...investments. Statement of the Problem The company is faced with layoffs and downsizing, if Fourth Quarter numbers do no improve, up to half the staff will be laid off and year-end bonuses will be eliminated. Cause of the Problem Jack, the chairmen of the board, wishes to invest 4 million dollars to the company before the shareholders can meet to approve the investment essentially bypassing them. Decision Criteria Utilitarian Model – The greatest good in this case would be to save the jobs of the employees. However, the correct steps for making a deal would be skipped and there could be problems in the future if the deal is found to be illegal or wrong. Moral Rights Model – The moral rights model would be that the employees are affected by the actions of their superiors. The superiors should follow honest business practices. Justice Model – The just thing would be to treat this deal as all other deals are treated by going through the correct pathways. Just because Gina is a friend of Jacks doesn’t mean his deal should get special treatment and pushed forward, Recommendation If the deal is to go through, it should go through the correct pathways. All parties need to work out the specifics of the deal and the issue of Jack and the stakeholders needs to be addressed before the deal can go any further. After the stakeholder issue is addressed, the deal can be made in writing and the correct paperwork...
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...Creative Toys Inc. 1. If Inventory were to be written down in the 4th quarter instead of the 2nd quarter, it could cause the company to be compromised. One of the reasons that the allowance occurs in the 2nd quarter is because Browne realizes that it will make expenses appear too high, but, it will reduce the impact of the lack of future sales. However, if inventory were established in the 4th quarter, where they are expected to increase quite a bit, the transition would be easier. This is the reasoning behind Gurchick’s insistence of waiting for the 4th quarter. On the down side, if sales do not increase as expected, the company would be in substantial trouble. They will have a great deal of over stated income, which will be caught by auditors. They will make adjusting journal entries for this, which will decrease net income. If this decrease is too substantial then the books will be in the negative. Browne understands that the Chatter Chick was over produced, and is prepared to deal with the consequence. Gurchick prefers to take a gamble and hope for the best. 2. The corporate culture at Creative Toys is probably quite tense at this point. With Browne and Gurchick disagreeing over the course of action, the employees at this point are most likely wondering what the outcome of the decrease in demand will be and whether the company will be able to make it through this. I think that everyone is probably quite worried and tense at this point, and things are likely going to...
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...The Financial District Branch James McGaran was manager of the most important of the 31 branches in the Los Angeles area. Located in Los Angeles’s financial district, James’s branch had a staff of 15 people, revenues of $6 million, and $4.3 million in profit margin. The customer base was very diverse. Individual customers ranged from people who worked in the financial district with sophisticated retail banking needs to less informed individuals banking for convenience. Business customers were sophisticated buyers who demanded high service quality and knowledgeable employees who could satisfy their financial needs. “Mom and pop” businesses, the dominant segment in other regions, were also present but to a much lesser extent. Competition was intense. Two competitors—Bank of America and Wells Fargo—had offices less than a block away from James’s branch. James joined Citibank in 1985 as assistant branch manager. He had worked in the banking industry since 1977. Within a year, in 1986, he was promoted to manager of a small branch. He progressed quickly through the ranks until 1992 when he was given the responsibility of managing the Financial District office. His performance in this office had exceeded expectations every single year. He had delivered impressive financial results for four years in a row. In 1996, when the division expanded its performance indicators to include non-financial measures, it became apparent that his branch’s customer satisfaction ratings did not follow...
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...Harvard Business School 9-198-048 Rev. October 14, 1999 Citibank: Performance Evaluation Frits Seegers, President of Citibank California, was meeting with his management team to review the performance evaluation and bonus decisions for the California branch managers. James McGaran's performance evaluation was next. Frits felt uneasy about this one. McGaran was manager of the most important branch in the Los Angeles area, and his financials were impressive. A year ago he would have received "above par" rating with full bonus. But last year, the California Division of Citibank had introduced a new performance scorecard to highlight the importance of a diverse set of measures in achieving the strategic goals of the division. Among the new measures introduced was a customer satisfaction indicator. Unfortunately, James McGaran had scored "below par" on customer satisfaction. Frits looked at Lisa Johnson, the area manager supervising James McGaran. Frits had read Lisa's comments (Exhibit 1). The comments were very positive, but Lisa had not wanted to give a final recommendation until she had discussed it with Frits. She knew that James' case would be watched closely by many managers within the division. The Financial District Branch James McGaran was manager of the most important of the 31 branches in the Los Angeles area. Located in Los Angeles’s financial district, James’s branch had a staff of 15 people, revenues of $6 million, and $4.3 million in profit margin. The customer...
