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Ethical Dilemma a Walmart Manager Might Face

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One of the main ethical dilemmas that a store manager working for Wal-Mart might be faced with is a conflict of interest. He/she has been placed into a situation where there is no right or wrong answer, but rather a right, and right answer. Does he choose the role of being a good manager, and risk the managerial position? Or does he act upon the “unethical” commands of his superiors in favor of keeping his job? Three underlying elements further complicating his decision to make ethical choices are discussed in this essay. These are identified as self interest, greed, and obedience to authority, and will be discussed using Ghillyer’s three-step process of analyzing the consequences, analyzing the actions, and making a decision where the …show more content…

(2005, p.82). This attitude of “What the boss says goes” could be linked to desensitization of guilt and shame. If guilt and shame provoking behaviors are repeated, those negative feelings linked with the act begin to diminish, and over time, contain less impact than they did before. (Hersey & Hoyk, 2008, p.112). In his first time of clocking out a worker, the store manager might have felt guilty and shameful, however, he would have held on to the fact that it was the command of his authority to stay within the labor cost budget. After the second time of clocking the worker out, the feelings of guilt and shame will have begun to desensitize. He would no longer associate guilt and shame with his wrongful act. Using the first step of the 3-step process, we begin the analyzing process. This will be done by asking and answering questions such as the following; who will helped? who will be harmed? and what kind of harm are we talking about?. The biggest harm is the loss of instrumental value, which in this case, is money, followed by the loss of employment for the manager and employee, and possible legal action. Who will be helped and who will be harmed are, in essence, the same question because they require insight. The corporation, manager, employee, and customer could be helped/harmed (depending on whose perspective is taken), and this can be considered on a continuum of degree of harm (or benefit, again, depending on the

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