Sears The Sears case is one of many multimillion companies who were trying to survive back in the 80’s while facing the new era of many distribution companies like Wal-Mart. They designed a commission program for the auto division in an effort to gain market share that included the mechanics and the service advisors. The goal was to sell an amount of front-end alignments or brake repairs during their shifts. Many customers were fixing their cars after this commission implementation because of Sears’ employees’ recommendations however the repairs weren’t necessary. Consumer affairs conducted an investigation finding unnecessary repairs due to consequences of Sears’ compensation system. The president took certain responsibility, but he denied any fraud; they eliminated the advisor commission and designed a system based on customer satisfaction however the mechanics’ compensation remains the same.
Congress received a letter from a Sears’ employee stating that the majority of the inspecting employees were still being paid with the same commission structure. However, the mechanics were receiving another incentive for every hour of work completed; the more work performed, the more money earned. However, the mechanics could be cutting corners to get more work done or they could recommend unnecessary repairs. The main factor contributing to the unethical conduct was the advising of costumers on unneeded repairs for the sole purpose of commissions; attached to a compensation program that basically allow them to do it. Seeing from a consequential perspective, these employees were looking to get more money without even thinking about the consequences of recommending a repair that wasn’t necessary.
From the deontological perspective, the mechanics and the advisors didn’t act ethically or with fairness by recommending repair services that weren’t necessary. Therefore,