Assignment Content

Scenario: Jennifer works as an urban planner for Uptown Management Corporation. She is responsible for reviewing plans for a new development project in the city's low-income area of downtown Crespo, Illinois. The work hours in her department are 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday - Friday. Employee hours are captured by logging into a time card system and reporting work hours daily. The company's ethics manual outlines misuse of company time and the repercussions that can lead to immediate termination.

For the past two weeks, Jennifer has been arriving to work at 8:30 a.m. Her supervisor called her into the office and reminded her about the company's policy on tardiness and advised her that she would be placed on probation for one month. She was also given a written warning of the possibility of termination if she does not arrive to work on time.

Jennifer has been upset about the situation and shared it with her coworker Cindy. She told Cindy that she was afraid of losing her job. Cindy felt sorry for Jennifer and offered to adjust the time for her in the time card system. Jennifer provided Cindy with her username and password to log into the time card system for her in the event she is unable to arrive to work on time.

Evaluate the unethical issue in the scenario, including the following:

• Describe the individuals involved in the issue.
• Identify some of the strategic approaches used to address the organizational behavior.
• How would you assess the outcome to see if the strategic approaches used were effective?
• What were some of the organizational behavior factors that contributed to this issue?
• Were there any unethical practices involved in this issue, and, if so, who do you believe had the ethical responsibility for addressing them?