1. Mischa Shimogaki<br />Business, P. 5<br />Oct. 20. 2010<br />Steps for Making Ethical Decisions<br />Case 1:<br />Ethical issue: That Bill is getting special advantage in the job application process, due to his connection with Lorna<br />Facts: Lorna and Bill are good friends.<br />Lorna has actual interview questions (which are supposed to be kept private), and is considering letting Bill know these questions before his interview<br />Anyone who may be affected:<br />Bill, Lorna, the company itself, other applicants interviewing with Bill<br />The POV of each person affected:<br />Bill: If Bill is a fair man, he would want me to not let Lorna send him a copy. However for the purpose of getting the job, he would advantage from getting it. <br />The company itself and other applicants interviewing with Bill: Would want me to stop Lorna from giving the questions to Bill, as for the company, it wouldn’t let them determine Bill’s true abilities, and for the other interviewees, it would not be fair.<br />Three alternative actions/ best and worst case scenario for each:<br />Approach Lorna and have a discussion on the ethical principles of the company and fair conduct of job interviews.<br />Pros – Educates Lorna on the company’s ethical principles <br />Have an ethics session with the office concerning leaking of information (such as interview questions) and other issues.<br />Pros – Spreads awareness through the entire office, thus preventing future unethical acts<br />Cons – Takes up individual work time<br />Keep the interview questions in a private location so that administrative assistants do not have access to it<br />Pros – prevents leaking of the questions<br />Cons – Asssitants may need it for work purposes <br />Determine course of action<br />Best course of action would be to approach Lorna concerning her actions, then have an ethics session with the office concerning leaking of information (such as interview questions) and other issues.<br />Case 2: <br />Ethical Issue: There are no offical records kept of the allocation of the company’s property, + Emily’s supervisor is giving special advantage to Emily’s son’s school. <br />Facts: Emily’s son needs computers, and her supervisor gave the computers to his school, without any official records. <br />Anyone who may be affected:<br />The finances of the company<br />Emily<br />Supervisor <br />POV of each person affected: <br />Emily – would benefit from the situation, thus would most likely not want any change to it<br />The company – would want official records to be kept of the donations of refurbished computers<br />Three alternative actions/ best and worst case scenario for each<br />Fire the supervisor for giving company employee special benefits without asking for company approval<br />Pros – would prevent future risk of this happening again<br />Cons – disadvantageous for supervisor<br />Warn the supervisor and Emily<br />Establish a system of record-keeping in the Quality Control department <br />Pros – would establish a prevention system in the long-run<br />Determine course of action:<br />The best course of action would be to establish a system of record-keeping in the department, so the company can constantly keep track of company computers and its distribution.<br />Case 3: <br />Ethical Issue: Marvin is breaking company policy and using the corporate computer for personal use.<br />Facts: The supervisor made clear that personal use of company computers is strictly prohibited, however Marvin is caught up on his work<br />Anyone who may be affected:<br />Marvin<br />Supervisor <br />Company<br />POV of each person affected:<br />Supervisor – would want to punish/warn Marvin for his actions, as he disobeyed company policy<br />Company – same as supervisor<br />Three alternative courses of action/best and worst case scenario for each:<br />Warn Marvin about his actions<br />Pros- educates Marvin not to repeat his actions in the future<br />Set up a E-mail survailance system between company computers<br />Pros- allows company to keep track of computer use by its employees<br />Cons- may be an invasion of privacy <br />Determine course of action:<br />The best course of action would be to warn Marvin, along with set up systems so that the company system can detect when computers are being used personally.<br />Case 4: <br />Ethical Issue: Conway is taking advantage of a loophole in the company program to benefit his mother.<br />Facts: Conway is aware of the fact that the employee benefits program is only for his individual benefit, there is a loophole in the program, Cathy overhears his intentions<br />Anyone who may be affected:<br />Company<br />Conway<br />Cathy<br />POV of each person affected<br />Company – would want the loophole fixed<br />Conway – would want to benefit from the program<br />Three alternative courses of action/best and worst case scenarios:<br />Warn Conway that his actions are inethical<br />Pros – educates Conway that his intentions are unethical<br />Hold an office ethics seminar on the benefits program<br />Pros – Spreads awareness through the entire office, thus preventing future unethical acts<br />Cons – Takes up individual work time<br />Fix the loophole in the program <br />Pros – Rids of future risk of employees taking advantage of the program<br />Cons- time consuming<br />Determine course of action:<br />The best course of action would be to warn Conway, along with have an ethics seminar within the office as well as fix the loophole in the program.<br />Case 5:<br />Ethical Issue: Jennie is using company property/electricity for personal interest <br />Facts: Jennie is using the company printer to copy 300 copies for her son, and the company doesn’t keep track of copies made by departments<br />Anyone who may be affected:<br />The company <br />Jennie<br />POV of each person affected:<br />The company – would want the company printer being used for corporate use only<br />Three alternative courses of action/best and worst case scenarios<br />Warn Jennie about letting her son use the company printer<br />Pros – Prevents future misuse of company printer by Jennie<br />Set up a security key on the printer<br />Pros – Prevents future misuse of company printer by any employee<br />Implant a system to keep track of copies made by departments <br />Pros – Allows company to constantly control the copies made by company printer<br />Dtermine course of action:<br />The best course of action would be to warn Jennie, and implant a system to keep track of the copies made by departments, along with a security code for the printer. <br />