Choose four of these conflicts to discuss.

Be sure to address

1. What is the ethical conflict that exists

2. Apply the ideas , principles and methods from the preceding two chapters to justify your decision

Preview File Edit View Go Tools Window Help Q 8 Wed Oct 13 6:34 PM Business_Government_and_Society_T... Page 277 of 713 - Edited Q Search + 88 Business_Government_a... Topic: C Short Incidents for Ethical Reasoning The following situations contain ethical conflicts. Try storeroom clerk with 30 years' service, who lost both to define the ethical problems that exist. Then apply his job and his pension. According to Westfall, "The ideas, principles, and methods from the preceding fact that I did it made a lot of honest citizens real 259 two chapters to resolve them. quick." Did the admiral act ethically? A CLOUDED PROMOTION Short Incidents for Ethical Reasoning SAM, SALLY, AND HECTOR A CLOUDED PROMOTION SAM. SALLY, AND HECTOR As chairman of an accounting firm in a large city, you were prepared to promote one of your vice chairmen to Sam, Sally, and Hector have been laid off from the position of managing partner. Your decision was middle-management positions. Sam and Hector are HE THIEVES very upset by their misfortune. They are nervous, in- A PERSONALITY TEST based on a record of outstanding performance by this person over the eight years she has been with the firm. articulate, and docile at an exit meeting in the per- A new personnel director recently insisted on imple- sonnel department and accept the severance package menting a policy of resume checks for hirees and cur- offered by the company (two weeks' pay plus con- rent employees receiving promotions who had not been tinuation of health benefits for two weeks) without through such checks. Unfortunately, it was discovered questioning its provisions. Sally, on the other hand, 260 that although the vice chairman claimed to have an manifests her anxiety about job loss by becoming MBA from the University of Michigan, she dropped out angry. In the exit meeting, she complains about the before completing her last 20 units of course work. inadequacy of the severance package, threatens a Would you proceed with the promotion, retain the vice lawsuit, and tries to negotiate more compensation. chairman but not promote her, or fire her? She receives an extra week of pay that the others did not get. Has the company been fair in its treatment of MARY AND TOM THE ADMIRAL AND these employees? THE THIEVES TRIP TO SEAWORLD A PERSONALITY TEST When Admiral Thomas Westfall took command of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, theft of supplies You are asked by a potential employer to take a psy- was endemic. It was a standing joke that homes in chological profile test. A sample segment includes 261 the area were painted gray with paint stolen from the the items shown in Exhibit 1. Navy. Admiral Westfall issued an order that rules Because you have read that it is best to fit into a related to supply practices and forbidding theft "normal" range and pattern of behavior, and because would be strictly enforced. Within a few days, two it is your hunch that the personnel office will weed career petty officers were apprehended carrying a out unusual personalities, you try to guess which piece of Plexiglas worth $25 out of the base. Westfall answers are most appropriate for a conservative or THE HONDA AUCTION immediately fired both of them and also a civilian average response and write them in. Is this ethical? EXHIBIT 1Preview File Edit View Go Tools Window Help Q 8 Wed Oct 13 6:34 PM Business_Government_and_Society_T... Page 277 of 713 - Edited Q Search + 88 Business_Government_a... Topic: C Short Incidents for Ethical Reasoning The following situations contain ethical conflicts. Try storeroom clerk with 30 years' service, who lost both to define the ethical problems that exist. Then apply his job and his pension. According to Westfall, "The ideas, principles, and methods from the preceding fact that I did it made a lot of honest citizens real 259 two chapters to resolve them. quick." Did the admiral act ethically? A CLOUDED PROMOTION Short Incidents for Ethical Reasoning SAM, SALLY, AND HECTOR A CLOUDED PROMOTION SAM. SALLY, AND HECTOR As chairman of an accounting firm in a large city, you were prepared to promote one of your vice chairmen to Sam, Sally, and Hector have been laid off from the position of managing partner. Your decision was middle-management positions. Sam and Hector are HE THIEVES very upset by their misfortune. They are nervous, in- A PERSONALITY TEST based on a record of outstanding performance by this person over the eight years she has been with the firm. articulate, and docile at an exit meeting in the per- A new personnel director recently insisted on imple- sonnel department and accept the severance package menting a policy of resume checks for hirees and cur- offered by the company (two weeks' pay plus con- rent employees receiving promotions who had not been tinuation of health benefits for two weeks) without through such checks. Unfortunately, it was discovered questioning its provisions. Sally, on the other hand, 260 that although the vice chairman claimed to have an manifests her anxiety about job loss by becoming MBA from the University of Michigan, she dropped out angry. In the exit meeting, she complains about the before completing her last 20 units of course work. inadequacy of the severance package, threatens a Would you proceed with the promotion, retain the vice lawsuit, and tries to negotiate more compensation. chairman but not promote her, or fire her? She receives an extra week of pay that the others did not get. Has the company been fair in its treatment of MARY AND TOM THE ADMIRAL AND these employees? THE THIEVES TRIP TO SEAWORLD A PERSONALITY TEST When Admiral Thomas Westfall took command