For almost a year, Traki Company has been changing its manufacturing process from a traditional to a JIT approach. Management has asked for employees’ assistance in the transition and has offered bonuses for suggestions that cut time from the production operation. Deb Hinds and Jack Snow each identified a time-saving opportunity and turned in their suggestions to their manager, Randall Soder.

Soder sent the suggestions to the committee charged with reviewing employees’ suggestions, which inadvertently identified them as being Soder’s own. The committee decided that the two suggestions were worthy of reward and voted a large bonus for Soder. When notified of this, Soder could not bring himself to identify the true authors of the suggestions.

When Hinds and Snow heard about Soder’s bonus, they confronted him with his fraudulent act and expressed their grievances. He told them that he needed the recognition to be eligible for an upcoming promotion and promised that if they kept quiet about the matter, he would make sure that they both received significant raises. Prepare written responses to the following questions so that you can discuss them in class:

1. Should Hinds and Snow keep quiet? What other options are open to them?

2. How should Soder have dealt with Hinds’s and Snow’s complaints?