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Ethical analysis

King’s history with Friendly Digits reveal excellent performance which played a major role in facilitating her promotion to her current position, a position that necessitates an individual’s possession of a Master in Business Administration. Due to her reputable performance and good ratings, she managed to rise in the rankings. Despite her performance, King does not have the requisite qualification to qualify for the position of a senior Vice President. As such, King’s case can be analyzed using Badaracco’s right versus right framework, owing to the difficult nature of her case.

Badaracco’s framework aims at resolving ethical dilemmas that involve conflicting but legitimate moral values (Badaracco, 2016). In our situation, there is a dilemma between following the legal standards and policies of the organization which disqualifies King from holding the position due to lack of the requisite qualification, that is an MBA, and rewarding her for her devotion and hard work, as well as her achievement and success in the organization by offering her the promotion on grounds of her experience with the organization and her exemplary performance. In this case, both options are right, but we have to take a course that is more suitable.

Legal analysis

From a legal perspective, King’s case can be analyzed with respect to fraud and provisions stipulated by employment at will doctrine. Fraud involved in King’s case is Résumé fraud. Résumé fraud is a kind of fraud that may lead to criminal or civil penalties, depending on the state in which the fraud is perpetrated (Bredeson, 2012). It refers to a form of civil, common law fraud involving intentional misrepresentation of material facts in an individual’s resume, which is subsequently relied upon in hiring a person for employment. For King, she intentionally misrepresented information in her résumé to prove that she had completed her MBA, with reality being that she was twelve credits away from completing her degree. As such, the company can terminate her employment the application of the doctrine of employment at will.

Employment-at-will refers to a relationship where employers have the right to terminate employees at any time for no reason at all or for any legitimate reason, with or without notice or cause. Similarly, workers may leave an entity at any time without or with notice (Winfield, 2013). At-will employees such as King should be aware that résumé fraud provides a reasonable ground for termination of their employment, since it might undermine otherwise legitimate arguments for unfair or wrongful discharge. Therefore, the company has reasonable grounds to terminate King’s employment and it cannot be held accountable for wrongful discharge. However, the decision to terminate her employment is subject to ethical decision-making through consideration of other factors that surround the nature of her employment.

Recommendations

After a critical analysis of King’s case, it is recommended that the organization should give her the opportunity to finish her MBA in other to qualify, as per the provisions of the organization’s policies, for her current position or possible promotion. The opportunity to finish her MBA would also allow her to secure a certificate and produce it for consideration. The decision is ethical in that it follows the recommendation outlined by Badaracco’s right versus right by ensuring both parties benefit from the decision. Since King is depressed for failure to get the promotion due to lack of possession of the requisite certificate, the opportunity would allow her to redeem herself, while at the same time offering her the opportunity to qualify for future promotions. The decision would be beneficial to both parties in that it would enable the organization to retain a hardworking, dedicated, experienced, and successful employee, while at the same time allowing King to finish her MBA and get the needed qualification to retain her position as a senior Vice President in the organization and qualify for a promotion.

References Badaracco, J. (2016). Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right. Harvard Business Review Press. Bredeson, D. (2012). Applied Business Ethics: A Skills-Based Approach. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning. Winfield, P. H. (2013). The Province of the Law of Tort. Cambridge University Press.