2. What are the risks of waiting for unequivocal proof before beginning to take action? What are the risks of acting decisively based on your “gut” sense of a situation? Applying ethical judgment in an organizational setting can be challenging. This exercise offers you the opportunity to consider how you might approach such a situation as a manager in an investment fi rm.

Read the scenario and prepare your responses to the individual (homework) questions in advance of discussing this exercise in class.

Scenario Imagine that you are a newly hired portfolio manager at Excalibur Funds. Although you’re new to this job, you have eight years’ experience in the mutual fund business. You left a larger and more established mutual fund company to join Excalibur because of its reputation as a bright, up-and-coming investment company, a place where someone like yourself could participate in building a new and dynamic investment company.

Your new fund, the Pioneer Fund, is a growthoriented fund investing in small companies. Typically, the majority of the fund’s stock investments is in hightechnology companies. Pioneer is moving up fast in its peer group, and if the fund continues to perform well, you stand a good chance of being the manager recognized when it breaks into the top tier of performance.

One of the features that attracted you to this job is the opportunity to work with a seasoned group of traders, analysts, and staff professionals. The Pioneer Fund staff has averaged 10 percent turnover over the past fi ve years, unusual in an industry where turnover commonly reaches 60 to 80 percent. After a month of working with your new team, however, you have noticed some troubling patterns.

First, you felt that some of your staff were delaying or stonewalling you on several occasions when you requested more detailed information on particular trades. It took too long to get the information, and when you did receive it, the information looked a little too neat and well- organized.

Second, the analysts have seemed guarded regarding their interaction with some of the technology companies in which the Pioneer Fund invests. On more than one occasion you’ve noticed analysts quickly ending phone calls when you entered the offi ce, or minimizing computer screens when you walk by their desks. Finally, the group just seems a bit too nice when you are around. The investment business is often hectic and stressful. Shouting matches over investment decisions are not uncommon in this business, and grumbling is a second language. But all you get are smiles and charm.