Chapter 4

Addressing Individuals’ Common Ethical Problems

Contents: (Please note: the Instructor Guide for every chapter will follow this structure.) 1. Chapter Outline 2. Teaching Notes 3. In-Class Exercises 4. Homework Assignments 5. Additional Resources

Chapter Outline

I. Introduction

A. Indentifying Your Values – and Voicing Them

II. People Issues

A. Discrimination B. Harassment, Sexual and Otherwise

III. Conflicts of Interest

A. What Is It? B. How Can We Think About This Issue? C. Why Is It an Ethical Problem? D. Costs

IV. Customer Confidence Issues

A. What Is It? B. How Can We Think About This Issue? C. Why Is It an Ethical Problem? D. Costs

V. Use of Corporate Resources

A. What Is It? B. How Can We Think About This Issue? C. Why Is It an Ethical Problem? D. Costs

VI. When All Else Fails: Blowing the Whistle

A. When to Blow the Whistle B. How to Blow the Whistle

VII. Conclusion

VIII. Discussion Questions

IX. Short Cases

Teaching Notes - Discussion Questions

1. What do you value? Can you make a list of the three or four values you would stand up for? How will you explain to others what your values are and why?

This is the perfect place to begin linking the values exercises you (hopefully) did with your students in Chapter 2, with why it is important to identify their values. It is difficult, if not impossible, to voice values, if you have no idea what your values are! Go to the “Giving Voice to Values” website: (http://www3.babson.edu/babson2ndgen/GVV/default.cfm.

There are many exercises available there, which can help you teach the importance of identifying values and then provide tools you can use to help students begin to practice voicing their values.

2. Have you ever practiced raising an ethical issue to a professor or to your manager? What did you do? What were the results?

Again, see “Giving Voice to Values.” This would make a great homework assignment.

3. Have anti-discrimination laws helped or hurt the fair treatment of workers?

This really depends on whom you talk to. However, there is probably little argument among labor experts that the strides made by women and minorities in the workplace would probably never have taken place, (or would have occurred at a much slower pace) if not for anti-discrimination legislation. As with everything else, there has been a backlash of sorts. Also, many young women and minorities today find it impossible to believe that only 20 years ago, their prospects for employment and advancement would have been far different than they are now.

4. Is diversity management an ethical issue?

If we buy into the argument that diversity management helps us appreciate differences among various groups, then it could be viewed as an ethical issue from the standpoint of fairness and respect toward all individuals. If diversity management helps us manage people more fairly, then it certainly could be viewed as an ethical issue.

5. Is sexual harassment as important an issue for men, as it is for women?

Yes. If research is correct and sexual harassment is about power, then anyone can wield it. Whoever has the power -- male or female -- can make life difficult in various ways for those who have less power. According to Newsweek, 16% of sexual harassment claims filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) are from males. (Gesaman, Krista. “Abuse of Power,” Newsweek, January 13, 2010. http://www.newsweek.com/2010/01/12/abuse-of-power.html, access date: July 27, 2010.)

Since so much interpretation of sexual harassment in the courts is based on what is "reasonable," try to determine what students think is reasonable. For example, try to determine what the class thinks is reasonable when it comes to asking someone out. Is it sexual harassment to ask someone out once? (Almost everyone will say "no.") Is it sexual harassment to ask someone out twice? (Almost everyone will still say "no," although one or two people may disagree.) How about five times? (The majority of people in the room will now think that it is sexual harassment.) How about ten times? (Now, it would be unusual for someone to think that this is not sexual harassment.) This exercise recently produced amusing results in one group of executive education students. One man in his 50's exclaimed that he had asked his wife out 20 times before she accepted, and he had no idea that his persistence would be considered harassment by almost all of his peers. Another man in the group said, “Today you would be considered a stalker.”

6. What conditions would make accepting a gift from a vendor or a client acceptable?

Accepting a gift from a vendor could be acceptable, if it was of nominal value -- probably under $100 (or whatever figure an employer has determined to be nominal). A gift could also be acceptable, if it was a food product that could be shared by a department. For example, many companies would consider it acceptable, if an elaborate tin of assorted cookies and snacks was sent to and accepted by a department of employees. The same present sent to and accepted by an individual, may not be acceptable depending on company policy. In most cases, the conditions should not change outside of the U.S. See Chapter 11 for more information on gifts.