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...Ethic Issues Paper MGT/216 Organizational Ethics and Social Responsibility 08/31/2010 Cindy Joseph Ethic Issues Paper What are business ethics in today’s world? What ethical issues within today’s business environment affect our community and organizations? These topics will be addressed in the following paragraphs. Before one can begin to address ethical business issues that affect our community and organizations, one must first define what business ethics are. Business ethics as defined by Trevino and Nelson (2007), as “the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing guidelines for work-related conduct, governing an individual or group” (p. 13). Guidelines established by employers to manage their employees (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). In essence, these guidelines are established to manage the employee’s expectations in the workplace. These guidelines can be as simple as what time to arrive and depart from work to more complex issues, such as managing internal relationships or how to deal with specific conflict of interest issues, especially when in a position of influence. In the advertising industry, where I have worked for the last eight years, there are many ethical issues that through the normal course of business, one must confront and successfully manage. Three issues that I believe to be at the top of the list are conflict of interest, ethics relating to accounting and moral ethics regarding products advertised. Conflict of interest is an aspect...
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...1.0 Introduction of Issue Ethics dilemma will occur when two organizational goals are in conflict. In this issue, it is involved how to generating revenue and at the same time practices ethics procedure. In this issue, manager is facing with a risky in making decision. If she is ignoring about the ethical procedure, so she will try to generate a huge profit to the company. The company does not have to lay off workers, but also provides year-end bonuses to its employees. So, Gina plans to side-out proper procedure to faster get advantages to she herself and department. She also tries to persuade Jason to support her decision. While, the Chairman of the Board, Jack has assured Gina that vote will be pass and he will have talked to the shareholders personally. But in the fact, Jack is does not have the power to make this decision without the boards’ actual vote. Jason as a department’s manager of the company, he had to think wisely and make the right decision to make sure that both the company and himself do not get into trouble especially related to the legal issue. 2.0 Unethical Behaviour In this case, unethical behaviour occur when Jason reluctant to make the deal that offer by Gina to allow Bestel Inc. investing 4 million dollars in their company, Gina try to influence Jason to agree the deal. However, Jason refuses to make the deal because the transaction would not have approved by the shareholders and it’s not following the procedure. Gina becomes anxious and angry by show...
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...This paper describes the situation at the United States (US) based company, Global Communications (GC) in the telecommunication industry. Different challenges and opportunities at GC are discussed. The paper continues by discussing the different stakeholders' perspective/ethical dilemmas and continues by framing a problem statement for the Global Communications situation. An expected end state situation is then described for GC scenario. The paper continues by analyzing different alternative solutions to the Global Communications situation , the risk for each solution is described and an optimal solution from a numbers of alternative solutions is selected. An implementation plan for the selection solution for the Global Communications situation is described and a metrics to monitor the plan is presented. This paper concludes by reviewing the selected solution to the situation and discussing the expected result. Issue and Opportunity Identification As a result of competition from cable companies, the United States based company, Global Communication (GC) is losing market share and profitability in the telecommunications market. The traded stock value has dropped from $28 to $11 in a two year period and stockholders are receiving diminishing returns (University of Phoenix, 2006). The stockholders have lost confidence in the management. Management is under pressure to renew stockholders confidence by increasing returns on the stock and the traded stock value. Senior management...
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...Social Media Tools in E-Commerce The Internet allows individuals, companies, and entire organizations the ability to interact and socialize. Typically individuals are consumers on the web, looking for information, researching, and purchasing products. Through social media, consumers are advancing from content consumers to content producers. Instead of researching, people can post their ideas, their personal or business information online on websites such as Face-book, twitter, My-space, blogging, and video marketing on You Tube. One of the largest consumers of social media is the Business to Business marketing that is currently ahead of the curve. “Marketing researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth have released the results of a survey, showing that U.S. companies overwhelmingly use at least one social media tool in their marketing efforts” (Komarketing, 2009, p. 3). The research also pointed out that 62% of executives surveyed reported using or being familiar with Twitter. The report also showed that over half of the 500 companies were already using the popular micro blogging service as a part of their online marketing campaigns. An overwhelming 80% of the companies surveyed in the report use social media networks (Komarketing, 2009). Tools for Effective Messaging An analyst of social media, Jordan Julien who wrote the article the Social Media Achilles Heel, suggests that when blogging or marketing through any social media there are two important concepts...
