You are a new supply chain manager for a large multinational food products company. Your company insists that all of the fruit and nut products it sells are organic. The cashews your company sells are sustainably grown. They are also delicious and considered to be good for your health because they are high in protein, minerals, fiber, and unsaturated fat (the “good kind of fat”). The plantations you source from are also unusual because they pay the women who pick nuts unusually high wages for the country in which they are located and also provide excellent working conditions. 

On your first trip to visit one of the plantations, you discover something that surprises you: Paychecks are issued not to the women who pick the nuts but rather to their husbands. You ask the plantation manager if this is legal, and he responds that he is not sure, but it is consistent with local tradition. One of the women who works at the plantation sidles up to you and mentions that she wishes her paychecks were issued directly to her. Her husband is abusive, she says, and spends the money foolishly. She feels that if she controlled her paycheck, she might be able to improve the conditions in her household and village.

You are not sure what to do. The situation just feels wrong to you. On the other hand, you don’t know if the behavior is illegal, don’t want to upset relations with this supplier, and are not sure that the paycheck issue is any of your business. Use the weight-of-reasons framework to work through this issue. Might you have options that would allow you to continue working with this supplier and also address your concerns? What principles should you use in deciding?