Probes to Stimulate Discussion

"Is there a difference between a gift given by an individual or one given by a company?"
"What if the gift was an invitation to a party, or a day at a company-sponsored tennis match, where all clients were invited?"

7. Describe the conditions under which you could hire a college friend.

There are probably no circumstances under which this would be acceptable. Hiring implies that an individual would report to you and be appraised by you. That is a conflict of interest, regardless of how you look at it. The only possible exception could be a part-time, temporary job, like working in a department store during the holidays, or working on a construction detail during the summer. In both cases, the work is short term and the wages are set. The operative word in this question is "friend." The nature of the relationship is important. If the person is more of an acquaintance, hiring the person would probably be acceptable.

8. Why do certain professionals -- bankers, accountants, lawyers, physicians, clergy -- have fiduciary responsibilities?

Certain professions have fiduciary responsibilities, because they are known as "trust" professions. All of these professions have access to personal, confidential information about finances, health, or other highly private matters and therefore, they must exercise a higher standard of care regarding their clients' confidentiality.

9. What would you do if a former subordinate asked you to write him/her a letter of reference on corporate letterhead?

As is stated in the text, you should get your company’s permission to do so. It is almost always better (safer) to write a personal letter on your personal letterhead and attach a business card. That way, the reference represents your “personal opinion” and is not likely to be taken as a “corporate” position.

10. Do employers have a responsibility to alert other employers to an employee's wrongdoing by supplying an unfavorable reference? Why or why not? Discuss the conflict between community responsibility and self-protection.

There has been some publicity lately about the ethical responsibility of employers to warn other companies about workers who have been dismissed for "cause" (see Chapter 8 in the "Terminations" section for a description of "cause.") For example, in an ethics training session, held recently at a leading university in the Midwest, three former bank examiners complained about how employers keep quiet, when it comes to employees' misdeeds. "The slime just go from one institution to another because no one will point a finger at them," said one former regulator. No doubt, employers have a balancing act, between any responsibility they may have to protect other companies from unscrupulous employees, and their desire to protect themselves from lawsuits filed by those employees for bad references.

11. What conditions would have to be present for you to blow the whistle about unethical conduct you observed at work? How would you go about it?

It is good to have a plan, even though it is difficult for us to anticipate how we will react when a real situation occurs. Recommend that students think about the following: How much and what kind of harm would be “enough” to trigger action on their part?

12. If Sherron Watkins had blown the whistle to the Houston Chronicle and not to Enron’s CEO Ken Lay, do you think she would have kept her job at Enron?

That is highly unlikely. Whistleblowers who report organizational misconduct to the press are usually ostracized or worse. Despite being named a person of the year by Time magazine, some have criticized Ms. Watkins for not going outside the firm and not reporting the problems sooner. But, as we said in the chapter, blowing the whistle is difficult and we believe that Ms. Watkins should be commended for her efforts to at least alert senior executives inside the firm.

13. Research a story of whistle blowing. Relate what “your” whistle-blower did with the seven steps recommended in the chapter. What have you learned from the comparison?

Students could read Sherron Watkins’ book, view the film, The Insider, or read stories written by other whistleblowers. They will probably learn that most whistleblowers are caught off guard and have not planned what they would do in such a situation. We have used clips from The Insider successfully in class, as a basis for discussion of whistle-blowing. (There is more under Homework Assignments.)

In-Class Exercises – Cases in the Chapter Text

These are great springboards for discussions in class. Divide your class into teams of 3 – 5 students and give them 5 – 10 minutes to discuss each case in their teams. Then ask the teams to report out. Who are the stakeholders in each case? What are the ethical issues? What are the possible courses of action? In fact, starting each class with one of these cases is a great way to focus students and get their “heads in the game.”

Case # 1: Discrimination

You and Lisa met five years ago, when you were hired into the management training program of a large utility. Although you are now in different parts of the organization, you have managed to stay close over the years. Lisa recently had a baby and plans to take advantage of the full six months of maternity leave the company offers. She told you that she is definitely coming back to work after her leave, and that her department has promised to hold her job for her. Meanwhile, you have seen a posting for her job on the company’s website. You run into one of Lisa’s colleagues in the hall and ask about the posting. He says, “Oh yeah, they’re going to fill that job. But don’t tell Lisa. She’s got five more months to be a happy Mom. Besides, they’ll find something for her to do if she decides to come back.”

