CASE STUDY 1 RAMONA ALEXANDER
Case Study 1 Ramona Alexander
Liberty University
ABSTRACT
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CASE STUDY 1 RAMONA ALEXANDER
Ramona has a very tough choice to make with this contract because the company, Next Step
Herbal Health, is presenting a intriguing offer with her salary but also the gifts she received
before even accepting an offer. When deciding if a company is right or wrong for you, you
must look behind a small picture you need to look at your self and your values vs. the
company’s values. You want a company that values their employees, they ethically value
their customers, and they value putting out a good product they are not just focused on the
money. Looking though Ramona very start to finish of when they first contacted her to
when they made her the job offer it is very clear this company does not value any of those
items they a simply out here to make money and do whatever they can do so.
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CASE STUDY 1 RAMONA ALEXANDER
Case Study 1 Ramona Alexander
Starting your career path once you finish college is one of the most nervous yet
exciting times for an individual. The career field is not what it used to be because jobs are
harder to come by and sometimes it is about who you know, what school you went to, or
what kind of job experience you received while in school. Ramona Alexander received that
great feeling job off right out of getting her masters. There are many facts that Ramona
must look at and must decide on many different levels like opportunity, finances, moral
value, ethics, and expectation is this the right company for you. Ramona needs to look
beyond the flashy presentation that Next Step Herbal Health is showing her up front. She
needs to look at the overall picture is the company going to be stable, does the corporation
have good ethics, does the corporation have a good culture/atmosphere, and will she be
happy working there on a mental level and spiritual level.
This opportunity could be a once in a life time if this company is getting her the
position that she wants and starting her at a very generous salary based on the fact that she
is freshly out of her masters will possibly no experience under her belt. The finances are
positive because it is obviously a good, growing company but once Ramona read that article
about the CEO and knowing that he has a history of building up companies to then sell to
make as much money as possible for him that is the first red flag. The money that Next Step
Herbal Health is offering Ramona is great but if the company is sold then she loses her job
and she could of bought a new car and a new house because she was banking on that salary.
One thing that individuals may not think about with working for a company is does that
company have good moral values and ethics because at the end of the day you have to go
home and look at your self in the mirror. “Given the growing interest in religion and
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CASE STUDY 1 RAMONA ALEXANDER
spirituality in the community and workplace, we consider what light one of the oldest
sources of human ethics can throw on the vexed issues of contemporary employment ethics
and social sustainability” (Van Buren III, 2013, p. 707). Companies, I believe, try to appeal
to this that religion is growing in the workplace and more accepted but you want a
company that actually values your religion and respects it not a company that tries to use
religion to make it seem like they are doing right in the company when they are clearing not
like New Step Herbal Health.
“A good corporate culture is similar to a family, with respect, caring,
and concern for the individual being paramount. A corporate mission
statement should contain a bias to create a challenging environment in which
the company’s employees thrive and succeed and not simply have a
shareholder and customer orientation. Within the environment, trust and
learning are essential so that employees can reach their full potential and feel
comfortable sharing skills, knowledge, and lessons learned with their
colleagues” (Hogan, 1998, p. 56).
Ramona should want to work for a company/corporation that holds these types of
standards high because that is a company that cares about their employees along with
making money. When Ramona read the articles about New Step Herbal Health setting up
forced purchase tie-in agreements would have been a second red flag because that shows
again that it is mainly out there to make money. They are ethically wrong by forcing their
distributors to buy large amounts of unwanted items just to be able to then buy the wanted
items. To me it is very clear that by doing these practices they are causing their distributors
to put their self in financial harm while Next Step already made their pay check.
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CASE STUDY 1 RAMONA ALEXANDER
Next Step Herbal Health wanted to showed to appeal to Ramona by giving her free
items and paying for an expensive weekend away because they clearly do not want their
new recruits to learn and see the negative part about the company. When Ramona asked
the recruit about researchers searching for new product away the work and her responses
was “We have the greatest P.R. people in the corporate world,” should of clearly showed
Ramona that this company does not have good moral or ethical values. The company is
willing to lie and make their customers believe something false is ethically wrong on many
levels. The recruiter also states that even though it is state that Next Step has the leading
ethics code in the industry; the only reason they have that isn’t because they follow an
ethics code it is because they make sure lawyers cover their backs. Lastly coming out of the
own CEO’s mouth he gives a speech downing Americans and being completely fine with
causing harm to individuals in order to make a buck.
Along with all of these red flags one of the biggest and hardest things to handle was
the fact that the recruiter says “the company assumed she was a Christian, and by putting
her in Atlanta, GA, Ramona could “talk the talk” to distributors there.” Regardless of what
religion Ramona may or may not be the fact that a company would try and use someone’s
religion to make money and sell a product to distributors that maybe harmful or possibly
cause those distributors to go bankrupt is morally, ethically wrong and just down right
disgraceful.
My advice to Ramona would be to look at the bigger picture look past the high salary,
look past the flashy gifts, and the flashy presentation. Look at the root of this company and
how they function as a business, their business culture, and their business ethics. Just in
that one weekend of meeting the recruiter and the CEO of the company their were many
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CASE STUDY 1 RAMONA ALEXANDER
immoral things said by the CEO himself and the recruiter went right along with all of it and
was clearly ok with it. On a moral and spiritual level this company has no positive things to
be said they only out there for them selves and to make as much money as they possibly can
regardless of who they harm or step on to get there. Ramona being a graduate from Liberty
University would clearly see how this company would not be a good choice on an moral
level because we learn here at Liberty not just our profession we also learn how to be a
good individual with good moral values.
References:
Connors, R., & Smith, T. (2000). Corporate Culture. The Journal of Business Strategy, 21(3),
10-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/eb040082
Hogan, S., & Gilbert, D., & Pearson, P., & Goffee, R. (1998). Corporate Culture. The Journal of
Business Strategy, 19(6), 56. ISSN: 02756668
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CASE STUDY 1 RAMONA ALEXANDER
Van Buren III, H. J., & Greenwood, M. (2013). The Genesis of Employment Ethics. J Business
Ethics, 117, 707-719. Doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1722-2
White, T. (2010). A New Approach to Business Ethics: Strategic Response, Leadership and
Social Responsibility. The ISM Journal of International Business, 1(1), 2-13. ISSN:
2150-1076
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