Susan has worked at Suspenders Ltd for six months and has been appointed a team leader. In the time she has been there, out of the eight members of her team who were there when she joined three have left and one is on long-term sick after having a breakdown. 

She has to attend meetings of other team leaders and supervisors. At one of the meetings she was told that certain suppliers were to be given ‘special payments’ providing certain delivery and quality targets were met. These were to be paid directly to named individuals and arrangements would be made to pay them in cash. In the records these were to be described as ‘advisory fees’. Susan and her colleagues were told only to deal with these named individuals and no one else.

After work her friend Maureen asked Susan if she would like some electrical goods that had been ‘damaged’ in the stores. Maureen revealed that stores staff regularly siphoned off consumer electrical goods and sold them cheaply to staff – suppliers simply replaced any damaged goods and didn’t ask for them to be returned so this practice was simple and effective. Maureen had bought a 42 inch plasma television for K100,000 from one of the stores staff. Susan declined.

At home Susan’s daughter asked her if she could have some paper and pens for school. Susan said she would bring home a packet of paper and a box of pens the next day from the stationery store. Next day Susan finished her work, messaged a friend in J’orburg on Facebook and bought some new outfits for work from some online shopping websites. She then went home, remembering to take with her the pens and paper her daughter wanted.

Discuss

How has the behaviour of the staff been influenced by the ethical behaviour of the company?

Is Susan’s behaviour acceptable or excusable in any way?

How should management deal with incidences of such behaviour by staff?

What processes and procedures could be put in place to reduce incidences of this type of behaviour by staff and what should management do to make them effective?