Business Ethics Homework Assignment is in description and attachments

AN ETHICA,L DILEMMJ\, Jayla just landed an internship with Acme lncorporated in the Payroll Department. She was excited because these internships usually turned into a full-time job after graduation. Jayla was hired by Deon, the head of the Payroll

Department. He told her about their policies and stressed

the need for maintaining strict confidentiality regarding

employee salaries and pay scales. "Several years ago we

had an intern who violated the confidentiality policy and

was given a negative internship summary," explained Deon. "l understand, sir," Jayla responded. Jayla was determined to learn as much as she could

about the job. She made sure she was always on time,

followed all of the policies and procedures, and got along well with her co-workers. She started to feel like she fit in at Acme and dreamed of the day when she worked there permanently. However, one day while studying the books,

Jayla began to notice abnormalities in one salesperson's

salary. Greg, one of the senior sales representatives,

made three times as much as the next highest earning

salesperson in the company. -layla assumed he must be a

spectacular salesperson and worked efficiently. She often

overheard Mia, the General Manager, and Deon praise Greg

for his sales numbers. She also noticed the three of them

would often go to lunch together.

One morning, Deon handed a stack of client folders

to Jayla. He explained, "These are the clients for the

salespeople for the week. They will come to you when they

need more work, and they are only to take the files on top of

the pile. You are in charge of making sure the salespeople

don't pick and choose the files. This is how we keep things

fair among the sales force." "l will make sure the files are distributed fairly,"

Jayla promised. She was excited to be trusted with this responsibility, and she made sure she did her best. Mary,

one of the salespeople, came by to get files for the week.

They made small talk as Mary looked into herfiles. She looked disappointed.

"You didn't get any good clients?" Jayla asked. "Nope, not a one," replied Mary, "which is just my

luckl" She threw down the files in exasperation. Jayla was concerned and asked, "What's the matter?"

"l'm sorry," she replied, "lt's just that my sales have been slipping, and my pay checks are much smaller than

they used to be. lf my pay decreases much further, I may lose my health benefits. My daughter is asthmatic, and

she has been in and out of the hospital over the last few

months." Jayla looked at Mary sympathetically and tried her best to console her.

The next week, before the salespeople started coming

into the office to pick from the pile, Jayla had some documents for Deon to sign. When she arrived at his office, the door was slightly open. She peeked in and saw Deon

and Greg going through the stack of clients. Jayla watched

as Greg rifled through the pile and picked out files" "Thanks, Deon. These are the top clients for the

week," Greg said. "No problem, Greg," Deon responded "Anything for

my favorite brother-in-law. Just keep up the good work."

Jayla stood there, mouth open. She turned to walk

back toward her desk. She could noi believe what she just

saw. The boss was giving Deon all the good clients, while

the rest of the salespeople had no choice in which they

were assigned. Jayla knew this favoritism was a serious

conflict of interest. Then she thought of Mary and her

situation. "What am I supposed to do?" Jayla wondered. "lf I say

something to Deon, he will give me a bad evaluation. lf I say anything to Mia, I may get fired. And I definitely can't say anything to the other salespeople. There would be a riot."

Saddened, she sat at her desk and wondered what to do.

QUESTTONS I eXrnCrSeS 1. Discuss how this conflict of interest situation affects

other salespeople, the organizational culture, and other

stakeholders.

2. Describe the decision that Jayla must make. What are the potential ramifications of her choices?

3. Are there legal ramifications to this kind of behavior? lf so, what are the potential consequences?

-This case is strictly hypothetical; any resemblance to real persons,

companies, or situations is coincidental.