Business ethics: Scenarios and your responses.

[Eurodriver]

I came across these this morning and I'm very interested to see what your responses would be to the given scenarios. For the life of me, I can't honestly say what I would do in any of them.

Scenario 1:

Your are manager of a restaurant. You take a look at a regional on-line restaurant rating site, and see that there are several reviews that say things like “The food is bad” and “The service is terrible, the servers are surly” and “Don’t eat here, it’s not worth it.” You do not recognize the names on the ratings.

That evening as one of your tables of customers is leaving, one person in the group asks to see the manager. You go over to the person and he says “For $25 and tonight’s dinner free, we’ll all write excellent ratings of your restaurant.” You angrily refuse, but no one else heard the comment, so there’s no way to later prove the conversation happened.

Next day you look at ratings on the restaurant rating site and discover several new reviews, all of them bad. You see the same names on very positive reviews of a competitor, and it occurs to you that your competitor probably paid those people for positive reviews. You have no proof.

Can you ask some of your employees to write bad reviews of your competitor? Would it be ethical to offer free meals or cash to some of your customers to write bad reviews of your competitor—or write some good reviews about yours?


Scenario 2:

Another employee on the same level you are (that is, not someone you report to or supervise) confides in you that she never did actually graduate from college, although she claimed to have a BA from a respected university on her resume(she did attend, just never graduated).

This person has been on the job as long as you have. She is good at what she does, and while she’s not really a friend, she’s friendly and has worked well on teams you both have been on.

You are both being considered for a manager position. Only one of you will be promoted. The company regards misinformation on a resume as grounds for termination.

Is it ethical to tell upper management that she lied on her resume, when you know it will guarantee you the promotion?



Scenario 3:

You have been put in charge of posting a job opening for a starting management position in your company. Pay and benefits are good and the company reputation is good. You get a number of qualified applicants.

However, you know it’s all an exercise in futility, posting a position and bringing in candidates, because you know very well that the person who will be hired is the CEO’s nephew, a nice enough person, but unqualified for the job.

Is there any ethical problem for you in writing and posting the job description, accepting applications and so on, when you know none of them will get the job?

[Crow Hunter]

Scenario 1

If your food and service is really good. It won't matter what bad reviews are posted. People will still come because of word of mouth. I would not give a bribe for a good review.

Scenario 2

Performance is what matters. If the person can do the job, it really doesn't matter what type of degree they have if any. Some of the best engineers that I have ever worked with don't have actually engineering degrees. If they can live with it, I can live with it. I definitely wouldn't use it as a means to advance myself.

Scenario 3

This happens all the time. I have often posted job bids even though I pretty much knew who I wanted for the job based on performance. I posted it because it is company policy. Every once in a while I actually find a candidate that I like more. It is usually fairly infrequent though. If nothing else, it is a good opportunity for someone to practice interviewing, even if they have no chance at the job.

[Belmont31R]

1. Ethical to pay for false reviews? No. People still do it or make their own.

2. Shouldn't let another person lie at your expense. In most cases that employee would not return the favor. People don't advance in business by always putting themselves second fiddle to others.

3. I don't think it's ethical to waste people's time with a fake job ad. Happens all the time though for various reasons.

[_Stormin_]

I guess I just live differently than some.

Scenario 1:
Won't pay for reviews, won't bad mouth a competitor, won't promote my own business under false pretenses... My business will rise and fall on the quality of our product and the strength of my teams service. Doing any of those things would be wrong.

Scenario 2:
They lied, not you. I would, in reporting that information, be very honest about the quality of the persons work, and any invaluable contributions made to the team. That considered, they lied. My consideration for the promotion does not factor in. If one wants to refuse the promotion because they feel they got it through unjust means, I would hold no grudge against them for it. I had an employee turn down a promotion because she felt she was only getting it due to her tenure. She felt a newer employee was far more qualified and ardently attempted to convince me that it was the case.

Scenario 3:
I have no problem in following direction from my management. If I did, I would leave and go work somewhere else. Furthermore, not posting the position would be doing applicants and the company a disservice. You never know who is going to apply, and someone might show up that stands head and shoulders above the CEO's nephew. The people in charge of hiring for this may see this person as such a qualified candidate that the nephew drops from consideration. Missing that opportunity because of some personal hang up would be the real error, and it would be yours and not the company's.

[glocktogo]

Scenario 1

If your food and service is really good. It won't matter what bad reviews are posted. People will still come because of word of mouth. I would not give a bribe for a good review.

Scenario 2

Performance is what matters. If the person can do the job, it really doesn't matter what type of degree they have if any. Some of the best engineers that I have ever worked with don't have actually engineering degrees. If they can live with it, I can live with it. I definitely wouldn't use it as a means to advance myself.