Notes:
The reverse of this situation is probably what happens more frequently in industry: Many new mothers give every indication that they are returning to their jobs after a maternity leave, and then they do not. Many companies jump through hoops to try to keep positions open for workers on maternity leave, only to have the workers quit at the end of their leaves. It would be interesting in class to probe around this issue; to see if students think companies have any ethical obligation to hold jobs open for workers on maternity (or other kinds of) leave; and whether students think that workers on leave have any ethical duties, regarding their return to an organization which may be holding a job open for them.

Case # 2: Sexual Harassment

One of your coworkers is Joanne, a computer whiz with an offbeat style and a great sense of humor. Two of Joanne's favorite "targets" are you and Bill, another coworker who tends to be quite standoffish in his business relationships. Joanne is the department clown and is forever goading you and Bill -- you because you are a great audience and clearly think she is hilarious; Bill, because she likes to try to get him to be more approachable. Joanne frequently alludes to sexual subjects and has called both you and Bill "little alley cats" and "studs." While Joanne's behavior does not offend you at all, you are surprised when Bill approaches you in the men's room and bitterly complains about Joanne's constant teasing.

Notes:
We purposely wrote this case with a man as the "victim," to illustrate the fact that sexual harassment is not just a women's issue. While it is not typical for men to be harassed, when such incidents occur, it is just as disturbing as when it happens to a female. (See the “Teaching Notes” under Discussion Question 5 for more information.)

With all of the publicity and sexual harassment training going on in corporations in the last few years, most workers have a pretty good idea of what behavior is inappropriate in a work setting with other employees. Similarly, most students have become sensitized to this issue, and in fact, some are almost paranoid about it. It is important that students be aware that they need to know their audience. For example, in one large, well-respected firm, a young woman filed suit, because a male senior executive had placed his hand on her knee, while they were sitting in front of a computer screen. Certainly, most women would not react that vehemently to such a gesture. However, this woman had endured years of sexual abuse as a child and as a result the executive's gesture unhinged her. The company settled out of court, and the executive (who had an outstanding reputation) was warned and that was the end of it. That is why it is important to know who you are dealing with, before you make any comment or gesture that could be considered sexual.

Case #3 -- Conflicts of Interest

Your daughter is applying to a prestigious university. Since admission to the school is difficult, your daughter has planned the process carefully. She has consistently achieved high marks, taken preparatory courses for entrance exams, and has participated in various extra-curricular activities. When you tell one of your best customers about her activities, he offers to write her a letter of recommendation. He is an alumnus of the school and is one of its most active fund-raisers. Although he is a customer, you also regularly play golf together and your families have socialized on occasion.

Notes:
Although the text describes circumstances, under which accepting this favor would be acceptable, it is still not a good idea. Any action that places you under any sort of "obligation" to a customer or vendor should be avoided -- even in small towns and even when your friendship is well known in the community. Realistically, few people would turn down this offer, although it could be problematic in some cases.

Case #4 -- Customer Confidence Issue

You work for a consulting company in Atlanta. Your team has recently completed an analysis of Big Co., including sales projections for the next five years. You are working late one night, when you receive a call from an executive vice president of Big Co. in Los Angeles, who asks you to immediately fax to her a summary of your team's report. When you locate the report, you discover that your team leader has stamped "For internal use only" on the report cover. Your team leader is on a hiking vacation, and you know it would be impossible to locate him. Big Co. has a long-standing relationship with your company and has paid substantial fees for your company's services.

Notes:
At many companies, releasing information like this would be enough to get a young worker fired. Senior managers at a number of firms tell stories of how various phone callers tried to bully them into releasing information like this. When you are a new employee, it is difficult to say "no" to a big client. The most prudent move in a situation like this is to stall the customer, until you have time to check policy with a senior manager. First, confirm the identity of the caller -- usually by taking their number and calling them back or calling their company's central switchboard. Then try to reach your manager. If that is impossible, try to reach your manager's manager or another senior member of your team. If you cannot reach anyone on your team, explain the problem to any other senior manager in your company, being careful not to release any customer information. All you need to know is your company's process for authorizing the release of internal customer information.

