Corporate leadership & social

responsibility

Case study answers

Submitted by: Muhammad Haris(01-222182-015)

Submitted to: Sir Khalid Chohan

1. Who is wrong in this situation—your friend for undercharging you, you for accepting
it, or neither of you?

Answer: Both of us are wrong in this situation, my friend for undercharging me by violating
his duties and me for indirectly taking advantage of it by accepting.

According to the case, I’m the first person to receive services from my friend, the bartender,
whenever I go to the bar, regardless of the customers que. And one day when I was about to pay
for a round of four beers for me and my other friends, my friend only charged me for one. So,
here he is undercharging me and I am freely accepting it. In my opinion, what my friend did is
totally wrong as he is unaware of the ethics. He is only satisfying his friend’s company and is
neglecting the responsibilities as an employee. As an employee, he should have been sincere
and loyal towards his job. He should have treated other customers the same way since every
customer has equal importance to an organization and also there shouldn’t be any partiality
among the customers.

However, I have also acted in the wrong way. I shouldn’t have accepted the undercharging
practice. Undercharging and accepting them are both against the ethics. As a friend who
knows how important the job is to him , I should’ve stopped him from doing this and shouldn’t
have taken any advantage of it.

Hence, in this situation both of us are wrong.

2. Confronted by this situation, how would you handle it? Would you ask your friend to
stop undercharging you? If so, what if he refused?

Answer: Confronted by this situation, I would ask my friend to stop undercharging me. It is
more unethical when we are taking advantage of something to achieve any goal. As a friend, I
will ask him to stop continuing such activities which is against his duties and which will affect
his job. He needs to understand the importance of his job and the issues that will follow his act. I
will also try to make him understand the effects and the result of his activity that he will face if
he continuous to do so.

At the bar, while doing his job as a bartender, his foremost thing needs to be committing to his
job as well for his organization. And because of this, he does not have the right to do his duty
based on any personal relation. One of the central point in business ethics is that all the
customers should be treated fairly. And if he continues to perform such activity, one day he
could be caught and he might also lose his job. I would better advise him about the
commitment an employee must have towards his job, and that as an employee, he is bound to
do his job ethically.

Most importantly, I will also make him aware that the approach that he used for his own
satisfaction by revenging the supervisor who mistreats him is not ethically the right way to act or
respond. If he doesn’t like the job or if he thinks he is being mistreated, he can just leave the job.
But then if he still refuses to follow so, my last option would be to stop going to that bar again.

3. To what extend do you think that being deliberately undercharged is different

from other forms of preferential treatment, such as serving you in front of other
waiting customers?

Answer: Undercharging and other forms of preferential treatment both are unethical to the
job and are different in their own aspects.

For instance, undercharging can have a straight impact in the firms operations if it continues.
Since, my friend is just an employee, he shouldn’t do such activities and by doing so, he is
acting against the organization. These type of treatment can make financial loss to the
organization.

Other preferential activities like serving a friend in front of other waiting customer won’t bring
much problem but will set a negative feeling in the minds of the customer. In fact, there
shouldn’t be any place for personal relations or considerations while performing the duties in a
job. In my view, all such activities are against the rules of the job.

Both undercharging and preferential treatments are against ethics as they may directly or
indirectly affect the organization.
4. Does the fact that your friend feels aggrieved at the treatment he receives from his boss
condone his behavior at all? Does it help to explain his or your actions?

Answer: Even if the bartender faces such mistreatment from the manager, he is not supposed to
do such activity like being dishonest towards his job. This is not the right way to respond to the
situation. If he can’t handle the issues in his job, he could have quit the job rather than acting
irresponsible and performing such activity. We can say that the reason for which my friend is
performing such activity is because of the mistreatment towards him by the bar manager. But
such an act cannot be a cause or an excuse to violate the ethical practice of the firm. If he can’t
afford to manage such mistreatment, then he could have left the job rather than being dishonest
towards his job.