FLS Ltd- Case Study

This case study is about a small management development consulting firm who issued this values statement:

           “We strive to ad value to businesses by developing their staff, whilst maintaining value for individuals, whether they be employees, clients, or other stakeholders in our business or in the businesses of our clients.  We deal fairly and honestly in all our actions. We seek to operate transparently, and to respect the dignity and contribution of all workers, whatever their individual demographic characteristics. We also respect the value of the environment and seek through our work to enhance the eco-sphere.  Our guiding principle is never to do anything that we could not publicly defend”.

The study highlights a few ethical dilemmas that the company is faced with during challenging business times.  The first scenario describes the complications with business growth and the correlation with the relationship between the founder of the consulting firm and the HR Director of the client.  Due to this personal relationship, the firm was getting many of the contracts and it finally came into question by the Deputy Director of HR.  There was a full scale review of the whole relationship with the FLS.  Some changes were made to their agreements, tightening certain spending components; however, their overall relationship remained strong and the Deputy Director of HR was dismissed a few months later.

Another example describes when a new manager is hired by the client and the FLS consultant is asked, by this new manager, to breach the confidence of his staff mentoring interviews to provide insight as to which employees are committed to the job and which ones aren’t.  The consultant does not provide this information to the new manager and reports the inappropriate conversation to the CEO of FLS.  The CEO of FLS then calls the CEO of the client and shares his outrage and concern for the behavior of this new manager.  When the new manager is questioned, he denies asking for this information and implies that it was actually the FLS consultant that was trying to offer him additional, inappropriate insight into their employees.  The two CEOs decided it was a mis-communication and it was never dealt with beyond that.

 

Questions: 

1.   Is it ethical to utilize personal relationships to help advance your business’s client-base?

2.   If you were the consultant in the second scenario, how would you proceed in working for the firm and potentially the same client?

Big Brother is Watching You

In order for supermarkets to measure their success, they currently use the point-of-purchase merchandise technique to determine the effectiveness of influencing impulse buys and overall store performance.  Because many of the point-of-purchase sales are unplanned and spontaneous, asking consumers why they picked a particular product is not as effective as using camera based observational research to more effectively market products and increase revenue.  Two options for camera based observational research exist.

The first is to use surveillance cameras to monitor the flow and “hot spots” of a supermarket along with determining the effectiveness of displays.  Supermarkets will often post signs alerting consumers to the observational research.  In cases where consumers will be interviewed, they are asked to give their consent to be filmed.  Either way, consumers are filmed by security surveillance systems in which laws do not exist as to how the video footage is used.

Option two is to pay consumers as volunteers to use eye-mark technology to record the movement of their pupil as it hones in on the products that are attention getting and counts the length of time the product was fixated on, which will enhance product marketing for future profit gain.  Although option two is a preconscious choice, researchers are able to glean much more information than a consumer realizes about their shopping behavior: therefore, controlling their purchases.

Questions:

1.  Does the use of highly developed marketing research technology infringe on a consumer’s right to  privacy?

2.  If consumers are aware of being taped or consent to volunteer in market research, what concern, if any,  does this raise if supermarkets are able to control impulse buys and profit from spontaneous purchases?

Performance Appraisal

Alice has worked part time for the bank for several years. Last year, she was charged with being a manager in the Training and Development department. Her primary responsibility is to train bank tellers. Alice took a class in training and knows that adults learn better with positive reinforcement and constructive criticism.

The bank is trying to hire and promote more racial minorities. The bank has been the target of several discrimination lawsuits in the last few years and wants to change its image.

Joanne is an African-American teller trainee. All of the other trainees in this particular group are white. Joanne is having a very hard time learning the material but does not appreciate Alice’s constructive criticism. Joanne insists that Alice is treating her differently because of her race and threatens to file a formal complaint unless Alice eases up on her.

Questions:

1. What should Alice do?

2. What role does the bank play here?

Pharmacological Ethics Question

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In the mid-2000s, a series of pharmacists working at major companies like Target, CVS, and Eckerd’s refused to sell women contraceptives at the pharmacy of their respective stores. The disgruntled pharmacists stated their refusal to sell contraceptives was based on the ethics prescribed by their religions. The actions lead to several protests against the companies the rogue pharmacists worked for. Many of the stores protected the pharmacists, stating it was an ethical decision for each individual pharmacist and the company would support their decisions.

Questions:

1. Should pharmacists be allowed to deny a patient their prescription medicines?

2. Should companies support workers, who for their individual ethical reasons cannot perform their duties they were hired to do?

3. Should the local, state, or federal government become involved in this ethical question?

Links:

One of many stories: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-11-08-druggists-pill_x.htm

The Pharmacist Oath and Code of Ethics: http://www.uspharmd.com/pharmacist/Pharmacist_Oath_and_Code_of_Ethics.html

Ethical Dilemma – Potato Chip Packaging

The Incredible Shrinking Potato Chip Package

A regional potato chip company, Salty Snacks, is competing with large, national snack food companies. Salty Snacks faces a dilemma about pricing vs. quantity. A drought caused a minimized potato crop compared to the previous year, which will cause the 7.5 oz package of chips to increase in price from $1.59 to $1.83. The company is concerned that customers will not be receptive to the price increase, and will switch to the national brands, who can afford to maintain the lesser price. Historically, other companies facing the same problem maintained the pricing and the packaging size, and reduced the volume (net weight) of product instead. Known as “downsizing”, this strategy appears to go unnoticed by customers. There are no FDA regulations restricting downsizing, and companies are required to disclose net weight, serving size, price, and quantity on the package. The manager of the company is struggling with the decision to downsize their product, because she views it as a deceptive practice.

Ethical Questions:

1. Should Salty Snacks advertise/notify their consumers that they have reduced their product’s net weight?

2. Based on Environmental practices, would it be more ethical if Salty Snacks were to also reduce packaging size along with net weight? Thus, reducing environmental impact?

3. Based on Socially Responsible practices, can reducing the amount of chips sold be looked upon as aiding the fight against obesity?

*Story is modified from original source:  http://wpweb2.tepper.cmu.edu/ethics/AA/mktg04-case.pdf

Greenopolis- Learn, Act, Rewards, Together!

We are about to see the  launch of Greenopolis, the interactive, collaborative and educational “green” community Web 2.0 site that Waste Management and other partners are developing. Although built by WM, it is open source- open to anyone who has something to contirbute and want to participate. The website focuses on bringing together individuals, communities, organizations and corporations to help people learn, partner and make incremental, positive environmental changes in their daily lives and communities.  Greenopolis is partnering with dozens, and eventually hundreds, maybe thousands of businesses, schools, non profits and governments to foster sustainable learning that leads to “green” behavior. Millions of incremental steps multiplied by millions of actors to really shift the game. 

 

The site is getting lots of visitors, members and positive blogging.

You can a part of it. You can check out the site at www.greenopolis.com. Meet Liv Greene, oiur AIM bot/avatar, and engage in the site any way you like. Antich and dozens of other centers for higher ed are taking part. You can contact me on the site- my username is Greenopollis Joe, and I really want your feedback and suggestions. We’ve got a short time to save a big planet. We all need to move now.

 

Joe