Ethics – Case Studies
Name: _________________________
Rank the following scenarios on a sale of 1 (ethical) to 5 (not ethical):
1. Cameron works every morning at a health club from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. as written in his contract. When his supervisor is
away for meetings, Cameron leaves 15 minutes early so that he has time to eat lunch before his afternoon classes begin at
school. When the supervisor and teacher monitor refer to the logs, the hours are always recorded from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Cameron feels it is fair to include the transportation time into his co-op hours.
1 2 3 4 5
2. One Friday morning the work load was just so enormous that you felt you couldn't possibly get it all done. Your boss
stresses that she has a deadline to meet and asks you kindly to stay an extra half hour to get the work completed. It would
help her greatly.
1 2 3 4 5
3. Rob has a placement at the local architect's office. One of the important rules is that no plans can be shared with people
outside of the office. Wanting to get some ideas for his school project, Rob decides to bring the plans to school to study
them a little more carefully. He intends to return them the next day.
1 2 3 4 5
4. Melissa is very happy working in her accounting placement. She spends 3 hours a day at the office, most of which is
spent performing accounting or office related duties. The remainder of the t i m e is spent running errands for her
employer. For example, last week Melissa picked up the employer's dry cleaning, purchased coffee for t he office, and
picked up lunch orders for the employees.
1 2 3 4 5
5. Carlos is almost finished his work placement in a law office. While doing some routine filing, he comes across a familiar name. He
realizes that a student from his math class was charged with shoplifting last month. Knowing how serious this information is,
Carlos only decides to tell his best friend. Besides, his placement is almost finished and at that point he won't need to follow the
office regulations.
1 2 3 4 5
6. Lisa has just started her placement that began with a general orientation of the auto shop. Lisa thinks everything is going
well so far except that the employer wants her to become familiar with all the work site rules, regulations, and safety
procedures a.s.a.p. Lisa feels this is not fair since she is only at the work site for a temporary period of time.
1 2 3 4 5
7. Catharine works in a retail establishment. This week the store is really busy because of its end of season clearance sale.
While ringing up a purchase on the cash register, Catherine accidentally pushes $19.79 instead of $19.99. Voiding the
transaction would take too long and Catherine has not been trained in this area. Instead she decides to follow through
with the sale. Besides, it is only 0.20 and nobody will know who rung up the sale. She figures she’ll just pocket the 0.20
and the register will still balance.
1 2 3 4 5
8. Jake is a co-op student working in a sport equipment store. Part of his training involves becoming familiar with the
inventory process. This involves h i m knowing the different codes displayed on each of the price tags. For example, one
specific code signifies the percent markup added to a piece of equipment. During one of Jake's hockey games, a
discussion comes up about where to buy quality hockey equipment. Jake recommends his co-op placement because the
quality is great and the prices are fair since they only apply a 30%-40% markup on their equipment. Jake provides some
pricing examples to his team members. In addition, he says that the prices at his placement are lower than the
competition.
1 2 3 4 5
JUNIOR WORKERS MUST SHOW THEY’RE WILLING, RELIABLE
BY JANIS FOORD KIRK
Several years ago I tried to help a young woman find work. Let’s call her Mary Setter.
After spending two years in university working toward a B.SC., Setter had decided she was in
the wrong career path. She was hoping to get a start in the business world.
I knew of a junior administrative position in a major firm. The money wasn’t great but the
company was. It had a policy of promoting from within so it was a good opportunity for Setter.
She got the job.
She’d only been working for the firm for about a month when she called me to complain about
her duties—filing, photocopying, and basic accounting. The work was too menial for her. She
was overqualified, she said.
In fact, she wasn’t. Although bright, Setter had minimal experience and no accounting training.
We went over the same ground we had covered a month earlier. Lots of young people had
started in junior jobs with this firm and moved into better positions. Once she had proven
herself, she could do the same. But she had to be patient.
Concerned, I called her employer. “There are a few problems,” he acknowledged. “But I’m
hoping we can work them out.”
Three months later, he called me. Setter had been fired.
It turned out that in the four months she’d worked with the, she had missed ten days of work
most of them Mondays or Fridays. At least twice a week she was late. Numerous times, rush
jobs had been found on her desk days after they’d been given to her. On two occasions, her
supervisor had talked to her about these problems, to no avail.
The final crunch came when it was discovered that she had photocopied several copies of her
brother’s thesis on the company’s photocopier and on company time.
With all her abilities and intelligence, Setter had a terrible attitude. She was spoiled. She
claimed to desperately want a career. But she wasn’t willing to be patient and work hard for it.
Good junior workers are a rare breed, employers tell me. Far too often, young people feel it’s
their right to step into a perfect job. If the job they land isn’t ideal, they, like Setter, don’t give
their full effort.
Positive careers are built by those who are willing to pay their dues. Proving yourself and your
abilities on the lower levels of the business world is essential if you want to make it to the
upper echelons.
When they hire or promote, employers are looking for a particular type of individual.
Experience, skills, and training play a key role, of course. But these less-definable attributes like
work ethic or attitude are equally important.
Employers use words like initiative, honesty, reliability, loyalty, and capacity for hard work
when describing the kind of attitude that impresses them. Consider what these words mean.
Employees with initiative are self-starters. They take their responsibility seriously. Once
trained, they don’t need to be told time and again what to do.
Honest employees don’t take advantage of their employers. The give “a full day’s work for a
full day’s pay”, as one employer put it. They don’t use the products or services of their
employer for their personal use.
Valued employees are reliable. Unless they are truly ill, they’re at work and on time.
Hard-working people put their full effort into their job. They do their best to see that the
objectives of the company are met.
Loyal employees don’t “move across the street for an extra 25 cents an hour,” another
employer suggested. They hang in through frustrating and difficult times. If they have
criticisms, they make them behind closed doors to management.
Good employees have a professional attitude.
QUESTIONS
1. How do you think other workers react to a worker like Mary Setter? Why?
2. What do you think was Mary’s biggest problem as a worker?
3. How could the employer have helped Mary?
4. If you were the employer and you had one piece of advice to give Mary as she was fired
what would it be?
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