Case #5 -- Product Safety

You are the head of marketing for a small pharmaceutical company that has just discovered a very promising drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. You have spent months designing a marketing campaign that contains printed materials and medication sample kits for distribution to almost every family physician and gerontologist in the country. As the materials are being loaded into cartons for delivery to your company’s representatives, your assistant tells you that she has noticed a typographical error in the literature that could mislead physicians and their patients. In the section that discusses side effects, diarrhea and gastrointestinal problems are listed as having a probability of 2 percent. It should have read 20 percent. This error appears on virtually every piece of the literature and kits, and ads containing the mistake are already on press in several consumer magazines.

Notes:
This case was recently used in a training program that was delivered to 2,000 medical company employees. The workers were unanimous in their assessment of the case. Once they identified the stakeholders, they decided that patients were the primary stakeholders. Since their profession has as its underpinning -- “first, do no harm” -- the employees had no problem fixing this error before the kits were distributed to physicians. It will be interesting to see how students playing the role of marketing professionals address this issue.

Case #6 -- Truth in Advertising

Imagine that your financial firm is offering a new issue -- a corporate bond with an expected yield of 7–7.5 percent. In the past, offerings like this one have generally been good investments for clients, and you have sold the issue to dozens of large and small clients. You are leaving on a two-week vacation and only have a few hours left in the office, when your firm announces that the yield for the bond has been reduced; the high end will now be no more than 7 percent. The last day of the issue will be next week, while you are away on vacation. What should you do?

Notes:
Most financial professionals have no problem with notifying their customers of the change. They may leave it for their assistants to deal with, but they somehow deal with it.

Case #7 -- Special Fiduciary Responsibilities

For 12 years, you have been the financial advisor for an elderly man in his late 70s who is an active investor of his own portfolio, and for a trust that will benefit his two children. In the last few months, you have noticed a subtle, yet marked change in his behavior. He has become increasingly forgetful, has become uncharacteristically argumentative, and seems to have difficulty understanding some very basic aspects of his transactions. He has asked you to invest a sizable portion of his portfolio and the trust, in what you consider to be a very risky bond offering. You are frank about your misgivings. He blasts you and says that if you do not buy the bonds, he will take his business elsewhere.

Notes:
Undergraduate students frequently do not see the ethical issue here -- they simply say that they would buy the bonds. Graduate students frequently see the issue, but would go ahead and buy the bonds anyway. However, ethical financial professionals almost always find a way to protect this client. They may warn him in another way, or contact his family, or a trusted professional who is close to him. One graduate student who saw this case exclaimed that it described exactly what he had been through with his father. In that case, his father’s broker called him, explained that he felt there was something wrong with his father, and that he was concerned about the father’s behavior and investments. The student investigated, encouraged his father to see a doctor, and shortly after, discovered that his father had a brain tumor. The broker not only saved his father’s assets -- he saved the father’s life. That said, the financial representative must proceed very carefully and try to protect the client’s confidentiality at all costs. One financial executive from a well-known investment bank told the story of how he did this once – contacted the daughter of an investor who was clearly impaired – and the daughter later sued the financial firm and the executive for breach of confidentiality. This is why it is so crucial to discuss these issues up front with a client. “What are your specific investment objectives? Who can I contact in case you become ill?” Obviously, these kinds of questions become even more imperative with elderly clients, where the risk of impairment is greater. It is also interesting to note that a client’s cognitive ability can be affected by any number of issues, not just age. Clients can be affected by any of the following: drugs (including prescription medications), alcohol abuse, gambling, divorce, depression and other mental issues, and any number of physical conditions and diseases.

Case #8 -- Use of Corporate Reputation

A young woman who works for you is moving with her husband to another city, where she will be looking for a new job. She is an excellent worker and when she asks you for a reference, you are glad to do it for her. She specifically asks for a written recommendation on your corporate letterhead.

Notes:
Some managers would no doubt deny this young woman a reference and cite company policy as the reason. In the real world, it is probably not fair to penalize a good employee because of the constraints of corporate policy. If you feel that you want to recommend her for another job, it would probably be all right to recommend her personally, on personal letterhead. Then attach your business card to the letter. The only reason companies refuse to give recommendations is because of the risk of lawsuits. The risk to you as an individual is probably negligible.

