8. Do the case-study in microgroups.

Study 1. Pranav was a young and dynamic manager at ABC Private Ltd. and was recently married. Due to nature of his job, he had to do lot of traveling and therefore unable to devote his time for his wife. At one time he was away for 25 days tour only to return for a day and again go for 10-days tour. This situation led to differences in his marriage life, turning to serious note. Once he took his wife along with him to tour and found that he and his wife could stay in a hotel within permissible limits of his lodging and boarding allowance with no extra burden¹⁰ on his company. Thus, he was away for work for a good part of the day but could spend time with his wife in the evening. This situation worked out perfectly for himself and his wife and their relations became very good. Therefore he started taking his wife along with him on his tours.

Is it ethical on part of Pranav?

Case Study 2. An airplane manufacturer has spent great deal of money developing a new airplane. The company badly needs cash because it is financially over extended. If it does not get some large orders soon, it will have to close down some part of its operation. Doing that would put several thousand workers out of job. The result will be disastrous not only for the workers but also for the town in which they live. The President of the company has been trying to interest the government of a foreign country in a large purchase. He learns that one of the key governmental ministers in charge of making final decision is heavily indebted because of gambling. He quietly contacts that minister and offers him $100,000 in cash if he awards the contracts for five planes to his firm. The money is paid and the contract is awarded.

Comment on the ethics of the means used to get an order.

Case Study 3. Ethics in workplace. Among the issues having involvement of ethics are discrimination in employment, gender ethics and gender equality, sexual harassment at workplace. Study the following situation.

John and George have been employed by an American company, at the same position. Both were asked to report to Mr. Bill Cruise, Head of marketing department while John was white American, George was African American.

Mr. Cruise invited both along with the other employees of the same organization for Saturday night party, which was held on weekly basis. George felt uncomfortable at the party because he was the only minority out of 8-10 employees with their families present over there. While John was quite comfortable at the party and soon developed good relations with every body, including Mr. Cruise. Mr. George, subsequently, stopped going to these parties and always found some excuses for not being able to attend the party.

After 6 months, Mr. John was promoted, while Mr. George remained at the same position, because John was maintaining good relations with his boss, Mr. Cruise had recommended John's name to the management for promotion.

Here George felt, that he too deserved the promotion because, he too was efficient in his work and compared himself equal if not more than John. A new recruitment, Henry (a white American) came as a replacement with Mr. Cruise in a matter of one month. George became concerned as the new person was following footsteps of John.

What should George do?

Case 4. Sharon Embley started working as Deputy Marketing Manager for Fleur de Lys Cosmetics three years ago. It was the kind of job she had always wanted. Competition for the post was really tough, and she knew she was selected because of her experience in marketing, which she had gained in her previous job with a pharmaceuticals company.

Sharon was young and ambitious. She was also a person of absolute moral integrity. In fact, she had applied for this post with Fleur de Lys mainly because the company had prided itself on its ethical business practices. Its image was built on natural ingredients, environment-friendly packaging, and a ban on animal testing. This image reflected the values which Sharon had always cherished.

Things went really well, until one day a file landed on her desk. She didn’t know the file was not meant for her, or that it contained confidential information. She read it all, and discovered to her amazement that Fleur de Lys was not as 'clean' as it claimed to be. It was true that they did not test their products on animals, but only because they did not need to: other laboratories had already tested the ingredients on animals!

Ironically, the day before she read the report, the director had called her to her office. She had informed Sharon that she had been planning to promote her very soon as the current Marketing Manager was due to retire. Sharon hadn’t experienced such confusion for a longtime.

What should she do? If she blew the whistle, she would not get promoted and might even be dismissed. And if she kept silent ...

1. Gulshan, S.S. Law, Ethics and Communication For C.A. Professional Competence Examination / S. Gulshan, G. Kapoor, M. Palival, S. Basu. – New Delhi. – 2008. – 800 p.

2. Market Leader Intermediate New Edition. Course Book.

1 искусственный

2 вводящий в заблуждение, обманчивый

3 срезать угол, пойти напрямик

4 организатор совместного дела; акционер, пайщик

5 быть в стороне

6 инициатор расследований, источник информации; разоблачитель, свидетель

7 сокр. от Director General генеральный директор

8 зд. - компрометировать, подрывать (репутацию, доверие); подвергать риску, опасности

9 уволить в связи с сокращением штата

10 груз, расходы