The response addresses all the specific issues and concerns presented in the case scenario in a thorough and comprehensive manner.

The response demonstrates a deep understanding of the Hartman model and its application to the case scenario, including the consideration of the company's values, obligations, and responsibilities.

The response presents new and innovative ideas to address the situation, which are not predictable or standard.

The response presents actionable and feasible steps that the company can take to address the situation.

The response is well$-$organized, clear, and concise, making it easy to understand and follow.Problem Statement

You are a bright, young professional working for a Fortune $100$ company that is headquartered in a community of several hundred thousand people. The company has always held safety as a core value, dating back to its origins as an explosives maker. Your firm dominates the local culture $$ it is the best employer. It offers the best jobs and employs leading citizens; its influence pervades the landscape. One person called working there $$playing Major League ball in a sandlot.$$ To provide business visitors with high$-$quality accommodation, your company also runs the best hotel in the city, with the best restaurants in the region. At one point in time, it even owned the local newspaper!

It is November. You are glad because this means you can look forward to American Thanksgiving and the year$-$end holiday season without worrying about all those late$-$night papers and challenging exams from your Master$$s program. They were a major pain $($but they did prepare you for your coveted first job with the company$).$ Annual bonuses are paid on December $20,$ and this has been a very good year for the company. To hear your manager tell that it has been a good year for the company, it$$s been a good one for you, too.

Your reverie is interrupted by a call from the corporate VP who runs the hotel and its restaurants. You are ordered to go to the conference room immediately. Something is up$!$ When you arrive, the room already hosts the company$$s chief medical officer $($industry leader, oft$-$quoted in the business press$),$ senior executives from the hotel$/$restaurants$,$ and higher$-$ups from public affairs and legal. Everybody looks serious.

One of the chefs from The Blue Room restaurant in the hotel has just been diagnosed with hepatitis! You are aware that $40\%$ of the hotel$$s annual profits derive from the uber$-$busy holiday season. You also know that there have been rumors that the executive committee has been thinking about outsourcing the whole function $$ it is hardly a $$core business.$$ Major hospitality firms would jump at the chance to acquire this captive $$niche$$ market.

You also know that the local paper just loves to stick a thumb in the eye of the company when bad stuff happens $$ it is as if they want to demonstrate to everyone that they are no longer $$kept$$ journalists! Any scandal could be ruinous to the earnings of the year and the future of the hotel $$ to say nothing of the corporate black eye and the pleasure enjoyed by the rest of the community.

The medical officer reports that hepatitis is not something he knows much about. But from his time at medical school, he recalls that it can be serious, especially for older folks or others with compromised immune systems. There are two varieties, he says, both with significant $$incubation$$ periods before symptoms appear. One is difficult to spread between people; the other is quite contagious. The chef has been tested, but it will take a week to get the results. So far, the situation is $$contained$$ few people outside the room are aware of this situation.

The hotel executive begins to poll the room. The first few hotel folks tend to minimize the situation. They suspect such sickness often happens in the restaurant business, due to all those patrons and staff working in close proximity, washing dirty dishes nearby, etc. It will probably blow over. The legal team opines that there are no regulations governing this matter. The medical officer evades giving a concrete decision, presenting different arguments, but reaching no definitive conclusion.

Now, it is your turn to respond in the meeting.

Question $1$

What advice would you share in the meeting? Justify your response using the concepts you have learned thus far in the course. $($Hint $-$ Use the Hartman Model.$)$

Question $2$

How should the company respond to this situation? Take some time to chew over these facts and prepare your best approach to this urgent problem.