| The Case of Martha McCaskey | Week 3 Assignment 1 | |

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Martha’s predicament is a very difficult one, however, not very uncommon. Picturing myself in her predicament, I can see why she would be troubled and I understand how she would get into this situation in the first place. The situation I would be placed in would be because Malone guaranteed results to the marketing manager in exchange for more funds and the guarantee of more lucrative projects. Instead of taking time to come up with alternative methods, Malone quickly committed us to finishing the project, even though there didn’t seem to be an ethical way of doing so. In neither any of the actions did Malone stop and think of the ethical dilemma I would be put in. He is assuming that I would do exactly like he would, which is do anything to get the job done. I would be stuck factoring the loyalty to my company to the sacrifice of what I believe is right.
There are many things that are troubling me from this situation. The most obvious thing that is troubling me is the fact that I do not believe this is right. The fact that I was misrepresenting myself to someone who was earnestly trying to help me made me feel very uncomfortable. Also, my actions made me feel low and petty, and I believe after all my accomplishments that I wouldn’t have to represent myself in such a low standard. As a graduate from Harvard, why would I have to conduct myself so pettily by being deceitful? After going through such an uncomfortable experience the first time with Devon, now I’m forced to not only do it again but now I feel like I’m going to be required to do something I just don’t feel is right. Of course, what choice do I have? If I don’t go through with it, my division will lose a lot of money and miss out on more projects with highly lucrative opportunities. Also, this is the opportunity I need to become group manager. A lot of the reasons for my dilemma stem from the environment at the Seleris Associates’ Industry Analysis Division (IAD), which had started becoming a bit unstable. There was a high turnover rate that was attributed to the increased workload and performance expectations. Also, a large number of employees were upset by the bonus given at the end of the year. Richardson and Malone made the case that the division they were overseeing, “was going through a growth phase and was not the cash generator everybody seemed to think it was (Dissel, 2005).” Being told this then seeing Ricardson and Malone showing up to the New Year’s office party with brand new Mercedes made the employees feel rightfully cheated and deceived. Also, a lot can be said by how the employees viewed Malone and his work ethic. He was seen as a great salesman that was ultimately driven by money. Malone’s view on good business personified the statement of “getting it done no matter what.”
Unfortunately, this indeed is a tough situation I’m in. There are three alternatives I see to solving this dilemma that deal with the concepts of loyalty, voice, or exit. The alternatives are laid in the following:
1. The loyalty concept relies on me yielding to the organization’s cultures and practices. This would basically mean doing whatever I need to do to get the information asked of me. This would also mean putting what I believe is right behind what I believe is important to help the company succeed. Doing so will allow my division to not only succeed in this project but also receive more projects that are said to be just as lucrative. Of course, this will also mean that I would have to live knowing that I was deceitful and dishonest. It’s a hard thing for me to keep living every day knowing that I went against what I knew was right. Also, there is a large chance that I, and my company that I represent, can get into legal trouble or possibly arrested. If that were to happen, the bad publicity would ruin my division.
2. The voice concept relies on me approaching Malone and Richardson and trying to reason with them. If we are caught misrepresenting ourselves and our company, we can get into large legal troubles and endanger the integrity of our company. Of course, it’s possible that this method actually helps Malone and Richardson see that we were almost involved in a risky situation. Hopefully they would understand that in the end, no matter what we do, we will always be held accountable. Of course, it’s also possible that Malone and Richardson could lose trust in me completely and decide to go ahead without me. They may see me as someone who doesn’t fully support our company and my job might be at stake.
3. The exit concept relies on me leaving the firm to avoid implicating myself in unfavorable activities and negative backlash. Leaving now will definitely be a huge relief to my own moral compass. Having graduated from Harvard, I expect more from myself and my training. There is no reason for me to resort to petty lying to become successful. I will feel better knowing that in the end I could be proud of my decisions. However, there is also the possibility that leaving at such a crucial time could backfire on me completely. Like I learned in life, it’s not what I know, but who I know.” It may be possible that word of my departure could reach the ears of other potential employers and possibly hinder some of my job potentials. I might be branded as a traitor or someone who is not a team player. No matter how much I try to explain myself this could potentially prevent me from achieving more. The more I think of my options the more I feel it’s important to have a detailed plan of action for whatever I decide to do. In the case for the exit alternative, I feel like I figured out how I would go about it. I would write an email to Malone and Richardson explaining my decision to leave. I would explain how I could not live with being deceitful and how I feel it doesn’t represent me as a person or worker. I would explain that I would not say anything to Devon and that I would hope whatever they decided to do, they would do so ethically and with the integrity of the company in mind. I would hope for change because sooner or later these actions will always catch up to those that practice being dishonest. I would hope they changed. The other option I have would be to execute my voice alternative. I would ask to meet with both Malone and Richardson and explain the consequences that such risky actions can cause. I would explain that we should hold ourselves to higher standards and strive to practice honesty in all our business endeavors. If by chance they seem uncaring and unreceptive, I would consider reaching someone higher in command. I would hope that they also don’t have this mentality and would desire to keep the company honest. Of course, this would be a last resort since I’m also not in the business to cause people to lose their jobs. If I do go this route and even the ones higher in command don’t seem to care, I would definitely consider resigning my position. The only way I see myself proceeding and being morally satisfied is to be completely upfront with Devon with our intentions. It’s been 12 years since he’s last worked for the target company and it’s likely that Devon no longer has to abide to a non-compete clause. Although, 12 years is a long time and there could have been many drastic changes since then. Either way, if we provide a good incentive or contract Devon then it may be possible that he would be more than willing to work with us. He seemed very enthusiastic to work with us so it’s possible that we can come to an agreement. Assuming now that I’m the managing director of Seleris, and also that I value the moral integrity of our company, I would want McCaskey to be upfront with Devon about our intentions. I know the fallout of being caught would be disastrous for my company, even more so than losing the contract with the client. If McCaskey feels like she is being pressured to handle the situation otherwise, I would want her to report to me so that I could help bring this situation under control. Once this situation is resolved I would want to perform the RDCAR Framework to make sure that my company is ethically compliant. I would present this situation as a case study for the employees and managers of my company. Of course names would be changed. I want everyone to recognize the ethical dilemma at hand. I would then set up channels so that the employees can help discover how to solve these sorts of ethical dilemmas when they occur. I would do this by setting up ethical hotlines and encouraging open ethical dialog. I want to be sure that my workers have a firm cognition of what constitutes proper ethical behavior. The best way to do this would be through ethics training for all employees. I also want to be sure that employees know the consequences of their ethical actions, whether they are good or bad. Proper recognition for positive ethical achievement should be enforced as well as punishment for negative ethical actions. After some time I would give out a survey to be completed by all workers to test them on their ethical understanding and interpretation. I want them to reflect on everything they have learned and will use the results of the survey to target areas where we still need ethical training (Bailey).

Bailey, Wendy. Tools and techniques for managing ethics. Retrieved from http://embanet.vo.llnwd.net/o18/NEU/MGMT6213/Files/MGTG213_W2_L1_T04_S3_pop01.hmtl. Dissel, Bart. (2005). Martha McCaskey [Case Study]. Harvard Business School
Publishing.