CASE 7 So EXERCISING YOUR ETHICS: INDIVIDUAL EXERCISE PROMISES, PROMISES The Situation Unfortunately, false promises are not uncommon when managers feel pressure to pump up profits. Many operations managers no doubt recall times when excited marketing managers asked for unrealistic commitments from production to get a new customer contract. This exercise will introduce you to some ethical considerations pertaining to such promises and commitments. The Dilemma You are an operations manager for a factory that makes replacement car mufflers and tailpipes. Your products are distributed throughout the country to muffler-repair shops that install them on used vehicles. After several years of modest but steady growth, your company recently suffered a downturn and shut down 5 percent of the factory's production capacity. Two supervisors and 70 production workers were laid off. After returning from lunch, you get a phone call from the general manager of King Kong Mufflers, one of the nation's top three amuffler-repair chains, who says the following: I suppose you know that we 're about to sign a contract for your firm to supply us with replacement parts in large volumes, beginning two months from now. Your sales manager assures me that you can reliably meet my needs, and I just want to confirm that promise with you before I sign the contract