The following post pertains to the article linked below:
http://business-ethics.com/2009/11/11/should-mary-buy-her-bonus/
The first half of the article is about an ethical dilemma that an employee has to think through and the second half of the article is a professors assessment of the situation and the positive outcome resulting from making the right decision.
Mary's was only $1000 short of meeting her sales goal. Reaching her goal would result in a $10,000 bonus and allow her to be able to finance her dream home. Unfortunately, the only way for her to reach that goal would be to use her own money which she knows her employer wouldn't approve of. Evaluating her decision from a needs based two-factor motivational theory we can see that her motivators for advancement and growth, and also achievement almost convinced her to make a seemingly unethical decision. In the long run Mary saw that her employer would deem her actions inappropriate if she used her own money to reach the $1 million dollar sales goal. Her reputation as a hard worker and her integrity would have been put on the line had she invested her own money. Based on the situation presented in the article I think that I wouldn't have been able to resist using my own money to reach the sales goal. What would you do in the ethical situation presented in the article and what would influence your decision more, the motivation for personal advancement or motivation to make the right decision and be ethically sound?
By Grant Luther
First I would analyze all the decisions which could be made, along with their potential variable outcomes in an effort to determine which decision is the most beneficial for the company and my terminal values. I would find it extremely difficult to not put forth $1000 of my own money in order to receive a $10,000 bonus based upon the two-factor motivational theory. Putting forth my own money is the easy yet unethical decision which could be made, although it would not benefit me in the "big picture" of my career and overall life. Sacrificing short-term pay may have long-term benefits associated with the decision. After analyzing each situation I believe that I would approach my supervisor and be completely honest to him or her pertaining to how I feel about the position in which I find myself. After informing my supervisor of each of the situations which I described above, I would then inform him or her of my final decision not to put forth my own $1000 in order to receive the bonus because of my organizational commitment. By approaching my boss this fashion I will prove to be valuable to the company because I almost met the sales goal, and also proved to be an ethically sound individual. Demonstrating this to my boss may in the end may result in achieving the two-factor motivational theory because he or she may believe that I should be rewarded anyways, because of my need for achievement, with some sort of bonus since I was only $1000 short of the goal. My supervisor may even offer me long-term opportunities such as advancement and growth in the company. The worst thing which could be done in this ethical situation is to be silent. I believe an employee deserves some form of valence based on their expectancy from an employer for being ethical and nearly achieving a difficult sales goal. I would feel a better sense of organizational commitment and job satisfaction by describing my situation to a supervisor who would more than likely reward me based on my accomplishments in an effort for the company to retain an hard working ethical employee.
ReplyDelete-Zach Seibel, The Big Bang Bloggers
After reading the first part of the article that was from Mary's perspective--I did not really see much that was wrong with it. She would be helping underprivileged schools along with reaping the benefits of the sales bonus. Like she said, it would be a "win-win". Then into the second part of the article, where it asks how her coworkers and superiors would feel, and what would happen if everyone did it that way--I was still on Mary's side. If other people were investing their own money that they worked for into schools like that, why is it wrong?
ReplyDeleteHowever, looking more into the situation about the cash gifts and donations--how does she know they'll go where she wants them to? She should not have to tell the schools what to spend the money on, if she really cared about helping the schools, she would just want to donate it to them on the side.
It would be extremely difficult for me to decide if I was in this situation. On one hand you would get a great bonus that could potentially do a lot for you, but on the other hand you have your integrity. I have always been taught that your integrity is the most important. There will be times when money is hard to come by, but you'll always have to live with yourself, knowing you did the right thing.
Posted by Jenny Liechti, The Dark Side of the Force