An Ethical Dilemma Madison s iPS into bed in the early hours of the morning after a long day at Alpha Beta Corporation. She automatically opens the TikTok app on her phone to watch @ few videos. As she scrolls, a notification pops up of a new follower. The name is unfamiliar, so she taps the profile and browses. As she continues, a video of someone recognizable appears. Madison watches it a second time and realizes it's her coworker, Mark. As the video plays, Mark is visible wearing an AB Corporation shirt, talking to friends, and playing truth or dare. It becomes apparent that Mark and his friends are visibly intoxicated. She turns up the volume and hears Mark talking about a possible merger/acquisition of AB as. wel! as some salty language about AB and some of the managers, ‘Alpha Beta really sucks. Work, work, work, for little ay. And | always have to listen to Terry, AB's golden id, about his problems, his hit list, and how he’s going ‘to be promoted or fire us if he doesn’t get what he wants. He even told me AB is going to buy Viper Inc. With our tomer database and Viper’s IPTV and VPN third-party services, we'll kill the competition,” slurred Mark. At the eng of the video, Mark falls on the ground, taking others h Madison doesn't particularly like Terry, she fermed about the video, Mark's comments about Terry, his AB shirt, and that he spoke about something. that was confidential. Se knows, via the code of conduct various meetings, that when you wear AB's logo, you represent the firm and not just yourself “That igiot," Madison murmurs, and then she notices the number of views on the video: several thousand, The next day, Madison eats lunch with Caroline, her friend and coworker, and tells her all about Mark and the video “What do you think | should do?” asks Madison. Seeded cee ee “Just keep quiet,” Caroline says. “Mark we stressed. Haven't you sai things when you were dun, with someone videoing you? Besides, wino are you gin to squeal to? Remember, he who squeals usually gen ® made into pork patties as well,” quipped Caroline “What if I send an anonymous email to Te link to the TikTok video?” says Madison, Caroline counters with, “Yeah, and Mark may or ma not get fired. But remember that Terry and Mark were buddies in college. Who knows what Mark has on Teny ang vice versa? And if someone reverse checks your emai, you may not be as anonymous as you think," says Caroling “You would still be snitching, and Mark would stl probably get fired. Think of his family. They are counting on him to support them. It was just a silly TiKTok video Who really cares that much about it? It's not worth anyone losing their job, is it?" adds Caroline. “But if | don't speak up, more and more people will see the video, and it could be really damaging to the company. No one is supposed to know of the merger because it could cause employees to panic,” said Madison, Caroline pursed her lips and lowered her voice and ‘ays, “Look, | wasn't going to say anything, but that’s actually my profile you found, not Mark's. | was with him at the bar filming the video with a few other coworkers. He doesn’t even know I posted it. If you do anything, | may be on the chopping block.” What should Madison do in this situation? 2s just TY With the QUESTIONS | EXERCISES 1. Identify the issues Madison has to resolve 2. What is Madison’s responsibility to the firm 3. Do you think Madison should report Mark 2° Caroline? Ten? This casei erty hypothetical any resembiance © ‘companies, o situations is cmnedenta —Resolving Ethical Busine ‘Ann was hired by Best East Motels into its manager training program and was excited about the potential benefits after her graduation from Florida State University: Working part time and going to schoo! fll time was the norm for her, but the Best East ob replaced her two part-time jobs. With this new job, she would be the one to assign work schedules. Her luck continued ‘when she met her mentor Oliver, who was the son of the ‘owner. Best East Motels was a franchise motel chain in the United States. Owners bought into the chain with a $500,000 franchise fee and paid for the construction of the motel. In return for the fee, Best East gave each owner ‘a comprehensive package of marketing, management, ‘accounting, and financial materials to boost motel success rates to more than 90 percent. In addition, Best East assisted each owner with groups of people that trained staff for every new job, from housekeeping to accounting. ‘The new-hire training course for each type of employee ‘was developed and based on the best practices within the industry. This particular motel had been in business for 10 years and was seen as successful ‘As Ann went through the manager training program, everything she heard was great. It sounded like hospi- tality was a career path she would want to pursue long term, Six months into her job, however, Ann started to hear strange rumors, For example, on the night shift, she ound there was heavy employee turnover, and most were females. Ann began to investigate by scheduling herself conto several night shifts. One night, as she chatted with one of the front desk employees, she discovered the git! in quitting, She was 17 and worked at this Best Motes fora year "ry are yo leaving?” asked Ann, i started Ann. “I don't want trouble, just ck, a good letter of recommendation, and fs Ann pressed her for more information, the 17-year-old opened up. She spoke about Olver talking suggestvely about her to other employecs and how he rade suggestive physical gestures when she was around, Shed Ann about ter male employes weed sim Inly and this always occurred during night shifts Oliver was on duty eae ss challenges” ax Ann spake to several former ee ie ey Young and female. They employees: Mem ehe same thing: For ‘example, Oliver told er essentially 1 St agestive comments to female would routinely MaKe ToT ander Oliver’s watch, some sh female employees while ha smile, They also told tel to offer their male employee: i cr reportedly sat there Ove ete customers athe ™ oyees. female emp oye ard similar stories again 1m “Oliver told me if pe Td ask me out” to “I dont want to make this because it might appear that Tm a for not reporting was tatiletale” Another common excuse saat Oliver assured them this was a normal part of work: ing in the hospitality industry. Most ‘employees were afraid tereport on the bosss son and put their jobs on the ine Ann reviewed the section of the franchise employee handbook. It clearly stated sexual harassment of any kid ‘would not be tolerated and should be reported immedi tothe proper manager. Ann could tell from the manual : allegations against Oliver constituted sexual harassi=s ‘While the Best East Franchise Corporation had no ¢ ics hotline, Ann thought this could be a legal issue ‘knew putting pressure on the female employees to rep! the behavior of the boss son was problematic. Ann «> felt that fring Oliver personally about these alleg2 ‘may notbea wise move. Ifthe behavior was reported te ‘owner, it would become an official allegation and impt the motels reputation and e ip a image in the community, 10d she would be responsible for i . sac caine tesPonsble frit The things these women ‘not personally happened to her yet. and agin. Their stores ranged fo QUESTIONS | EXERCISES Why shi ber a at a | get involved in reporting if she 2 Soe ar ein Of the allegations the other . Whatare calure tht rane Characteristis of Bet Eassthicl 3. What shoal ate the current dilemma for Ann? n do to resolve her concerns? S sly bypothetia, tatlons is coincide “This ease ist companies, any resemblance to real person tal eres