Case #9 – Use of Social Media

You joined one of the country’s largest retail chains, and already you have been promoted to department manager in one of your employer’s largest stores in an upscale shopping mall. Imagine your surprise, when you log on to Facebook and see that one of your ‘‘friends’’— a young woman who heads one of the other departments in your store — has posted confidential store sales on her wall and has also posted sexual comments about a young man who reports to her.

Use of social media is very popular, especially among college students and other young people. A well-known and trendy retailer, who was shocked to find confidential store information posted on Facebook by a young store manager, suggested this case to us. Needless to say, this young manager was fired for disclosing (and posting!) confidential company information. The retailer described a number of other problems it had uncovered on social media websites. One involved provocative verbiage and photos appearing on an employee’s page – used to describe a coworker. Another involved a worker who was on an extended medical leave, who posted photos of herself horseback riding, playing golf, gardening – all of which are activities that are highly unlikely, if her medical condition (and the leave) were legitimate. Companies are struggling with this new media and many are establishing guidelines for use among employees. Others are establishing their own social media sites for internal use by employees. Bottom line: if an individual misbehaves – whether in person or on social media sites – their job is in jeopardy. That includes activities such as disclosing company or personal information (about other employees), sexual or other harassment of coworkers or subordinates, etc. An offense does not have to be “in person,” to get an employee disciplined or fired.

Case #10 -- Dealing With the Press

You are an employment counselor at a large outplacement firm. Your company is currently negotiating with Black Company, to provide outplacement services to 500 employees who are about to lose their jobs as the result of a layoff. Your neighbor and good friend is a reporter for the local newspaper, who mentions to you over coffee one Saturday that she is writing a story about Black Company. According to her sources, 1,500 employees are about to lose their jobs. You know her numbers are incorrect. Should you tell her?

Notes:
If there was ever a trap, this is it! Under no circumstances should this employee talk to a newspaper reporter -- especially one who is a good friend and neighbor. If she is a good friend, she should refer her to the company’s public relations department. And she should go to PR herself, and explain what the problem is and what her good friend is about to write. In that way, she protects the company, the community, and perhaps gets a good and accurate story for her friend.

Case #11 -- Use of Corporate Resources

You have been working very long hours on a special project for the chairman of your company. Your company policy states that employees who work more than 12 hours in one day may be driven home by a company car at company expense. Policy also states that employees who work longer than two hours past the regular end of their day can have a meal delivered to the office at company expense. You and your colleagues, who are also working on the project, arrive at the office at 8:00 a.m. and order dinner at 7:00 p.m.; then you enjoy dinner and conversation for an hour and are driven home by company cars. Is this OK?

Notes:
Most workers who see this case think that these folks have found a way to have a free meal on the company. Their behavior is slimy, and it would be interesting to hear them justify this to their management.

Case #12 -- Corporate Financial Resources

Your manager is being transferred to another division of the company in early January. He calls a meeting in early November and asks that every department head delay processing all invoices until after January 1. He wants to keep expenses low and revenues high, so that his last quarter in your area shows maximum revenue.

Notes:
This is unethical on a myriad of levels -- regarding the new manager, the vendors, the company, and the employees, etc. There is no way to justify behavior like this and any company would fire this person.

Case #13 -- Blowing the Whistle

A long-time customer approaches you for financing for a new business venture. The customer offers as collateral a piece of property he has purchased in a rural location for the purpose of building a housing development. You send an appraiser to the property and he accidentally discovers that this property holds toxic waste. You are sure this customer is unaware of the waste; in fact, the waste is migrating and in a few years will invade the water table under a nearby farmer’s fields. You explain the situation to your manager, who naturally instructs you to refuse to accept the property as collateral, but he also forbids you to mention the toxic waste to the customer. “Let them find out about it themselves,” he says. Do you alert the customer to the toxic waste? Do you alert government regulators?

Notes:
This case is a real one that occurred at a huge multinational corporation. The company’s lawyers were uncertain how to handle this, because they felt that telling the customer would be “poor customer service.” (We have not figured that one out yet.) Even if customer service was a concern, the company could approach the owner, explain what had been found, and offer to go to the regulators with them. There is no alternative but to report this.

