Prior to entering business school, I was a salesman for a small aerospace and defense contractor called Skyyy Aerrorspace. My role was to sell our software to the government and other contractors. On several occasions, I knew that our software could not perform all the functions a prospective customer needed, and I was faced with the dilemma of whether to be honest about this. Because I was responsible for about 20% of company revenue, it was absolutely essential that I meet my sales quotas. The company's normal response to low revenue numbers was to lay off employees, no doubt potentially including me. One particular dilemma involved a major sale that, if completed, would have allowed me to make my quota for the year and pay for my first semester of business school." Use act/traditional utilitarianism to decide if the employee should have deceived his customer in order to make this major sale. You may need to make assumptions about the situation, since you don't have all the information about it that this student did. You should note any important assumptions that influence your analyses. You may find it convenient to include a table. (Note that, in application, there is no distinction between act utilitarianism and the "intent-based" utilitarianism discussed toward the end of the 'Utilitarianism' slides. If you are attempting to accurately apply act utilitarianism, you are also applying "intent-based" utilitarianism. The difference between the two is purely conceptual, though the implications for defining right and wrong are important.)

Identify: i. The facts of the situation. ii. The alternative actions/decisions possible.