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...Due Diligence Performed by Omar Fahmy : Company Overview Colgate Palmolive was incorporated 1806 in New York City by soap and candle maker William Colgate. Colgate now is a leading multinational firm, operating in 200 countries and territories, within the personal, oral & home care and pet nutrition industry. It is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan and it employs 38,600 people. Colgate is traded in the New York Stock Exchange with “CL” as its ticker symbol and is a component of the S&P500 index. The stock is currently trading at $108.00 as of close at November 23 and has a market capitalization of $51 billion. The company has a solid history for stable earnings and dividends and is run by a responsible management. The company’s fiscal year ends in December. Colgate’s primary competitor on the scale of the global market is Procter & Gamble. Colgate is most famous for Colgate dental products, Palmolive shampoos, Irish Spring soap and Speed Stick deodorant. They also sell pet products under their “Hill’s” brand. Key Information Colgate-Palmolive Co http://www.colgatepalmolive.com 300 Park Avenue NEW YORK NY 10022 United States Industry Overview The Soap and Other Detergents industry is the main industry Colgate Palmolive is classified in. The industry includes the production, distribution and selling of soaps, detergents, toiletries, perfumes and cosmetics. The industry in the US is composed of 229 companies and is leaded by Procter and Gamble...
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...Business Ethics Paper March 4th, 2012 Rasmussen College Business Ethics Professor De La Cruz Brian Meld Business Ethics Paper Imagine you are having a busy day in your office sitting in front of the computer. Data entry is your life; so exciting. All of a sudden, you get a personal email from a relative that says your cousin is on suicide watch at the hospital. This is very personal information and you would like to keep it to yourself. Later in the day, you are walking in the office and someone says “how is your cousin?” How did they know my cousin had something wrong? You have just been a victim of employee surveillance. As long as the software and video equipment has been around, employers have monitored their employees. Employee surveillance is not illegal, but there is a thin line between wrong and right that deserves more analysis: An analysis of employee surveillance in the workplace reveals an ethical issue of spying on employees or protecting employees and the company. When most people think of the word privacy, they are thinking about their personal space and having some time to themselves without someone or something looking in on them. A further definition is required. “A right to privacy can be understood as a right to maintain a certain level of control over the inner spheres of personal information and access to one’s body, capacities, and powers” (Moore, 2008, p.420). Privacy in the workplace might be a restroom break or even sitting alone in a...
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...Abstract This paper explores six articles from the Wall Street Journal about issues in human resources in some organizations. “GM Nears Pact to Cut Hours at German Plants” is co-written by Jeff Bennett and Nico Schmidt. It is about the American automotive corporation General Motors that is in the process of reaching an agreement with labor representatives to shorten the workdays at some of its German plants. The article discusses the impact of this decision on the company and its employees. “Google to Slice Motorola Mobility’s Staff” written by Drew Fitzgerald is about Google’s discusses the downsizing that Motorola Mobility Inc.’s workforce suffered. “Groupon Staff Feel the Heat” written by Shira Ovide is about Groupon’s employees suffering from increasing demands, tougher compensation calculations and a lack of opportunities for promotions. The article analyzes Groupon’s high turnover rate. In recent years, frauds and financial crises have tarnished the public’s faith in business all across the United States. The business world seems to have a “crisis of trust.” HR decisions should result in the greatest good for the largest number of people. The general public is in a constant trust battle with American businesses. With trust being a critical element in boosting and helping restart our economy, business leaders and HR managers should understand what trust is, how to create it, and how to maintain it. Bass Pro Shops is a well-known shopping outlet for rods and reels, camping...
