Introduction In this report I will examine a case study dealing with an employee at Redwood Associates, Darlene Lambert and her supervisor Charles Renford. Darlene was upset about having to deal with the odor of old cigarette smoke in her company file room. She decided to take a stand and inform Renfold that she refused to work in the file room. This jeopardized a report that was due immediately. I will explain how I would handle this situation if I were Charles Renfold. I will describe the policy on smoking that I would recommend to Redwood Associates. I will also look at how this case would have change if what bothered Darlene was not old smoke but the smell of Alice’s perfume or Frank’s body odor. And finally I will resolve whether it is fair or reasonable for companies to ban employees from smoking in their cars in the company parking lot.

Supervising Smoke In this case, I believe Darlene Lambert may have a very good argument but her handling of this legitimate problem is very wrong. Charles Renford is the supervisor in this situation and Darlene is not showing the proper protocol. Charles has reminded Darlene that she has never come to him to discuss this problem before. He also made it clear that the file room workers were not violating company policy with their smoking. Darlene on the other hand is being insubordinate by refusing to do the work. If I was supervisor I would remind Darlene of that fact and remind her of the jeopardy she is putting her position in by refusing to perform an important task. I would empathize with her desire to have a smoke free environment but suggest to her that she must follow the proper measures for change so it will not hurt her position. Due process must go both ways.

The Smoking Policy In a health conscious society a healthy work environment is important to many people.

Job Devotion In a capitalist society it is harder to find job devotion in the arena of wage labor. That was the job level that the workers Sheehy was observing had. There are several possible reasons for the lack of devotion and respect for their employment. A wage worker can essentially choose whom they work for in a capitalist society because they are selling their work potential for a wage. Wages are based on what employers believe the work required is worth. The individuals that were being observed by Sheehy either felt that their work value was above the wage they were being paid, the work was beneath their social status or that this was a tempo rary employment level in their life and had no attachment or investment in it. If there were more ownership in their positions or level of self-satisfaction from the job, the employees would have had a better work ethic.

Employee Theft There are many reasons why someone may steal from their employer. With an ongoing recession and hard economic times some may steal out of a need to survive. Some employees steal for the simple fact that they can get away with it. Other employees may see that others are getting away with the theft and they figure they should be able to as well. In the case on Sheehy’s observations some of the theft seemed to be out of peer pressure, some other felt justified to steal because they felt entitled to. One reason many workers steal from their employers is because they feel dissatisfied and frustrated in their employment. They do not feel they are being justly compensated financially so they take matters into their own hands.

Capitalism Encourages Bad Work Ethics Capitalism is based on letting self-interest and profit motivate you to work hard to obtain the natural right to property. As our society has grown it has focused less on the virtuous side of the capitalist system and more on the gain for self-interest side. We have become a nation that is self-indulgent, that pursues only our own self-interests and have an entitlement mentality that mitigates against hard work. The very corporations that are the major economic backbone to our country reflect that. They are working in their own self-interest, by minimizing costs and maximizing profits. Do the least amount but still gain the most. These corporations are economically justified, so how do we expect the work force not to be the same? The foundational virtues of the capitalist society have been skewed to be about gain and greed.

Conclusion In this report I have examined the different aspects of work ethics through my own personal experience and through the examination of a human resource manager James Sheehy. I did a comparison between the typical attitudes that Sheehy reported in his work environments and ones that I had experienced myself. I explained the implications of the work ethic Sheehy describes for the future of American business. An explanation was given on whether it is more reasonable to expect workers, in a capitalist society, to be more devoted to their jobs, more concerned with quality and customer service, than Sheehy’s coworkers were. Lastly I explained the reasoning behind employee theft and the ways the culture of our capitalists society encourages attitudes like those of the workers Sheehy encountered.

References
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/insubordination