Case #14 – Voicing Your Values

You are a trader who joined a large investment bank two years ago. Pat, one of your fellow traders, is well known on the Street for being a big risk taker and a big money maker for the firm. Consequently, he is popular among your firm’s senior management. You see him at a party one night and notice him surreptitiously using cocaine several times. Several weeks later in the office, you notice that he seems exceptionally high-spirited and that his pupils are extremely dilated — you know that both are signs of drug use. You are thinking of mentioning something about it to his managing director, Bob, when Pat makes a particularly impressive killing in the market for your firm’s own account. Bob jokes that he does not know how Pat does it, but he does not care. ‘‘However he is pulling this off, it’s great for the firm,’’ Bob laughs. You feel strongly that this is a problem and that it places your firm at risk. You have already raised the issue with Pat’s manager, Bob, who ignored it. Do you raise it further? How can you voice your values in this case?

Notes:
This case is more realistic than many people know. Traders at senior levels in investment banks are under tremendous pressure to perform and the stress can be daunting. They also have almost unlimited resources and can afford to pay for a drug habit. This can be a toxic combination. The issue here is not whether or not this is wrong – there is little doubt of that. The issue is: how do you raise this issue about a star employee, without getting cut off at the knees yourself? It helps to practice what you are going to say and to whom you will say it. Approaching the managing director is probably pointless and dangerous. This is why HR was created – to worry about the risks that some employees can pose to the organization. Consequently, the best answer in this case is to practice what you are going to say, document your observations, and approach HR with the issue. If they do nothing, then no one else will either, and you may have to consider whether you want to stay with this company.

Case #15 -- Human Resources Issue

Your division has formed a committee of employees to examine suggestions and create a strategy for how to reward good employee ideas. The committee has five members, but you are the only one who is a member of a minority group. You are pleased to be part of this effort, since appointments to committees such as this one are viewed generally as a positive reflection on job performance. At the first meeting, tasks are assigned and all the other committee members think you should survey minority members for their input. During the weeks that follow, you discover that several committee meetings have been held without your knowledge. When you ask why you were not notified, two committee members tell you that survey information was not needed at the meetings and you would be notified when a general meeting is scheduled. When you visit one committee member in his office, you spot a report on the suggestion program that you have never seen before. When you ask about it, he says it is just a draft he and two others have produced.

Notes:
The challenge in this case is to make sure you are included in all committee matters, but not alienate anyone you are going to have to work with. Probably the best way to handle it, is to approach each member of the team individually and frankly explain that you feel excluded from the process and if they can think of any ways to make you feel more a part of the team. Before you do this, explain your strategy to you manager.

Case #16 -- Conflict of Interest Issue

You have just cemented a deal between a $100 million pension fund and Green Company, a large regional money manager. You and your staff put in long hours and a lot of effort to close the deal and are feeling very good about it. You and three of your direct subordinates are having lunch in a fancy restaurant to celebrate a promotion, when the waiter brings you a phone. A senior account executive from Green is on the phone and wants to buy you lunch in gratitude for all your efforts. "I'll leave my credit card number with the restaurant owner, he says, “You and your team have a great time on me."

Notes:
The pros are: you and your staff get a free lunch and the account executive feels as if he has thanked you for your efforts. The cons are: it could appear that you have been “bought” to the account executive, your employees, and restaurant personnel. This is a far cry from being entertained by a client or account executive in person. The point of business entertainment is to discuss business, and no business will be discussed at a luncheon like this one. If a client wants to thank you and your staff, he should have sent popcorn, or candy, or a fruit basket to the office for everyone to share. Or your client could arrange for a luncheon for you and your staff, and attend it to thank you in person.

Case #17 -- Customer Confidence Issue

You are working the breakfast shift at a fast food restaurant, when a delivery of milk, eggs, and other dairy products arrives. There is a story in the local newspaper about contaminated milk distributed by the dairy that delivers to your restaurant. When you read the article more closely, you discover that there is a problem with only a small portion of the dairy's milk, and the newspaper lists the serial numbers of the containers that are affected. When you point out the article to your manager, he tells you to forget it. "If you think we've got time to go through every carton of milk to check serial numbers, you're crazy," he says. "The article says right here that the chances are minuscule that anyone has a contaminated carton." He also explains that, not only does he not have the workers to check the milk, but also destroying the milk would require him to buy emergency milk supplies at the retail price. So, he tells you to get back to work and forget about the milk. He says, "I don't have the time or the money to worry about such minor details."

