perfect its stability to get the
astronauts safely to space and back. Lastly, The American government that funds the entire
project to ensure that NASA, on behalf of America achieves their goal to be the first in space
which would put them at an advantage in protecting their country. Russia, without whose
influence, the project would not be expedited. Secondary stakeholders in the film would
include the American population who helped fund the government and who depend on
NASA to overcome this feat. The families of those mistreated in the NASA workplace, who
encourage the superiors to improve the situation and provide them a strong support system
that would drive the country forward.

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Ethical Issues

An ethical issue occurs when a particular choice, plot or undertaking is conflicting with the
moral principles of society. The identification of ethical issues is often laborious due to
differing social standards over a period. The process of ethical decision making commences
when ethical awareness is brought to light and discussion initiates. The following ethical
issues or misconducts were found to be most prevalent
Conflict of Interests
A conflict of interest arises when personal interests collide with professional duties or
responsibilities, making an entity or individual untrustworthy. When a firm or individual has
a vested interest, for example, money, status, knowledge, relationships, or reputation, it calls
into question whether their actions, judgment, and/or decision-making can be objective.
An instance of conflict of interest occurred in the film when that main character, Katherine,
was given some documents of calculations made by Mr. Stratford and his team, to confirm
for their superior, Mr. Harrison. This review is pertinent to the success of the launch and
landing of the rocket. The files were given to her by Mr. Stafford, who with a marker blacked
out most of the information. Katherine then notified him directly that she “cannot work on
what I cannot see” as it was “illegible”. Mr. Stafford responded to her undermining her role
in the workplace, claiming it to be “more less a dummy test”. This goes to show that
Katherine was being treated unfairly as she should have the same access the other employees
had to make her confirmation. Mr. Stafford put his personal interest before the company’s
interest as he didn’t want any fault of his to be found, he did not want Katherine to seem
more competent than him . However, this would work in detriment to the company as it
would keep them from advancing if the calculation were corrected sooner.

Employee Benefit Violation

Employee benefits are non-monetary compensation granted to employees as a condition of
employment. Employee benefits may be required by law (depending on the risk connected
with the work or industry, as well as the regulations of the country where the employment is
held) or offered by the employer voluntarily. If the rule is reasonable, the individual knew or
should have known the rule, and the violation is deliberate or wanton, material, and
materially injures or tends to injure the employer's interests, an employer may terminate an
employee for misconduct related to the job.
An instance occurred when Dorothy was denied promotion for a supervisor title by Vivian
Mitchell, although she engaged in activities such as wearing a uniform or wearing personal
protective equipment, performing a stock inventory, supervising their work area, or attending
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a change-of-shift meeting and was entitled to regular earnings for the time she put in.
Vivian’s ego was placed over the company’s interest. Dorothy, a mathematician, covered the
work as a supervisor but was denied the job title. She did the work without the required pay.
In this case, she experienced unpaid compensable time and workplace discrimination and this
in fact violated her employee benefits.

Discrimination
Racism
Discrimination in the workplace occurs when employers or employees discriminate against
individuals in job-related transactions, such as, recruitment, dismissal, advancements, and
compensation or rewards. Likewise, when an employees’ ethnicity or skin colour is utilized
as a factor when making work related decisions, it is regarded as racial discrimination. Racial
Discrimination was openly practiced against all of the African-American characters in the
film, this was especially noticed when observing the character Katherine Goble as she,
unlike the other African American NASA employees, worked amongst white employees.
This was since she was transferred to a separate department for her extraordinary
mathematical capabilities. Katherine’s was first met by a white employee that “'they have
never had a coloured in here.” and pleaded not to embarrass them for their decision to let her
work amongst them. This interaction reveals intersections of racial discrimination against
Katherine. The being segregation of refreshments, utilities and accessible bathrooms which
all hindered her from performing her job effectively, thus hindering the business on a whole.

Sexism
Another central concern raised in the film is gender discrimination. It is defined as the unfair
or inequitable treatment of a person or group based on their gender. Katherines was barred
from meetings due to her gender despite her involvement with the team, which is a significant
example of gender discrimination depicted in the film., "There's no protocol for women
attending" As a result, since the subject was constantly changing, she was unable to produce
the quality of work expected of her as she was omitted from meetings.

