Ethical Dilemma Case: Lying in Business Do you think it's always okay to lie? If someone negotiates the ransom of hostages, it is likely that most people would agree that it would be okay to lie if it would result in their safety. What happens in business, where things are rarely life or death? Business executives like Martha Stewart have gone to prison for lying (giving false testimony to federal investigators). Is it okay to disguise or hide figures, since there is no outright lie? Consider the negotiation process. A good negotiator never shows his cards, okay? So omitting certain information is only part of the process. Well, you might be surprised to learn that the law would say you are lying by omitting information if partial disclosure is misleading, or if one party has better information than the other. In one case (Jordan v. Duff and Phelps), the company (Duff and Phelps) withheld information from an employee  Jordan  about the close sale of the company. The problem was that Jordan was in the process of leaving the organization and that is why he sold the shares he owned in it. Ten days later, the shares were worth much more once the sale of the organization was made public. Jordan sued his former employer, arguing that he should have shared this information with him. Duff and Phelps defended themselves on the grounds that they never lied to Jordan. The Court of Appeals ruled that in such situations one party cannot take an "opportunistic advantage" of the other. In the eyes of the law, omitting relevant facts is sometimes just as bad as lying. Questions: 1.) In the context of business, is it always okay to lie? If you answer yes, tell us what those situations are. Why would it be okay to lie in such situations? 2.) A recent study found that 24 percent of managers said they fired someone for lying. Do you think it is fair to fire the employee who lies, regardless of the nature of the deception? Explain your answer. 3.) In business, is hiding information for one's benefit the same as lying? Why yes or why not? 4.) In the context of business, if someone had something to gain from a lie, what percentage of people think they would lie? Explain your answer.