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...Final Paper on Donald Sterling Ethics MGT511X 6/8/14 Caitlin Filteau Case Background Donald Sterling came into the ethical spotlight in April 2014, with a voice recording of him talking to his then mistress, “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.”Don’t put him [Johnson] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”(nba.com) Since then Mr. Sterling has been banned from the league for life and he was fined $2.5 million dollars. He has no authority over the Clippers and can’t attend any NBA game. NBA commissioner Adam Silver also stated that he would move to force Sterling to sell the Clippers. He stated he would do this based on “willful violation of the rules”, and it would require the consent of three-quarters of the other NBA owners. (Wikipedia.org) On May 26th Sterling made a statement denying all of the charges against him and he refused to sell the Clippers. Donald Sterling’s wife, Shelly, reached a deal to sell the Clippers to Steve Ballmer for $2 Billion dollars on May 29th. Shelly Sterling agreed not to sue the NBA and to assure the league against other suits possibly brought on by her husband. The next day her husband sued the NBA for $1 billion dollars stating...
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...Economic and Trade Relations of China and Japan China contains more than 5,000 years of history. This remarkably long past earns china the title of the oldest civilization in the world. The country possesses the largest population of 1.344 billion and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $7.318 trillion in U.S. dollars ("World bank, china," 2011). Although China has an extremely high GDP, the extremely large population is a problem since they cannot provide enough resources for the entire population. This makes it imperative for China to trade and have relations with the world around them and participate in the global economy. That being said, with there incredibly dense population, they have a labor force of 795.5 million which allow them to be very large competition for the rest of the world. Since the 1970s, China has evolved from a closed, central system to a market-orientated system that makes China the world's largest exporter. This was accomplished by the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, creation of a diversified banking system, the growth of stock markets, the opening to foreign trade and investment, rapid growth of private sectors, and the decrease in collective agriculture ("Index mundi: China," 2012). In the more recent years, China has once again brought back their support for state-owned enterprises (SOE) for the purposes of economic security. The restructuring of the economy and resulting in efficiency gains have brought China to be...
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...Contents Introduction 1 Brainstorming method 1 The cause and effects 1 Brainstorming strategy 2 Checklists techniques 2 5 Whys methods 3 Impact diagrams 4 Conclusion 4 References 5 Introduction The introduction of information technology (IT) has brought a great change in the business world, for instance, the use of computers has facilitated the global business by linking the people together hence advanced business transactions and communication globally. Although the introduction of IT facilitated global business interaction accompanied with other advantages. There has been a real problem ensuring efficient use of IT due to various problems associated with it, thus challenging various scientists to discover techniques on how to solve such problems. Therefore, by views arguments on different methods of solving problems, the following points are more applicable; it is very important to discover the cause and the effect of the problem, the application of brainstorming may easily help in correcting the problem. Checklists, impact diagrams and the“5-whys” strategy is also applicable in solving any IT problem (Johnson, 2005, pp. 213-215). Brainstorming method The key method of this paper is brainstorming; According to Johnson, 2005, pp. 213-215, it is more useful when a group of people gathers to discuss a certain issue by sharing ideas from each other through giving suggestions on how to solve the issue on hand. For example, a computer might...
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...THE NATION’S NEWSPAPER BS2003-01a Collegiate Case Study Enron law firm called accounting practices 'creative' By Greg Farrell www.usatodaycollege.com Accounting fraud Part I: The problems “Creative accounting” is not a new technique, but it can certainly be a costly one. Businesses feel the pressure to appear profitable in order to attract investors and resources, but deceptive or fraudulent accounting practices often lead to drastic consequences. Are these so-called creative practices always illegal or can they ever be justified? This case study will present examples of companies who have used inappropriate accounting practices, the results of their deceptions and the government's plan to avoid future incidents. Did banks play role in Enron scandal? By Edward Iwata Banks face accusations in Enron case By Edward Iwata Banks defend e-mail about Enron By Edward Iwata WorldCom finds accounting fraud By Andrew Backover, Thor Vladmanis, Matt Kranz and Michelle Kessler Former controller comes up more often By Andrew Backover and Chris Woodyard Cover story WorldCom’s bad math may date back to 1999 By Jayne O’Donnell and Andrew Backover CFOs join their bosses on the hot seat By Jim Hopkins Capitalizing on oldest trick in book How WorldCom, and others, fudged results By Matt Krantz USA TODAY WorldCom's accounting game is stunning investors who thought the loophole the telecom firm used was sewn shut years ago. Bros. "How was this overlooked...
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