OBAT WORK326 Part 4Sharing the Organizational Vision
ETHICAL DILEMMAEXERCISE
Five Ethical Decisions: What Would You Do?
Assume you are a middle manager in a company with
about 1000 employees. How would you respond to each of
the following situations?
1 .You are negotiating a contract with a potentially
very large customer whose representative has
hinted that you could almost certainly be assured of
getting his business if you gave him and his wife an
all-expenses-paid cruise to the Caribbean. You
know the representative’s employer would not
approve of such a “payoff,” but you have the dis-
cretion to authorize such an expenditure. What
would you do?
2.You have the opportunity to steal $100 000 from
your company with absolute certainty that you
would not be detected or caught. Would you do it?
3.Your company policy on reimbursement for meals
while travelling on company business is that you will
be repaid for your out-of-pocket costs, which are
not to exceed $50 a day. You do not need receipts
for these expenses—the company will take your
word. When travelling, you tend to eat at fast-food
places and rarely spend more than $15 a day. Most
of your colleagues submit reimbursement requests
in the range of $45 to $50 a day regardless of what
their actual expenses are. How much would you
request for your meal reimbursements?4.You want to get feedback from people who are
using one of your competitor’s products. You
believe you will get much more honest responses
from these people if you disguise the identity of
your company. Your boss suggests you contact pos-
sible participants by using the fictitious name of the
Consumer Marketing Research Corporation. What
would you do?
5.You have discovered that one of your closest friends
at work has stolen a large sum of money from the
company. Would you do nothing? Go directly to an
executive to report the incident before talking about it
with the offender? Confront the individual before tak-
ing action? Make contact with the individual with the
goal of persuading that person to return the money?
6 .You are in the process of hiring a new assistant, and
your number-one client in terms of dollar value in
sales has suggested that his sister-in-law would be
ideal for the job. You have interviewed her, but
believe that another candidate you interviewed is
better qualified. You are concerned that if you don’t
hire the client’s sister-in-law, however, you may lose
some or all of your client’s business.Source:Several of these scenarios are based on D. R. Altany, “Torn
Between Halo and Horns,” IndustryWeek,March 15, 1993, pp. 15–20.A doctor
A naval officer
A man in his 30s
A wounded woman2.Here is what you know about the 10 people surrounding your lifeboat:An elderly couple
A newlywed couple
A 7-year-old child
A minister
3.As a group, decide what to do with the 10 people. How would you arrive at your decision? What ethical criteria
would you use to make your decision?Source:Unknown.