Fraud
Furthermore, scenes in the film uncovered evidence of unfairness and fraud. Fraud is defined
as any purposeful or intentional act to deprive another of something valuable via deceit,
cunning, or other unfair methods. Likewise, unfairness is described as the characteristic or
actuality of being morally wrong: A prominent example of this is the fact that Katherine
handled the computations while her white male co-worker received the title and
compensation; his name was also the only one mentioned on the reports submitted, her name
was omitted maliciously, even though the statistics were entirely her work. Despite the fact
that they were supposedly professionals on par with their co-worker’s, coloured persons were
nevertheless viewed as second-class citizens.
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Intimidating behaviour/Abuse & Lying
Intimidating behaviour is any behaviour that would make a person feel afraid and unsafe.
Acts of aggression can be intimidating. This is using force that is beyond what is justified to
defend ourselves. In the film, Hidden Figures, intimidating behaviour, and abuse were present
in the form of workplace bullying. Intimidation and abuse were faced by all three women:
Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan
Katherine , especially, was faced with the most intimidation and abuse within the workplace
as she was the only African American and one of the only female mathematicians in the
sector. To begin, when Katherine first entered the workplace, she was told to sit in the back
by her female superior, she was faced with much condescension. Another instance occurred
with the unnecessary segregation of utilities, as this was not authorised but merely enforced
by co-workers, without the directors and managerial staff's knowledge, as a form of
harassment. The Director of the team, Harrison however did not reduce himself to any of that
abusive behaviour and by extension racial discrimination or sexism. Katherine was also
interrogated by her bosses and accused of being a “Russian spy” due to the staff's doubt of
her capabilities being a minority, intimidating her. Katherine was also excluded from going to
meetings even though she would have contributed significantly to research, generating
reports and being on the team. Additionally, her superior, Stafford, in, demonstrates abuse of
power by applying massive pressure on Katherine and demonstrates the ethical issue of lying
and omission of essential information. Due to these misconducts and unethical acts, she faces
obstacles that prevent her from performing her best in the workplace and as a result the
entire project is hindered.

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Ethical Theories Found

A Lack of integrity, honesty and fairness can result in ethical issues and dilemmas in
businesses. Ethical theories can be tools used to aid in ethical thinking that we can use to
analyse such issues. Theories do not provide a compromise or solution, but it does provide
legitimate stances that you can take on the issue.
Referring to the film ‘Hidden Figures,’ we will be analysing the ethical dilemmas identified
in the workplace of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the
1960’s Space Race. Theories from the Ethical Theory Framework developed by Petrick and
Quinn (1997) will be applied.

Virtue Ethics (Principle + Adaptability and Responsiveness)

The theory Virtue ethics is described not as a system of ethical rules, but instead personal
characteristics that, when performed, ensure that an individual is likely to make the ‘right
choice’ in any ethically complex situation. MacIntyre (1967) observed the importance of
defining moral goods about a community participating in a behavioural practice. According
to this, ethical behaviour, within the workplace, is based on an individual’s virtues and
conduct with the purpose to serve the public good.
One example of non-compliance of virtue ethics within the film 'Hidden Figures' is the
misconduct of an individual who is unwilling to sacrifice their moral beliefs for personal
advancement. This occured between the characters Katherine G. Johnson and Paul Stafford.
When asked to refer to Katherine for the reviewing of his calculations, Paul maliciously
marked out additional information that she would need to properly do her job. This unethical
act was done in self-interest over company interest.

Deontological Ethics (Principal + Institutional Structure)

This ethical theory focuses on the rights of individuals and on the intentions associated with a
particular behaviour. Rule deontology theory states that certain actions are deemed ‘right’
and ‘wrong’ by a set of rules and actions, to obey them is ethical, examples of this in the
workplace are corporate values, protocols, and other rule-based ethics. Act deontology
theory, in contrast, states that rules should be applied by individuals to suit each unique
circumstance. Situations are seen as too distinctive and singular to be encompassed by a
general set of rules. Immanuel Kant (1788) Believed in an ethics of duty rather than an ethics
of consequences and that an ethical person is one who acts on the right intentions.
One such instance of this taking place in the film occurs between the character Katherine G.
Johnson and the NASA team. Katherine is expected to make timely computations, while not
being allowed to attend the conferences discussing the data needed due to ‘No protocol for
women attending.’ The information being discussed at the meetings are essential for her to do
her work, however the men in charge, Paul Stratford, eventually put their sexist morals aside
for the greater good of the company and its workers, which proved to be ethical.

8
Justice As Fairness
Justice theory suggests fair treatment and due reward for persons that act in accordance with
ethical and legal standards. Distributive justice refers more specifically to an analysis of a
business relationship, being in this case the relationship between stakeholders of the same
department, the relationship between Katherine G Johnson and Paul Stratford. It is to be
noted that the film was set in a time where practices regarded as immoral today were not
always seen as such, an example in this film is the existence of Jim Crow Laws in the early
1960’s. While it did demean and inconvenience Katherine she obeyed the protocols of the
Jim Crow laws, whatever was said to be segregated, no matter how trivial ie. the bathroom
and refreshments, she complied to and obeyed these laws. According to Justice theory if what
one has done is done within these laws, then nothing should stop them from fulfilling their
desires within the workplace. However, this was not the case, as Katherine was still treated
with unnecessary obstacles and was constantly challenged by Stratford while she tried to do
her work. Efficiently. We come to find later in the movie that ethical and legal standards
within the workplace change and Jim Crow Laws no longer apply to employees within
NASA grounds, meaning that the same laws apply for all employees, equally. Therefore,
Rawls theory of justice as fairness can more easily be applied, as persons are put into ‘the
original position.’ This is to disregard race, social constructs, and all other forms of hierarchy
in the attempt to treat each other as mere individuals.

