Samuel is a mid-level project manager at Wislet Dynamics, a small but rising publicly held corporation that makes components for companies that build weapons systems for the U.S. military. Currently his team is working on a project with a soon-to-be-reached deadline for a new and important client, Acme Ltd. Winning the bid on this contract was a major accomplishment, as Wislet was selected ahead of better-known companies. Meeting the deadline and providing a quality product will set Wislet up to get future, even more lucrative contracts. Not succeeding will cripple its chances for future government contracting business. In this unstable economic environment, its stock price could fall drastically. In addition, this could result in jobs being eliminated at Wislet.

Samuel has an interesting background. He is from a family of very modest means, and is the first in his family to go to college. He worked throughout his college years, often 30-40 hours per week, and it took him six years to graduate. He learned from his parents that you need to take responsibility for your actions and work hard to get what you want in life. He is proud of what he has managed to accomplish, and he is not particularly patient with or sympathetic to people who are lazy or make excuses for their shortcomings, no matter how difficult their life's circumstances might be. Succeeding on this project can mean a lot for his career at Wislet, including a promotion to a much higher paying job. That would help him and his wife and three children move from their cramped apartment to a larger place or even buy their first home.

Two members of the team Samuel supervises are Juan and Sandra. Sandra, a long-time and highly valued employee, recently transferred into Samuel's department and plays an important role on this team. One day, Juan, who is less experienced and accomplished than Sandra, notices that Sandra returns to work after lunch looking slightly disoriented and non-communicative. He reports this to Samuel. Juan suspects Sandra's either been drinking or using drugs.

Samuel talks with Sandra and she admits that she has been under great stress at work from this project and problems at home and has had a couple of drinks at lunch the last few days, which may have interacted with anxiety medicine she's taking. She tells Samuel she needs this job to support her two children and her elderly mother.

Samuel talks with other team members, and they are mixed in their opinion as to the impact of Sandra's behavior on their work. They like and appreciate Sandra, but also fear the negative consequences that could come from failure.

Use the following dilemma to practice the decision-making process. Using onebrief paragraph for each step of the decision-making model, identify the elements for each of the 6 steps in a cohesive essay.

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  • In your "decide" paragraph, be sure tosuccinctlyexplainwhy you selected the action that you did, and therationale for your choice, including:
    • impact on stakeholders
    • implications of all three ethical frameworks, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue.