Ethical Issues Encountered by Managers

An important skill for managers and business leaders to have is being able to evaluate a situation to determine what happened, why it happened, how things could have gone differently, what lessons can be learned going forward, and so on. When ethical issues arise, managers are often called upon to address the situations from an employee and leadership perspective, and if damage has been done, there may be a need to not only correct behaviors but also improve relationships.

Part 1

Using one case study from the Part 1 Scenarios document, address the following prompts:

• For each person in the scenario, did he or she behave ethically or unethically? Explain why, providing at least one scholarly resource to support your answer. (150225 words, or 23 paragraphs)
• How could this scenario have been addressed more effectively? (75150 words, or 12 paragraphs)
• What are the potential internal (leadership/management) and external impacts of this unethical behavior on the organization? (150 words, or 2 paragraphs)
• Did organizational, positional, or personal power affect the ethical decision making of those involved? Explain why or why not. (75150 words, or 12 paragraphs)

Part 2

Using one case study from the Part 2 Scenarios document, address the following prompts:

• Does this business adhere to ethical practices? Why or why not? (75150 words, or 12 paragraphs)
• What are the potential internal (leadership/management) and external impacts of these business practices on the organization? (150 words, or 2 paragraphs)

References

Part 1 Scenarios 1. Keeshan Parekh Keeshan Parekh worked as an IT manager for a small accounting firm. The company had recently bought new computers for its nearly 40 employees and needed to dispose of the old computers because confidential financial information and employees personal information were stored on the hard drives. Since the company was small, Keeshan and his one other IT staff member, Russell Bedford, typically handled all matters related to procurement, maintenance, and disposal of all company computer systems. Normally, he and Russell would go out behind the building, physically destroy the computers hard drives, and then throw all the equipment into the dumpster for removal. Recently, however, Keeshan had been told by the company president that they need to be more environmentally responsible and that all electronics should be recycled instead. Russell offered to take the machines to the local recycling center for proper disposal, but Keeshan said he would handle it himself. Instead of driving the computers to the recycling center, however, Keeshan took the computers home in his truck one night after work and stored them in his garage. Over the next several months, he replaced the hard drives of all the computers and sold them online and to other local small businesses for $250 each, earning him close to $10,000. For this scenario, you will examine the behaviors of Keeshan Parekh, IT manager. 2. Alisha Anderson, Corinne Maddox, and the HR Executive A new CEO, Alisha Anderson, met with her leadership team to emphasize the importance of trust within their positions and to reiterate the need for the team to demonstrate trust throughout the company. She did this because employee morale had been quite low for some time due to a lack of trust in leadership and the staff feeling unsupported. After recent layoffs and the changing of CEOs, however, morale had hit an all-time low. After the meeting, Alisha also met privately with Corinne Maddox, who is an employee working under of one of Alishas direct reports, an executive team member named Erwin Patel. Alisha and Corinne had a full discussion about moving Corinne into an office with a window, a privilege typically reserved for employees at the executive director level and above. After the meeting, Corinne went directly to HR to tell them that the CEO had approved her transition into a window office and HR needed to handle the move. The HR executive went immediately to Erwin and asked him if he knew about the move and if he had authorized it. Erwin hadnt heard anything about it, but he disclosed to the HR executive that he had recently been told by another member of the team that Alisha and Corinne seemed to be meeting alone in Alishas office a lot lately. This same team member shared that she overheard Corinne having a hushed conversation in the break room during which she was bragging to another coworker about how she was going to take full advantage of the dirt she had on Alisha for as long as she could. This team member had expressed concerns to Erwin that Corinne was getting special treatment because of whatever secrets she knew about the CEOs personal life. When the HR executive addressed Alisha, she said, Look, I authorized it, so there is no need to discuss anything further! The HR executive and Erwin were concerned, but they werent sure there was anything they could do. For this scenario, you will examine the behaviors of Alisha Anderson, CEO; Corinne Maddox, the employee; and the HR executive. 3. Christine Jensen, Deborah Kirkland, and Daniel Alvarado One evening after work, the management team for a software development company attended an off-site dinner meeting with one of its vendors at a restaurant in a local hotel. After dinner, the software development teams Executive Director, Christine Jensen, looked at her phone, grabbed her purse, and excused herself from the table, saying that she needed to go home. A short time later, Daniel Alvarado, one of the vendors sales team members, said he also had to leave and headed toward the hotel lobby. Because people were laughing and drinking at the table, most of the group didnt notice that neither Christine nor Daniel had actually left the hotel. One of the software development team members, Deborah Kirkland, had a direct line of sight to the hotel elevators, and she saw Christine enter an elevator going to the hotels guest room floors rather than exiting the main lobby doors to her car parked outside. After witnessing this, Deborah paid attention to where other meeting attendees went when they left the gathering. Everyone else went out the front door of the hotel, except Daniel. He, too, got into an elevator to the hotels guest room floors. A few people from the group lingered at the hotel bar for a few more hours. At 1:00 am, there were three people left: two from the software development company (including Deborah) and one from the vendor. As the small group began to disband, they made their way into the hotel lobby to say their good-byes. At that moment, the hotel elevator door opened, and Christine and Daniel walked out arm in arm. Neither of them noticed their colleagues standing in the lobby as they walked through the hotels front doors, kissed passionately, and then parted ways to walk to their respective cars. The dinner attendees standing in the hotel lobby looked at each other in shock and quickly said goodnight, not quite knowing how to react to what they had just seen. The next morning, Deborah approached Christine about the incident and expressed concerns about what the group had witnessed. Deborah felt uncomfortable bringing it up because she reported to Christine, but she also knew that this vendor was one of a handful of companies that were bidding on a huge contract. Deborah knew that another vendor might be the better choice, but she worried that this relationship could impact this project for her company. Christine told Deborah not to worry about any of that and said that although she would not stop seeing Daniel, she would try to make the relationship less noticeable in the future. Deborah was conflicted, but she didnt raise the issue again. A few weeks later, Daniels company got the contract. For this scenario, you will examine the behaviors of Christine Jensen, Executive Director; Deborah Kirkland; and Daniel Alvarado.

