Business Ethics

NOTE: PLEASE READ CHAPTER 4 WHICH IS ATTACHED TO PROVIDE FULL CORRECT ANSWERS.

Due in 48 hours (2 days).

Question #1 (Maximum: One page and a half – Minimum: one full page )

Jane is an account manager at a rising Silicon Valley startup. Her job is to maximize profit for the company, while ensuring the company grows and builds clientele. Her company designs and manufactures audio/video hardware products such as tablets and display monitors. The startup consists of a small sales team, a small engineering team, two account managers including Jane, a sales supervisor, an engineering supervisor, and a board of investors that meets once per month and plans the direction and strategy for the company. The organizational structure of the company is such that the sales supervisor manages the sales team, the engineering supervisor manages the engineering team, and the two account managers are experienced and work as peers with no direct supervision. These four managers make up the management team. The owner of the startup, while technically serving as the default CEO,  is an absent owner who wants the management team to solve all problems themselves. For the purposes of this case, assume that the CEO is not available to consult.

Last week, Jane overhead that Doug, a colleague on the sales team, was in final negotiations to secure a deal with a large new corporate client, M. Technologies, that would represent the largest sale ever for the startup. The startup had just implemented a new internal policy that stated customers who purchased over 12 units of a particular LCD display were qualified for a standard 20% volume discount. The policy is new enough that no customer has yet purchased enough to obtain the discount. However, before Doug’s only manager left for a personal vacation trip, she instructed Doug to give M. Technologies only a 10% discount. The manager gave instructions not to be contacted during the trip, and she will not return before the sale is scheduled to be finalized.

A few days before the signing of the sales contract, Jane asked Doug why the client would not receive the standard volume discount. Doug explained what his manager had told him, and that while his manager had not given him the reasons for her decision, Doug suspected the reasons were that the discount had not yet been publicly revealed and that M. Technologies had a very large budget compared to other companies.

After explaining the situation to Jane out loud, Doug felt conflicted with his manager’s decision. Doug felt that just because M. Technologies was profitable does not mean they should be ineligible to receive the standard volume discount. But given the quickly approaching closeout date, Doug needed to make a decision and was unable to wait until his supervisor returned from her trip to discuss his concerns.

· Perform an ethical analysis on this case. Analyze it from the perspective of Doug and assess his options, then choose the decision you think is appropriate, and explain why. During your analysis, cite an ethical standard you feel best suits the decision you made (there are several standards given in chapter 4 ( ATTACHED ), or you can describe your own). Be as thorough as possible.

Question #2 ( Maximum: One page and a half – Minimum: one full page )

· Based on your answer to the previous question, perform an ethical analysis from Jane’s perspective, reacting to the decision you prescribed for Doug. Choose the decision she should make to react to Doug’s action (remember, doing nothing is still a decision). Explain why you chose her prescribed actions by citing or describing an ethical standard that supports her decision.

· Note that much of the background of this case will be similar to the previous analysis. You do not need to restate anything that has not changed due to the perspective change.

Question #3 ( Maximum: One page and a half – Minimum: one full page )

· Based on your answer to the previous two questions, imagine that Doug’s lone supervisor returns from their trip to learn about the two decisions made by Doug and Jane that you have described. Imagine that the supervisor’s reasoning for only offering a 10% discount when she left was that the discount policy would not be widely known until it was publicly announced, and this one had not been announced, so the company would not be aware of losing out on the discount. The supervisor is inclined to reprimand Doug if he did not follow her instructions, and to commend him if he did. What will she do with Doug? Based on the decision you prescribed for Jane, and using what you know of the supervisor, what do you think the supervisor will do about Jane? Try to fit an ethical standard to the supervisor’s decision according to the ones in the text, or if you cannot find one that fits, I

IMPORTANT THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN YOU ANSWER ALL THE QUESTIONS:

1. Good Ethical Analysis

2. Addressing the foundational concepts

3. Addressing the ethical analysis 5 steps process.

4. Good facts, conflict, stakeholders, AND options are independent of an ethical standard, and there should be different consequences for each different option.

5. Answering all parts of EACH question