Resolving Ethical Business Challenges on Pp. 24-25 in Chapter 1

Oliver Bojanic

MBA527 HW1

1) Read "Resolving Ethical Business Challenges" on pp. 24-25 in Chapter 1. Answer questions 1-3.

1. Lael is in a situation that is in quite a gray area. While the allegations the other employees have made have not been experienced by her, they have been to many others. While the employee handbook and Nikhil's views on sexual harassment seem to differ considerably, Lael should stand up to her morals, those that are telling her this has no place in the workplace, and build a report based upon Best East's ethics, which are written down. If this behavior is left unchecked by her, it may become the norm and the fundamental ethics of the business may shift as individual morals and values start to influence it. Now that she is aware of what is taking place, she needs to fix it for the sake of her own moral compass, the business ethics of the company, and to save the face of the business as a whole.

1. Best East's ethical culture seems to be two-fold in that male employees and guests find it perfectly natural and normal to harass female workers, to include verbal and nonverbal communication, while female employees don't speak up, rather take it, receive paychecks, and leave without making a scene. While the handbook mentioned explicitly states that "sexual harassment of any kind would not be tolerated and should be reported immediately to the proper manager" (Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell. 2015), the problem stems to the fact that it is the owner's own son that is facilitating this culture that it is actually okay. Because no one wants to get fired or go against the graces of someone very close to leadership, many people seem to go with the flow to make sure that they either fit in to the emerging culture, or take the actions, get a paycheck, and leave.

1. In a perfect world, Lael should build a case, gather evidence about the suspected sexual harassment cases, and then with enough evidence bring it up to the owner. While doing this however, she should talk to Nikhil about these disturbing cases, stating how it goes against the employee handbook as well as the ethics of the company they both work for. She should also make him aware that if this was to continue and somehow it was to get out, it would tarnish his father's company's name, along with a considerable amount of profit and respect lost.

2) Watch the Instructional Video "Homework on the Clock" found at http://danielsethics.mgt.unm.edu/videos/ethics-instructional-videos.asp (Links to an external site.).

Discuss the issues posed in the video.

Hank, while working at his job, would take classes and further his degree in order to move up in the company. Now, this may seem that he is being paid and using company time on himself, but we're not aware of all the information. In his company, there may be something in place ethically that states that bettering yourself while on company time, so long as there is nothing pressing happening, is a valid and acceptable thing to do. If it's part of the job description to continually gain education in order to gain seniority, then doing what he's doing is a valid approach. Now however, in the video he does have work that needs to be accomplished and he is putting it aside for this venture. The principle of this behavior is that he is now using company time and money that can be used toward furthering the company on himself. Morally, this is stealing resources from his company and is wrong, he has not earned this, and is now bringing down the company as a result in a minor way (that could become major). The principle of this activity is that he has the right to gain his degree, but on his own time if the company he works for condones study at work. Taking away a worker from the workspace when he is needed while telling coworkers he hasn't had time or that is a slow process is being dishonest, something that if it is left to fester could grow into something much worse. Now that he got away with it once, there's no consequences, and thus there is nothing stopping him from doing it again.