Teleological Ethics
The teleological theory postulates the concept of ethical morality as being determined by the
consequence of an action taken. The theory emphasizes on the end goals of actions taken or
decisions made which determines whether the action is intrinsically good or bad.
In an environment such as the workplace, this has been the concept by which many
organizations use to justify certain decisions which were made. It is used because it allows
the decision makers to make the hard decisions that come with running a workplace for the
betterment of the organization and its employees.

Egoism
The theory of egoism defines right or acceptable behaviour in terms of consequences to the
individual (maximizes personal interests). An enlightened egoist takes a long-term
perspective and allows for the well-being of others though their own self-interests remain
paramount. In the film, an example of an enlightened egoist is shown as the company looked
at the long-term perspective of their well-being of the women in their own self-interest of
keeping their jobs so they can also use the equipment.

9
The teleological theory of Egoism is applied in the film “Hidden Figures” quite a few times.
One of which happened in the instance in the courtroom where it was deemed unethical for
Mrs. Mary Jackson to attend a segregated school considering the colour of her skin, but the
judge ruled that she would be allowed to attend the night classes because she had made a
point that her decisions would result in her becoming the first to do something amazing as
being an engineer for NASA. In this instance, despite it being deemed ‘completely unethical’,
the outcome was proven to be good as she was made the first woman of colour to become a
NASA engineer and achieved many other accomplishments as an individual and for the
company. This instance in the movie also portrays enlightened egoism where Mrs. Mary
Jackson’s drive and reasoning for wanting to be an engineer at NASA was to be the first
woman of colour to achieve such an accomplishment which was her personal agenda and to
open a gateway for other women to know it is possible to accomplish such goals.

Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism seeks the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Rule Utilitarianism
is a form of utilitarianism that says an action is right as it conforms to a rule that leads to the
greatest good. It differs from Act Utilitarianism as it has the benefit of receiving guidance
from past rules which have proven to show the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
Act utilitarianism, on the other hand, has no guidelines to help the individual when dealing
with a moral decision.
In the film, Dorothy portrayed utilitarianism as she broke the rules to enter the room with the
IBM and she interfered with the machinery and manuals to teach her fellow colleagues.
Dorothy Vaughan proves that she is not only qualified to be the first employee supervisor of
colour in the space program, but that her “girls” (as she calls them) have the skills to code the
IBM mainframe under her tutelage. The unethical aspect is that they were going to lay off a
group of workers and replace them with IBM machines. However, they adapted to the
forthcoming changes by improving their skills and capabilities. They did this by learning to
operate the machinery and become an essential to the company. Since the paid operators were
having many problems with understanding and operating the machinery, this worked out for
the greater good of the employees as they got to remain with a job and the company was able
to use the equipment efficiently.

10
Recommendations

Virtue Ethics

Light-of-day test
In the film Hidden Figures, when Paul purposefully left out additional information that
Katherine would need to perform her job effectively exemplified non-compliance of virtue
ethics. Virtue ethics is described as personal characteristics that, when shown, ensure that an
individual is likely to make the "right option" in any morally challenging circumstances.
In the case of Nasa, for example, the light of day test, which is an ethical instrument, can be
used to put an ethical decision to the test before employees act on it. Regardless of who has
official decision-making power, NASA should put employees' judgments to the test on a
regular basis by applying the "light of day" test. This allows employees to consider ‘if and
how the decision was made is announced publicly, would it seem reasonable?
Implementing this test on a regular basis is that it compels employees to think twice about
making unethical judgments since they may be scrutinized publicly (e.g. by co-workers or
family members). Therefore, NASA or any other business can utilize this tool as a barrier
against immoral temptations.

Virtuous Mean Test

The virtuous means test is another ethical instrument that NASA can employ while adopting
the virtue theory. NASA employees, such as Paul, can conduct this test by incorporating it
into his thoughts or through a discussion before making an immoral decision. "Does this
behaviour represent the kind of person I am or aim to be?" "Does this judgment reflect the
sort of organization we strive to be?"
In doing so, workers can assess if their judgements are consistent with their image or the
story they wish to convey about their lives. The test influences employees’ decisions by
considering if a given action is appropriate for the type of person or entity they desire to be.
In addition, the test reinforces that being an honest individual or institution entails more than
merely observing ethical norms; it also implies forming habits of acting in the manner that
individuals, companies, and society perceive to be good ethical standards. These
recommendations work best when applied to virtue theory.

