BUSM4403 Ethics & Governance

Introduction to Ethics and Governance

Week 1 Tutorial Questions
I. Review Questions
1. What’s legal is always ethical. True or false? Why?

2. What are the differences between immoral and amoral management (Carroll, 2001)?

3. Why is plagiarism an ethical issue?

4. Are ethical behaviors in business profitable?

II. Case Studies:

1. The not-so-great Gatsby

The hourly employees at Appleberg Electric Company are protected by a union agreement. You, a shift
supervisor, have good relations with your workers and treat them as colleagues. Yet Gatsby, 56, a senior
worker who is minimally competent, is an exception. He ignores any attempts you make to relate to him or
motivate him. He operates a punch press and produces at barely the standard rate, often with more than
twice the average number of defective parts. But since he makes the minimum standard required, he is
meeting his obligations.

He reacts badly to your discussions and suggestions, and insists that his work is not below union standards.
Gatsby is surly, uncooperative and lacks the motivation to change. Your boss knows and detests Gatsby, as do
Gatsby’s co-workers. He often makes offensive jokes about them, abuses them in public and many avoid him
altogether. But there is no real negative effect on the other workers and no one has ever filed a formal
complaint against Gatsby.

Your boss now suggests that you take steps to encourage Gatsby to seek employment elsewhere – by moving
him among the least desirable jobs and assigning him to inconvenient shifts. This is entirely legal – not a
violation of the union agreement – although it certainly violates the spirit of the agreement and of the good
union management relations at Appleberg. Your actions will surely be noticed and easily documented should
Gatsby or the union wish to file a grievance against you. Your actions could cause a rift between the workers
and management even though they dislike Gatsby. How should you respond to your boss’s suggestion?

Questions

• What are the ethical issues of this case?

• What moral obligations do you have to Gatsby, yourself, your boss, the workers and the firm?

• Are any of these more important or pertinent than the others?

• Would it be ethical to do as your boss suggests?

• What would you do in this situation?

2. Accountant at Alpha-Male Sport Shoes
You are a midlevel accountant at Alpha-Male Sport Shoes. Your company competes with the big brands like
Nike and Adidas but you offer cheaper prices and more garish fashionable colors. The brand has been doing
reasonably well. Your factories are in Vietnam. Your sales are in the USA. The company also has a venture
capital arm that seeks to find new avenues to diversify the company in new global markets.

Your boss, Cora, calls in sick and asks you to handle any emergencies. She gives you her computer access code.
After you finish your work for the day, you make one last check on Cora’s account and in the process of
following up upon a routine inquiry you discover that one of the venture capital accounts, Elysium Fields, is a
totally fake operation. This bothers you. You decide to stay late at work and subsequently discover that it is
some sort of fraudulent operation. Lots of company monies go into the venture capital arm and especially into
Elysium Fields through various foreign bank accounts that offer secrecy and do not report to the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS). You are convinced that something terribly wrong is happening. Your company is
breaking the law. Just before you leave for the day you discover a suspicious e-mail that ties Elysium Fields
into the illegal drug trade from Vietnam. You print out the suspicious files and accounts transactions. Then you
go home with the copies.

You are a Vietnamese American citizen, Thuy Nguyen. You are a single mother with a seven-year-old daughter.
You have heard over and over again about the pain that illegal drug traffic has caused in the USA. Your own
brother died of a drug overdose. You feel that Alpha-Male Sport Shoes is a front company for illegal drug
traffic. You have enough evidence in your briefcase to go to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and open
an investigation that will probably lead to a conviction. However, this will disrupt your life. You will be put into
the witness protection program, which will greatly disrupt your and your daughter’s lives. If you do nothing,
more people will die via this particular drug outlet. If you shut them down, then your own family life is
permanently disrupted.

 What is the ethical issue of this case?

 What is the consequence if you report the problem to the FBI?
 What moral obligations do you have to your daughter, to your profession (accounting), to your
country of citizen (the USA)?
 What should you do? Do you go to the FBI?