Part 2 Scenarios 1. Private Loan Service Provider Theresa Franco, a relatively new member of the marketing team for a private loan service provider, is working on developing a marketing campaign directed at lower income families to help them make ends meet, particularly during the holidays. The campaign emphasizes the opportunity of freedom from high-interest credit card debt, and the ability to provide a wonderful holiday for the family without worrying about having cash on hand, all while downplaying the fact that the interest rates on these personal loans are low only for the first 90 days after disbursement and then jump higher than many credit card annual percentage rates (APRs). Theresa had been hired 6 months prior by the loan company, which billed itself externally as an organization that created opportunities to help people get back on their feet after financial hardship. After working there for a few months, however, Theresa had continually observed that the culture was highly competitive, and people were focused primarily on selling products, not on helping customers. She needed the job, though, so she had tried to keep her head down and work hard. At the outset of this new project, Theresa had expressed concerns to her manager, Steve Brown, about the fact that their company seemed to prey on people who might not really be able to afford the loan payments. Steve chuckled, shrugged, and encouraged her to put those thoughts aside and just focus on the job at hand. Besides, Steve reminded Theresa, if you do well on this project, a big bonus will surely be coming your way at the end of the year! Despite Theresas hesitations, she continued working on the marketing campaign. 2. DS Clothiers DS Clothiers, a sportswear company based in the UK, has gained worldwide popularity as the new high-fashion brand of comfortable yet elegant clothing separates for adults. Daphne Simms, the companys founder, is a young entrepreneur who has received much praise from business experts for her use of up-and-coming designers to keep costs low while providing these young creative self-starters a chance to break into the fashion industry. In addition, the companys social media team is known for being able to effectively reach its customer base. The companys social media presence, as well as its affiliation with a couple of pop stars and athletes, has gained them worldwide notoriety in a short time, with very little monetary investment. Recently, a popular fashion magazine received some information from a source inside the company about the foreign suppliers DS Clothiers was using, claiming that these low costs, combined with high prices, allowed the company to bring in enormous profits. After further investigation, the magazine ran a story about the labor conditions in these countries, where employees work for long hours at very low wages in sometimes dangerous environments. The source also described the unreasonable expectations set for the companys employees, especially the social media team, claiming that employees are expected to be available 24 hours a day and work 70 hours a week on average. The magazine interviewed someone who claimed to have worked over 85 hours in a week. The board of directors immediately identified and fired the whistleblower. Those in leadership were divided on how to proceed. Some thought that it might be time for some changes, while others felt singled out and that the attention was unjustified because many other companies did the same things without issue. The companys sales took a major hit after the article went to press, and Daphne Simms immediately responded by issuing an apology on the companys website and social media platforms. She also did numerous media interviews to address the companys tarnished reputation. During this same time, in an effort to promote good business practices, DS Clothiers partnered with an organization located in the UK that promotes fair labor practices and environmental sustainability worldwide. The partnership raised some concerns in the business community, however, because the chairman of the organization, Thomas Simms, is Daphnes father.