Scenario 3

This happens all the time. I have often posted job bids even though I pretty much knew who I wanted for the job based on performance. I posted it because it is company policy. Every once in a while I actually find a candidate that I like more. It is usually fairly infrequent though. If nothing else, it is a good opportunity for someone to practice interviewing, even if they have no chance at the job.

Pretty much this. I believe in karma. What goes around comes around. I'll add to #3 that you might wind up with a qualified applicant for a future position not being taken by the CEO's nephew.

[Don Robison]

I guess I just live differently than some.

Scenario 1:
Won't pay for reviews, won't bad mouth a competitor, won't promote my own business under false pretenses... My business will rise and fall on the quality of our product and the strength of my teams service. Doing any of those things would be wrong.

Scenario 2:
They lied, not you. I would, in reporting that information, be very honest about the quality of the persons work, and any invaluable contributions made to the team. That considered, they lied. My consideration for the promotion does not factor in. If one wants to refuse the promotion because they feel they got it through unjust means, I would hold no grudge against them for it. I had an employee turn down a promotion because she felt she was only getting it due to her tenure. She felt a newer employee was far more qualified and ardently attempted to convince me that it was the case.

Scenario 3:
I have no problem in following direction from my management. If I did, I would leave and go work somewhere else. Furthermore, not posting the position would be doing applicants and the company a disservice. You never know who is going to apply, and someone might show up that stands head and shoulders above the CEO's nephew. The people in charge of hiring for this may see this person as such a qualified candidate that the nephew drops from consideration. Missing that opportunity because of some personal hang up would be the real error, and it would be yours and not the company's.

This ^^^

Integrity is one of the few things you have that can't be taken from you.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

[Doc Safari]

Scenario 1:

Rock and a hard place. The only honest response is to genuinely poll your customers and ask the positive ones to politely write good reviews for you.

Scenario 2:

If you care about the organization you work for, it is your duty to report something like this to management. Otherwise you are complicit in the deception.

Scenario 3:

Like it or not, sometimes you have to do what the boss says even though you know it's an exercise in futility. Like I was fond of saying in the business world: "Eight hours is eight hours."

[tb-av]

S1: Can you ask some of your employees to write bad reviews of your competitor? Would it be ethical to offer free meals or cash to some of your customers to write bad reviews of your competitor—or write some good reviews about yours?

Yes, you can ask, but it would be unethical to do so.
Yes, it would be unethical to offer cash/meals for good reviews.

S2: Is it ethical to tell upper management that she lied on her resume, when you know it will guarantee you the promotion?

Yes, it is ethical. Some organizations would even require that if you know of unethical activity then you must report it. It's even possible it's a test of your ethics. The other person may already have a different promotion and they are testing where your loyalties sit.

S3: Is there any ethical problem for you in writing and posting the job description, accepting applications and so on, when you know none of them will get the job?

Unless you are the one hiring the nephew, then you can't -know- for certain. So yes, it is ethical. If you -are- hiring the nephew and know that up front no matter what... then yes, I would say it is unethical.

At the heart of the matter, concerning ethics, you should step away from the whole deal if possible. At the very least let someone know. That may cost you your job but it sounds like a place you don;t want to be anyway if you are asking ethics questions. That's a complicated one because it suggests the interviews are required by the CEO but why? Why not just hire his nephew? This suggests he answers to someone and you may have some ethical situation with them.

Anyway... that one has a lot of "if's and why's"

ETA: ... and you are asking two different questions. You are asking "What would I do?" but the questions are asking "is this ethical". for instance on S3 many say it happens all the time. some say just turn a blind eye, some say who knows... a real winner might apply.... none of those are the scenario nor the question.... at it's core face value you are in an unethical situation as written. IOW, if Einstein walks through the door the nephew is still getting hired. If the interviews are for that single sole purpose, not to be held, not to be considered, just a complete farce, then yes... it's unethical... provided you absolutely know the final result... like you've already seen the nephews ID, name on the door, paycheck entry in computer... type deal.

ETA2: All you have to do for most any ethics question is think... in a perfect world, where there are no repercussions, what would be the right thing to do ( or not do ). That is the ethical thing.

[dewatters]

The person in S2 could be baiting you with false information. You report her, and then she trumps the accusation with definitive proof of her transcript. Boom! Now you look like a liar and scumbag.

[MountainRaven]

S1- Never going to ask for a positive review. Never going to beg or plead or offer money or services. I will do what I do to the best of my ability. If people like what I do, great! I hope they spread the word far and wide and often. If they don't, then they don't. And that's unfortunate. But life sucks, get a helmet.

S2- The only thing unethical about this was the business requiring a BA, forcing somebody to lie in order to get the job they wanted and are quite obviously competent and capable of doing and doing well. No sense destroying somebody's life, livelihood, and career over what is ultimately a trivial piece of paper.

S3- I don't know anything for certain about what will ultimately happen. For all I know, the nephew could be struck by a meteorite (or [insert horrific, life-altering tragedy here]) before the hiring process begins in earnest or not long after it ends.