The human
resources department worked with management to carefully craft a Code of
Ethics. All employees received a copy of the code and were required to sign off
stating that they had read the code and agreed to abide by its conditions. If
an issue concerning an employee occurs, the human resources department
investigates. As the assistant director of human resources, you are asked to
evaluate an employee’s behavior. You meet with Gloria Smithson to obtain all
information needed to begin your investigation.
Gloria has now
been in business for 2 years. Her business is called International Widgets, and
she employs more than 300 people in the business headquarters. In the early
stages of the business, she created a Code of Ethics to govern employees’ behavior.
Recently, one of her salespeople, John Anderson, seems to be underperforming.
Historically, he has been a stellar employee and salesperson, bringing in new
clients every month. However, over the last 6 months, not only has he not
brought in any new business, but 30% of his accounts have gone to a competitor.
Even with this downturn, John was on the road 5 days a week and continued to
submit expense reports. Is this ethical?
Janice is the director of human resources at
International Widgets. Recently, Janice met with Gloria to let her know of a
rumor in the company that John was actually steering some of his accounts to a
competitor because the competitor gave him a kickback.
John has been employed by International Widgets for
14 months. He likes his job but was recently approached by a competitor with an
offer he could not refuse. The competitor wanted to expand his domestic market
and asked John to work with him for a few months. He asked that John provide
him with the names and phone numbers of the customers he services. He said he
didn’t want John to get into trouble with International Widgets so he would
contact the customers and not John. However, he told John that for every
customer who left International Widgets, John would receive a “1% payment
from the customer’s first order.” John didn’t think he was doing anything
wrong. He has two children in college and needs the extra money, plus he could
continue to try to work with the customer to stay with International Widgets.
You are the assistant director of human resources.
Janice Marshall has asked you to review the Code of Ethics to determine if John
has violated its provisions. You are to prepare a paper that addresses the
following:
1. Evaluate International Widgets’ Code of Ethics
at the conclusion of the You Decide scenario. Do any provisions prohibit John’s
behavior? Please explain.
2. In addition to a possible ethics violation, could International Widgets
pursue other legal avenues against John and/or its competitor? Review your textbook
and library references to assist you in answering these questions.
3. Is John in a fiduciary relationship with International Widgets? Why or why
not? Is he an agent of International Widgets? Identify the duties and
responsibilities of an agent and whether or not John is fulfilling those
obligations. Review your textbook and library references to assist you in
answering these questions.
4. What action should Gloria take involving John?
Confidentiality
International Widgets is committed to maintaining
the highest degree of integrity in all our dealings with potential, current,
and past clients, both in terms of normal commercial confidentiality and the
protection of all personal information received in the course of providing the
business services concerned. We extend the same standards to all our customers,
suppliers, and associates.
Ethics
We conduct business honestly and honorably and
expect our clients and suppliers to do the same. We train our employees to be
ethical and expect them to always act in the best interests of International
Widgets.
Duty of Care
Our actions and advice will always conform to
relevant law and we believe that all businesses, including International
Widgets, should avoid causing any adverse effect on the human rights of people
in the organizations we deal with, the local and wider environments, and the
well-being of society at large.
Conflict of Interest
Employees of International Widgets must act
exclusively for the benefit of International Widgets. Employees should avoid
providing services to a direct competitor of International Widgets, or engage
in any type of business relationship that is not in the best interests of
International Widgets.
Our contract will usually be in the form of a
detailed proposal, including aims, activities, costs, timescales, and
deliverables. The quality of our service and the value of our support provide
the only true basis for continuity. We always try to meet our clients’
contractual requirements, particularly for situations where an external funding
provider requires more official parameters and controls.
Intellectual Property and Moral Rights
We retain the moral rights in, and ownership of,
all intellectual property that we create unless agreed otherwise in advance
with our clients. In return, we respect the moral and intellectual copyright
vested in our clients’ intellectual property. Employees are not to use the
intellectual property of International Widgets for any means other than the
terms and conditions of their employment and to advance the interests of
International Widgets.
Quality Assurance
We maintain the quality of what we do through
constant ongoing review with our clients, of all aims, activities, outcomes,
and the cost-effectiveness of every activity. We encourage regular review
meetings and provide regular progress reports. This consultancy has been
accredited under a number of quality assurance schemes. Further details are
available on request.
Professional Conduct
We conduct all of our activities professionally and
with integrity. We take great care to be completely objective in our judgment
and any recommendations that we give, so that issues are never influenced by
anything other than the best and proper interests of our clients.
Equality and Discrimination
We always strive to be fair and objective in our
advice and actions and we are never influenced in our decisions, actions, or
recommendations by issues of gender, race, creed, color, age, or personal
disability.
You are the assistant director of human resources.
Janice Marshall has asked you to review the Code of Ethics to determine if John
has violated its provisions. You are to prepare a paper that addresses the
following.
1.
Evaluate
International Widgets’ Code of Ethics at the conclusion of the You Decide
scenario. Are there any provisions which would prohibit John’s behavior? Please
explain.
2.
In addition
to a possible ethics violation, are there other legal avenues that
International Widgets could pursue against John or its competitor? Review your
textbook and library references to assist you in answering these questions.
3.
Is John in a
fiduciary relationship with International Widgets? Why or why not? Is he an
agent of International Widgets? Identify the duties and responsibilities of an
agent and whether or not John is fulfilling those obligations. Review your
textbook and library references to assist you in answering these questions.
4.
What action
should Gloria take involving John?
Assignment requirements:
1.
When
preparing your responses, please use the facts provided in the You Decide and
the following resources: (a) the assigned reading and (b) the DeVry Library.
2.
Your paper
will be graded using the Week 7 You Decide Rubric.
3.
Your paper
should be four to five pages long, exclusive of the cover page and references
page, and double-spaced. It should comply with APA 6th edition formatting.
1.
Cover page
2.
References
page
3.
12-point,
Times New Roman font
4.
No website
references
5.
Include at
least three scholarly references in addition to your textbook
6.
Include
in-text references to sources
