FRONTLINE FOCUS

Good Money$-$Ben Makes a Decision

Ben lost a lot of sleep that night. He trusted Rick as his most experienced tire mechanic, but he had never seen him be so negative about one particular tire model$-$and it wasn't as if he had anything to gain by trashing the reputation of a tire that the company wanted to sell so aggressively.

The company had sold seconds before$-$heck, they even sold "used" tires for those customers looking to save a few bucks. How was this any different? Plus, Rick didn't have to deal with the sales pressure that John placed on his team leaders$-$you had to hit your quota every week or else$-$and if the company was pushing Benfield Voyagers, then John expected to see him sell Benfield Voyagers by the dozen.

But what if Rick was right? What if Benfield had cut corners to save on costs? They could end up with another Firestone disaster on their hands. What was Ben supposed to do with this information? If Rick was so concerned, why wasn't he speaking up$?$ The company advertised its hotline for employees to use if they had concerns about any business

practices. Why was it Ben's job to say something? He needed this job. He had bills to pay just like the other guys in the store$-$in fact, the bills were getting pretty high and that bonus money would really help right now.

Ben tossed and turned for a few more hours before reaching a decision. Rick might be right to be concerned, but he was only one guy. The guys at corporate looked at the same specs as Rick did, and if they could live with them, then so could Ben. He wasn't going to put his neck on the block just on the basis of Rick's concerns. If the company was putting its faith in Benfield Voyagers, then Ben was going to sell more of them than anyone else in the company.

Two weeks later, there was a fatal crash involving a minivan with three passengers$-$a husband and wife and their young son. The minivan had been fitted with Benfield Voyagers at Ben's tire store just one week earlier.

QUESTIONS

$1.$ What do you think will happen now?

$2.$ What will be the consequences for Ben, Rick, their tire store, and Benfield?

$3.$ Should Ben have spoken out against the Voyager tires?