of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, theft of supplies You are asked by a potential employer to take a psy- was endemic. It was a standing joke that homes in chological profile test. A sample segment includes 261 the area were painted gray with paint stolen from the the items shown in Exhibit 1. Navy. Admiral Westfall issued an order that rules Because you have read that it is best to fit into a related to supply practices and forbidding theft "normal" range and pattern of behavior, and because would be strictly enforced. Within a few days, two it is your hunch that the personnel office will weed career petty officers were apprehended carrying a out unusual personalities, you try to guess which piece of Plexiglas worth $25 out of the base. Westfall answers are most appropriate for a conservative or THE HONDA AUCTION immediately fired both of them and also a civilian average response and write them in. Is this ethical? EXHIBIT 1Preview File Edit View Go Tools Window Help Q 8 Wed Oct 13 6:34 PM Business_Government_and_Society_T... Page 278 of 713 - Edited D' Q Q Search + 88 Business_Government_a... EXHIBIT 1 Topic: C Yes No Can't Say It is difficult to sleep at night. I worry about sexual matters. Sometimes my hands feel disjointed from my body. 259 I sometimes smell strange odors. I enjoyed dancing classes in junior high school. Not all of my friends really like me Short Incidents for Ethical Reasoning Work is often a source of stress. A CLOUDED PROMOTION SAM. SALLY, AND HECTOR HE THIEVES A PERSONALITY TEST 260 Chapter 8 Making Ethical Decisions in Business 261 AL the buyer represents has not sold the company's products before, but once it starts, reorders are likely. The CEO of a Midwestern manufacturing company At dinner that evening, the buyer mentions that he MARY AND TOM tells the following story. and his wife have always wanted to visit SeaWorld in I was looking over recent performance reviews in San Diego. While they are in Southern California and the household products division and one thing that so close, they would like to fly down. It is clear that TRIP TO SEAWORLD struck me was the review of a star sales rep named he expects the company to pay for this trip and that Al. I know Al because he handles our Walmart he will delay making a commitment for the $40 mil- account. Al had the highest annual sales for the past lion order until he gets a response. five years and last year nearly doubled the next The company has already spent $4,200 for the 261 highest rep's total. The sales manager's written buyer's trip to Los Angeles. The San Diego excursion evaluation was highly laudatory as expected, but would cost about $500. The marketing manager esti- cautioned Al to adhere strictly to discount policy, mates that the company can make a 9 percent gross shipping protocol, and billing protocol. I got curious. profit on the sale. The sales representative stands to A conversation with the division manager re- vealed that Al ingratiated himself with workers on receive a 0.125 percent commission over base salary. What should the sales representative do? THE HONDA AUCTION the loading dock, socializing with them, sending them birthday cards, and giving them small gifts such as tickets to minor-league ball games. The MARY AND TOMPreview File Edit View Go Tools Window Help Q 8 Wed Oct 13 6:35 PM Business_Government_and_Society_T... Page 280 of 713 - Edited Q Search + 88 Business_Government_a... In the meantime, Tokyo Bay Steamship Company ployees behavior. Topic: C prospered. Its shares rose on the Tokyo exchange. But did it meet basic standards of ethics? Nike's good name and reputation result in large part from our collective actions. That means the work-related actions of every employee must reflect TIGER WOODS standards of honesty, loyalty, trustworthiness, fair- ness, concern for others, and accountability. We are In the early morning hours of November 26, 2009, expected to be sensitive to any situations that can MANY AND TOM golf star Tiger Woods drove from his Florida man- adversely impact Nike's reputation and are ex- sion, hitting a fire hydrant and a tree. The media soon pected to use good judgment and common sense in the way we all conduct business. TRIP TO SEAWORLD revealed infidelities, destroying his image as a dedi- cated husband and parent of two small children. Nike was not the only sponsor that stuck with Before this, Woods was one of the world's most Woods. Electronic Arts continued to feature him on popular athletes. Corporations used him as an en- its Web site and in a video game. NetJets, TLC Laser 261 dorser with global appeal and his income from this Eye Centers, and Upper Deck made no changes. Tag was as high as $100 million a year. When the scandal Heuer reduced, but did not eliminate, his presence in broke, corporate sponsors needed to reassess the its advertising. relationship. The events here raise many questions, most prom- AT&T, which has a Code of Ethics requiring "[elach inent among them, should corporate sponsors apply director, officer, and employee . . . to act with integ- their ethics standards to celebrity endorsers? THE HONDA AUCTION rity . . . including being honest and ethical" was the first to act. It ended an agreement paying Woods to 4 Accenture, Code of Business Ethics: Our Core Values in carry its logo on his golf bag. Action (New York: Accenture, August 2007, ver. 4.11), pp. 11 COLTOKYO BAY STEAMSHIP and 12. 5 "Nike Responsibility Governance" at www.nikebiz.com/ 2 "Profits in Suicide," Fortune, May 1935, p. 116. responsibility/cr_governance.html, accessed March 6, 2010. 3 AT&T Inc., "AT&T Inc. Code of Ethics," at www.att.com/ 6 Nike, Inside the Lines: The Nike Code of Ethics (Beaverton, 262 gen/investor-relations?pid=5595, accessed March 6, 2010. OR: Nike, 2008), p. 23. TIGER WOODS 264 Chapter 8 Making Ethical Decisions in Business 263