BHR 3551 Columbia Southern University Week 4 Interpersonal Relations Case Study

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BHR 3551

Columbia Southern University

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Locate the following case study in the course textbook: Humans Relations, 12th Edition from Andrew J. Dubrin.

Interpersonal Relations Case 15.1 – The One Cent Ethical Dilemma, p. 375.

Complete the case study by showing your understanding of the content in addressing the questions and directives in three pages, including a title page and reference page. The title and reference pages do not count toward the total page requirement.

Answer the Case Questions at the end of the case on p. 375. In addition, answer the following directives to complete your case study:

1. What actions do you recommend Rajah take about his concerns with respect to the new one-cent-in-change policy?

2. Explain whether you think Rajah should blow the whistle on his employer.

3. What is your opinion of the ethics of the new policy about withholding one-cent-in-change?

4. Is there a need for ethics training? If so, why?

5. How often should ethics training take place? Why?

6. By having ethics training, what can the employer and employees learn?

Be sure to apply the proper APA format for the content and reference provided.




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Running head: Case Study 1 Unit 4: Case Study Columbia Southern University Case Study 2 Unit 4: Case Study This is a case study of “The One Cent Ethical Dilemma” from Dubrin’s Human Relations. To review, Rajah has worked hard to achieve his degree in business administration and marketing and obtained a retail management job at the age of 23. After a few months of working for this company, his regional manager instructs him that if a customer is owed one penny, then his cashiers are not to give back the penny unless the customer insists on it. The reason to do this is to increase the profits for the year. Rajah does not agree with the new policy but encourages his cashiers to follow it anyway. After a week though, he feels as though he is forcing his cashiers to do something unethical and possibly illegal. He does not want to lose his job by complaining or not complying with the new company policy. Rajah has a real dilemma with the new policy. As explained by Trevino and Brown in the article “Managing to Be Ethical: Debunking Five Business Ethics Myths,” being ethical is not easy for the following reasons. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Complexity of ethical decisions. Predisposition to be unethical. Self-interest. Levels of moral development. Moral disengagement. Goals that reward unethical behavior. Motivated blindness The complexity of the one-cent dilemma is that it can be considered stealing, but the customers do not care about the penny collected which may help the company stay in business and keep everyone working. We do not know enough about Rajah to know if he has a predisposition to be unethical, but it does not seem that way due to his guilt of following the orders. Rajah is motivated by his self-interest; He does not want to lose his job. His level of moral development is also an issue because he does not want to upset his employer. Also, given his age, he probably Case Study 3 does not have much experience dealing with issues like this. He is obviously distressed about the situation, so moral disengagement does not apply here. It can be implied that being rewarded for this behavior may play a part, as well. As a manager of a store, he most likely qualifies for a year end bonus, if the store does well. Lastly, I do not think motivated blindness plays a part for Rajah because he is aware that there a question of ethics with this policy. Questions What Actions do You Recommend Rajah Take About His Concerns with Respect to the New Policy? I would recommend Rajah follow the eight steps to sound ethical decision making found below (Treviño & Nelson, 1995). 1. Gather the facts: Some facts that I would want to gather in this situation are: Who has requested this policy change? Is it the regional manager or the CEO? Are there legal issues involved? Do I have the authority to not comply with the new policy? How do my employees feel about the policy? 2. Define the ethical issue: At first glance it may look like the company is stealing from their customers, but Rajah may want to talk to one of his past business professors or a family member to assist him in defining the issue. 3. Identify the affected parties: In this case, the customers, Rajah, his cashiers, company stakeholders and the surrounding community are a few of the possible parties effected by this policy. 4. Predict the consequences: Raja will need to predict the possible consequences for each of the affected parties. a. b. c. d. Customers can lose money and trust in the company. Rajah could be criminally liable. Cashiers could be criminally liable. The stakeholders could lose money when people realize what is going on through word of mouth or bad press and take their business elsewhere. e. The community could suffer if the company goes out of business – losing jobs, ratables, a place to shop, etc. 5. Identify the obligations and the reasons for each obligation when making a complex decision: Rajah, as manager, is obligated to protect his employees from Case Study 4 possible criminal charges and/or from having to do something that is against their personal code of ethics. 