Notes:
This is one of those cases, where a local manager is behaving in a way that probably would appall a company’s senior management. Food safety is such an important issue to companies -- and mistakes in this area are so expensive -- that senior managers would surely advise local supervisors to take the time to check the dates, or throw the milk out and get new supplies. The restaurant chain for which this case was designed absolutely believed in the highest quality standards for food and food safety.

Case #18 -- Corporate Resources Issue

You work for Red Co. You and a colleague, Pat Brown, are asked by your manager to attend a weeklong conference in Los Angeles. At least 25 other employees from Red Co. are attending, as well as many customers and competitors from other institutions. At the conference, you attend every session and see many of the Red Co. people, but you never run into Pat. Although you have left several phone messages for her, her schedule does not appear to allow room for a meeting. However, when you get back to the office, the department secretary, who is coordinating expense reports, mentions to you that your dinner in L.A. must have been quite the affair. When you ask, "What dinner?," she describes a dinner with 20 customers and Red Co. employees that Pat paid for at a posh L.A. restaurant. When you explain that you did not attend, she shows you the expense report with your name listed as one of the attendees.

Notes:
Your colleague's mistake could be just that -- a mistake -- or she could be involved in some kind of fraud. Probably the best move is to ask her for an explanation. Did she know that you were not at the dinner? Depending on her answer, you can determine what your next move should be. If it appears that she did make an honest mistake, you could ask her to make sure that your name is off the report and you might want to just mention it to your manager as insurance. If you think the whole thing is a fraud, you might want to report it to your manager, or even to your company's audit department. The auditors can frequently check the veracity of expense reports, without anyone ever knowing it is being done and without any damage to reputations.

Homework Assignments:

Assignment #1 – Interview

Have students interview their parents or other individuals they may know, who are over the age of fifty and would remember what looking for their first job was like before anti-discrimination legislation was in place. How have the workplace and hiring practices changed as a result?

Assignment #2 – Case Analysis

Any of the cases used in this chapter can be used as homework assignments. Students can be asked to submit a 2 – 3 page paper, where they address some or all of the following: identify the stakeholders and the ethical issue; describe possible actions and the consequences of each action; describe how actions would be influenced by looking through various theoretical lenses (consequentialist, deontological, virtue ethics); and decide how they personally would handle the situation and explain why.

Additional Resources

1. Giving Voice to Values

Dr. Mary Gentile, formerly with the Aspen Institute, now with Babson College, designed a groundbreaking program on ethics called “Giving Voice to Values.” The entire curriculum is available free on the Babson College website. All you need to do is register as a user. Here is a link to the program website: http://www3.babson.edu/babson2ndgen/GVV/default.cfm

You will find cases, teaching tools, assignments, etc. We urge you to explore this website and incorporate this approach into your teaching.

2. Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute has publications and cases that you might find useful: http://www.aspeninstitute.org/

3. Case Place

Case Place also contains teaching materials, cases, and teaching tools: http://www.caseplace.org/

4. Institute for Global Ethics

The Institute for Global Ethics has interesting tools and perspectives posted on its website. In addition, it has also posted a series of interesting cases that can be used as in-class exercises or as homework assignments. Click on ”Dilemmas” on the organization’s website: http://www.globalethics.org/

5. Videos: “Crash” and “The Insider”

• Crash, starring Don Cheadle, Matt Dillon, and Sandra Bullock. This is an excellent vehicle for a discussion on bias. It is very fast-paced and nothing is what it seems.

• The Insider, starring Russell Crowe and Al Pacino. This is an excellent film. You can use selected clips as a springboard for discussing whistle blowing and its risks. There are many subtexts to the movie, including CBS’ social responsibility (not just Brown & Williamson). Jeffrey Wigand’s website also provides lots of great information and instructional materials, including videos you can use in class, such as his 60 Minutes interview, and other information about his situation and his current activities. It is helpful for students to see that there is life after whistle blowing. See www.JeffreyWigand.com.