Mayo Elton is the chief ethics officer at Hawthorne Manufacturing. He has established a code of conduct that prohibits stealing supplies and equipment from the factory floor and also imposes strict punishments up to, and including, being fired and prosecuted. Elton ensures that these policies and procedures are communicated to all new hires at an annual ethics training. Despite this, theft is persistently high at the plant, so much so that it is making a noticeable dent in profits. Elton is very disappointed by this, especially because he constantly refers to and tries to live up to Hawthorne’s core values, which include integrity.

Elton offers to hire you for a handsome sum to resolve the theft problem at his plant. After accepting Elton’s offer, you get to work gathering data to try to understand the underlying reasons the code of conduct on stealing is not working at Hawthorne (step 2 of the weight-of-reasons framework.) Based on the lessons of this chapter, identify three plausible reasons that theft is taking place. Use the weight-of-reasons framework to recommend solutions to the problem.