6. Consider your character and integrity: Rajah has made obvious that he is does not believe it is ethical. 7. Think creatively about potential actions: Rajah should try thinking past just complying or whistleblowing. He should come up with ideas that achieve what the company is looking for and that he feels is ethically suitable. For example, keep the penny, but then quarterly, donate the money to a charity, then the company can use it as a deduction – the company gets a money boost, looks good to the community, and the customers will not mind giving up the penny. 8. Check your intuition: Rajah’s immediate feeling or intuition is that it is wrong. Explain whether you think Rajah should blow the whistle on his employer? I believe that Rajah must exert upward ethical leadership. He should try to resolve the issue with his regional manager first. If that does not solve his moral issue, then go above the regional manager and try to resolve it higher up. If this does not work, then I would suggest whistleblowing to a government agency like Bureau of Consumer Protection. What is your opinion of the ethics of the new policy about withholding one cent in change? I agree with Rajah. Taking a penny or not offering to give the customer their change is stealing. Of course, I am ethically opposed to stealing anything. Is there a need for ethics training? If so, why? Yes, there should be company-wide ethics training from the intern to the CEO. An ethics training program assists in developing a worker’s ethical skills. As they develop these skills, workers will become more comfortable in asking about ethical issues, turning in ethical violations, recognizing ethical dilemmas, making ethical decisions and avoiding unethical situations. Case Study 5 How often should ethics training take place? Why? Ethics training should happen immediately at the time of hire and refreshed annually. The facilitator can utilize ethical issues from the past year as examples and teach the employees how each example was handled. If they were handled correctly, they will understand, but if not, then they can be taught how to handle the situation should it arise in the future. The employees should not need to be lectured monthly on ethics, if the company is trying to hire good, ethical people in the first place. By having ethics training, what can the employer and employees learn? Dubrin (2014) states that no amount of ethical training will guarantee that employees will act ethically in every situation. In my experience, though, much can be learned from ethics training. Managers learn how to make clear, ethical decisions. These decisions can keep their employees out of ethical dilemmas, avoid bad press and lawsuits, and reduce any other liabilities that stem from poor ethical decision making. Watching their managers and taking the training also, employees can deal with ethical dilemmas, if they arise, and learn how to behave ethically in a diverse workplace. Case Study 6 References DuBrin, A. J. (2014). Human Relations. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780133932751/ Treviño, L.K.& Brown, M.E., “Managing to Be Ethical: Debunking Five Business Ethics Myths,” Academy of Management Executive, May 2004, pp. 69–72. Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (1995). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. New York: J. Wiley & Sons., pp. 71-75
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Running head: ETHICAL DILEMMA

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Ethical Dilemma
Student Name
Institution Affiliation

ETHICAL DILEMMA

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Case Questions

Interpersonal Relations Case 15.1 – The One Cent Ethical Dilemma, p. 375
Case summary
"The One Cent Ethical Dilemma" case study is derived from Dubrin's Human Relations book,
12th edition. The case focuses on a young man named Rajah who has been studying for a degree in BA
and marketing. At the age of 23, Rajah was working as a manager in a general store. A few months later,
after he began the job, the regional manager instructed him to withhold any one penny from a customer
not requested back after the purchase is made (DuBrin, 2014). This unethical behavior's main reason
was to add more profits, but Rajah was not satisfied. Although he disagrees with it, he encourages the
cashiers to implement the new policy since he fears losing the job. In most cases, being ethical has many
barriers such as self-interest, reward goals, complexity, and development morals. In this case study, the
dilemma to comply with ethical issues can be associated with Rajah's self-interest for maintaining the job
and attaining performance goals to be rewarded.
1. What actions do you recommend Rajah Take abou...


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