discussion question response #1 and 2
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MOD2.docx· Sanjon has worked for the South Insurance Company for the past 23 years. He graduated with a top-notch accounting degree and also has his MBA. Bar none, Sanjon is considered by everyone in his organization to be a brilliant accountant. At issue is that Sanjon's brilliance may be coupled with just a little too much "creativity" when one considers his approach to maximizing the company's profits. At the end of every quarter, Sanjon calls up the supervisors of each of South’s insurance branches and asks them to estimate their outstanding insurance claims. These insurance claims represent money that the company likely owes its customers—that is, claims are estimates of money owed at the end of the quarter to South’s customers who are likely to file a claim in the near future, but who have not yet done so. (The total money owed—but still outstanding—is referred to as a "claims lag," since there is a lag between the date of an insurable event and the date that South becomes aware that a customer has filed a valid claim).
For instance, based on historical experience, at the end of each quarter, Division 1 of South Insurance estimates that 20% of all claims for that quarter are still outstanding (i.e., an insurable event has occurred, but has not yet been reported to Division 1). This is the number (20%) reported to Sanjon. Being the "brilliant" accountant that he is, and in light of his sheer eagerness to maximize profits for the quarter (and because his quarterly bonus is based on each quarter's profits), Sanjon reduces the outstanding claims reported by all of South's insurance divisions by 10%. In doing so, he has effectively reduced the company's quarterly claims expenses by this same 10%—and voila!— Sanjon has also managed a creative increase in his own quarterly bonus.
Sanjon sees nothing wrong in reducing the divisions' company claims estimates, reasoning, "Look, they're all a bunch of estimates anyhow!" Sanjon further opines, "Besides, I have a duty to this company and to its stockholders—to maximize profits!"
Consider this situation from a virtue ethics perspective. What virtues are at stake?
Does Sanjon appear to be rationalizing his behavior as a "duty" to others?
On a scale of unethical (1) to ethical (5), where would you rate Sanjon’s practice? Why?
150 word response to the posts of at least two of your classmates. Your responses should have depth of critical thought and not simply agree or disagree. For each response also bring in information from at least one background source or your own research to help inform your classmates. Cite the source.
Classmate Post #1
Who Do You Want To Be???
Hello Everyone,
Virtue ethics you are decisions we make that help mold us into better people. This implies that our character, who we are, changes based on the decisions we make throughout our life (The Ethics Centre, 2016). In other words, a virtuous person makes decisions not based on personal gains but on the sheer fact that it will make them a better person, or the person they want to be. Honesty is a virtue, one that Sanjon is lacking in this scenario. Sanjon rather let his greed win and lie about the numbers to secure a bigger bonus for himself. Although he tries to rationalize his action to others, but mostly himself, as looking out for the company his actions are coming from a place of greed and dishonesty. If I had to rate his actions, I would rate them a 1 for unethical. I had a boss that always said, “if the baby’s ugly it’s ugly, better let me know now cause bad news doesn’t get better with time.” Even though it might have meant a smaller bonus, in the end, I feel like Sanjon should have given the correct numbers up front. What happens when the other 10% come to claim their insurance when upper management was only expecting the first 10%? It’s better to give leadership all the information you have at that time rather than lie and have to pay for it later. This is not a way to build others trust in you nor is it a way to live.
Classmate Post #2
Hello class,
This is a very interesting story about Sanjon. I am sure that some of us have been in his situation, where we have said to ourselves “we are not hurting anyone, no one will miss this”. The difference is most of us do not act on these types of impulses. In this situation, Sanjon acted on his and it all comes down to business ethics and virtues.
The virtues that are at stake, in this case, are wisdom, civility, and temperance.
When it came to practical wisdom Sanjon did not take a deep breath and he acted without even thinking. Brusseau, states that “civility means establishing ground rules for behavior that are independent and neutral” (2012). Sanjon did not establish ground rules, he decided what he did was the right decision. Also, temperance means knowing that maybe it is time to change and may be necessary to get ahead in life (Brusseau, 2012). He should have moved on to another job that paid more money instead of stealing the difference in pay he thought he should be making.
When it came to his “duty” Sanjon is trying to rationalize what he is doing is right, when down deep inside he knows what he is doing is wrong. Velazquez et al. describe ethics as, "What should I do?" or "How should I act?" “Ethics is supposed to provide us with "moral principles" or universal rules that tell us what to do” (2008, Para 1).
On a scale between 1-5, I would rate him at a 3. What he did was wrong, but in the end, he rationalized in his mind that it was his “duty”. Brusseau states that “doing right feels right” (2012, Para 6).
Thank you,
James
Brusseau, J. (2012). Chapter 4.4: Virtue theory. Business Ethics. Lardbucket Books. Retrieved from https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/business-ethics/s08-04-virtue-theory.html
Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. J. (2008). Ethics and virtue. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/ethicsandvirtue.html . (Para 1).