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Deontological Ethics

Veil of Ignorance / Golden rule

Katherine was expected to do timely calculations while not being able to attend conferences
since women were not permitted to attend meetings due to a 'no women protocol’ even
though the material being presented was critical for her to complete her task.
This circumstance is linked to Act Deontological theory, which claims that some acts are
proclaimed 'right' or 'wrong' by a system of rules and actions, and hence obeying them
appears to be the ethical thing to do. A situation like this can be rectified using the veil of
ignorance, it is a social contract theory component that allows individuals or businesses to
evaluate ideas regarding fairness.
By removing biases from decision-making processes, this method can assist employers in
making fair moral judgments. Higher authorities in NASA for example when applying this
technique are required to forgo all personal factors that may hinder fair distribution of
rewards, in Katherine's case her employer can remove the ‘no women protocol’ so that both
genders can attend meetings. When management uses this technique, the employer must put
themselves in a position that allows them to make judgement free from class bias or self
interest

Justice & Universality test

Justice involves fair treatment when met with accordance to ethical and legal standards. At
the time, Katherine was subjected to Jim Crow regulations, which required the separation of
whites and blacks on the Campus of NASA .
While these rules were not legally enacted in the workplace, to her knowledge, the laws that
existed outside of the campus continued within. Despite the fact that she complied with these
laws, she was subjected to ill treatment and ridicule. which is a defiance to the Justice theory.
Utilizing the justice test implies evaluating your sense of fairness by analysing whether or not
your actions lie within the ethical and legal standards of the workplace. The universality test
requires you to consider whether you would suggest the same course of action to another
employee in a similar situation. For example, if Parsons or a loved one of his were in a
similar position as Katherine; a black woman who worked in a segregated environment,
would he have allowed employees to treat him the same as they did to Katherine? Not likely.
Using these approaches to address complex issues under the Deontological theory of Justice
can help businesses perceive the fairness of their acts and judgements when deciding. As
stated by Rawls, fairness is the essence of justice. persons will now have to use a risk averse
strategy, where people opt to treat each other in a way that gives them and in turn themselves,
the greatest possible benefit.

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Teleological Ethics Theory

Consequential Test
This theory that states that an activity is either good or harmful based on its outcome. A good
action is one that has more benefits than drawbacks, whereas a bad action has more
drawbacks than benefits. A scene in the film showed where Mrs. Mary Jackson was granted
permission to attend night classes by a judge since she had stated that her decisions will lead
to her becoming the first African American woman engineer for NASA. Mrs. Jackson's
attendance at a segregated school was judged unethical in the courtroom due to her skin
colour, but the judge decided in her favour.
The consequential test refers to whether a test has positive or negative social implications.
The anticipated consequences of Mrs. Jackson’s decision and plan turned out to be positive in
this instance. Consequentialism is a popular ethical philosophy because it provides obvious
and practical direction , at least in instances where the outcome is predictable.

Discourse Test
The teleological Egoism theory is the philosophical belief that one's own self is or should be,
the motivation and objective of one's own actions. Mrs. Mary Jackson's motivation for
wanting to be an engineer at NASA was to be the first woman of colour to accomplish such a
feat, which was her personal agenda, and to open a door for other women to realize it is
possible to achieve such ambitions, according to a scene in the film.
The discourse test aims to define the parameters of a free and democratic debate on key
standards that influence all members of a community. It aspires to do so in ways that are
directly applicable to the real and pressing issues that both local and larger communities face.
This test will work best in reference to the egoism theory as it expresses a moral outlook
based on communicative rationality. It claims that universal moral rules can be justified by
logical arguments in practical conversation if and only if certain formal requirements are met.

Communitarian Test
Utilitarianism is a moral philosophy that promotes activities that bring happiness or pleasure
while opposing actions that bring misery or harm. A utilitarian ideology would aim for the
welfare of society while making social, economic, or political decisions. At the workplace,
NASA, in the film, IBM machines were being brought in to replace the entire calculations
department, resulting in having these workers fired and unemployed. This goes against
utilitarianism, and this is why it is unethical.
Communitarianism is an ideology that emphasizes the individual's connection to the larger
community. Its basic idea is founded on the belief that a person's social identity and
13
personality are mostly shaped by communal ties, with individuality receiving less
development. The communitarian test is most suitable for this scenario since the company’s
action and plan hinders individuals and communities to develop ethically as the entire
department would have been fired and replaced by the IBM machines. This approach
attempts to maintain the balance between individual rights and societal obligations.

Conclusion

With the recommendations applied to the respective ethical theories identified in the film, it was
concluded that the ethics issues at work can be best dealt with by forecasting the outcomes of
potential actions as well as applying ethical moral actions to guide stakeholders.

14
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