A Manager’s Ethical Dilemma Sears, Roebuck, and Co. began as a farm supplies company that expanded into the markets of retail, insurance, real estate, securities, and credit cards. Though they had a “long history of high earnings” (Trevino, 2011, p. 297), competitors were flooding the market, driving Sear’s share down. Their solution was an incentive plan that backfired on them, eventually causing millions of dollars lost and the loss of parts of its business. Background As mentioned earlier Sears, Roebuck, and Co. was a farm supplies company that branched out into other types of businesses due to “changes in American society” (Trevino, 2011, p. 297). They had great success until the 80’s when competitors began to do better than them. Sear’s plan was to replace hourly wages and quotas in their automotive centers with a new commission based pay system. This included both mechanics and service advisors. Because commissions were now driving sales based on potentially unneeded work being pushed, Sears was accused of “violating the state’s (California) Auto Repair Act” (Trevino, 2011, p. 298). The CEO took blame and vowed to have commission based on customer satisfaction rather than the type of work being done. Though this eliminated the commission for the service advisors, the mechanics still had it. In 1992 a sears mechanic sent a letter to Senator Richard Bryan revealing that the commission based incentive program was basically still happening since the mechanics were
The purpose of this paper is to examine an ethical dilemma faced by a company who manufactures critical components for a pacemaker developer. The consequentialist ethical theory of utilitarianism will be used to evaluate the moral implications this company has in continuing further manufacturing for their pacemaker client. An overview of utilitarian ethics will be discussed, focused primarily around 17th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s ideas about ethics. His framework will be used to present factors that influence the transistor company’s business decision. Finally, the Utility Test and Common Good Test will be applied to the company’s predicament to help determine the correct ethical course of action for this
I feel it is a person’s choice and it is different than suicide. It has to be well thought out and talked about with a team of people involved including physicians, psychologists, and family. I also think it is based more on
People from all walks of life face many ethical dilemmas. These dilemmas have consequences. Our worldview determines how we deal with these dilemmas, and guides us to the right decisions. In this essay, I will examine an ethical issues through my Christian worldview. I will also present other viewpoints, and compare them to mine.
Organizations that behave ethically are more apt to earn the trust of their customers, employees, and stockholders. Then there are companies that hide the true value of the company from possible investors, customers, employees, and the public at large showing a lack of ethically behavior. This does not all the time included just one company, but a group effort to hide, steal, and mislead everyone for personnel gains. Everyone that deals with any organization expects the upmost ethically behavior on all levels.
Ethics is the process of doing right or wrong. It assists a person in the deciding if something is moral or immoral or if it is socially desirable (Dess, McNamara, & Eisner, 2016, p. 368). A person can get his or her ethics from religious beliefs, heritage, family, the community, education and friends. Organizational ethics is the values, attitudes and behavioral patterns defined by the organizations culture. Organizational ethics determine what is acceptable behavior.
1. Discuss an ethical dilemma that you have had to face in the workplace. Ethical dilemmas
Hamilton (the Company) was a subsidiary of Motor Company (MC). In 1999 the Company spun off from MC and incorporated. After the separation MC informed the Company that they owed $350-$800 million in warranty claims related to sales that occurred prior to the separation in 1999. Hamilton’s management believed that any warranty claims related to sales prior to the separation should be limited to the reserve amount that was agreed upon separation. MC wanted the full payment for what they owed relating to warranty claims. MC remained Hamilton’s largest client and because of that, Hamilton’s management was motivated to find a solution that would appease MC. Management realized that in paying anything over $100 million to MC would cause a significant reduction in operating income. For this reason, management had significant incentives to mask the true level of warranty expense in order to meet analysts’ forecasts. Management made the decision to report favorable results, no matter what.
How would you describe the ethical dilemma confronted by the managers at the law firm?
Ethical dilemmas are particularly sensitive issues in the workplace because the well-being of the individuals and the organization as a whole are at stake. Employees must feel as though they are being supported and not punished, and should not feel as though they were being put on display; their dignity should always remain intact. This paper examines how, as a high school principle, I would address the issue of one of the high school teachers becoming addicted to prescription drugs.
Exhibit 1 explains the decision tree. It is used in globally to implement ethical and social duties. The companies are earning large profits in third world country markets. Third world countries are profiting from tobacco sales. 75% of the price of cigarettes in taxes are in Brazil. Because living in third world countries are not ideal, Tobacco companies made sure their products will lead them to a gateway out of their troubles. This is influenced by western culture as we see many celebrities smoking cigarettes. Finally, when considering the individual there are two perspectives to consider, the individual form his/her perspective and the individual from our (western) perspective. The individual viewed from their own perspective most certainly
Sears grew up to the world’s largest retailer by expanding annual sales through diversifying sale products, such as apparel, cosmetics, jewelry, electronics, household appliances, cookware, bedding and hand-tools. This article shows that Sears suffered from a cost increase in 1997, including lawsuits, credit collectibles and sales in Mexico. Besides, the flexible payment facility that Sears offered is also a reason for cost increase. These problems brought Sears with bad debt and hence decreased the cash flow. The problems of the company came from the liquid market security, so I emphasize the flowing concepts:
Personal values may conflict with ethical decision making if those personal values are different than the organizational norms of the business or institution. Constructing, and maintaining personal ethics in the workplace rests with the individual, and how willing he or she is in assimilating to the evolving cultural dynamic of the corporate world. Many times a person find their personal, cultural and/or organizational ethics conflicting and must reconcile a course of action that will mitigate cognitive dissonance. In order to be a productive member of society, in small groups and globally, one must reconcile these conflicts on a daily basis and continually move forward while maintaining personal integrity and
“We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; We know now that it is also bad economics”
This paper intends to define operations management and analyze an ethics decision made by operations managers in the workplace or in a known organization.
Every organization also has a profession responsibility to conduct business honestly and ethically. Our readings reported, “Experts estimated that U.S. companies lose about $600 billion a year from unethical and criminal behavior” Kinicki and Kreitner (2009). The organization could avoid having ethical issues by meeting the