Donaldson & Dunfee Application
William Ma works for the Beijing branch office of a prestigious
German manufacturing firm. His daughter, Ning, has just
graduated from Beijing University with top honours in
engineering. William considers it his duty to find his daughter a
job and wants his German boss to hire Ning. Although the boss
feels that Ning is extremely well qualified for the open position, he
refuses to have a father and daughter working in the same office.
In fact, the very suggestion of hiring family members is repugnant
to him.
The unfortunate outcome is that Ning is neither considered nor
hired; the boss loses respect for William; and William becomes so
upset that he leaves the company.
1) Use Integrative Social Contract Theory to illustrate what is
going on here with respect to differing values.
2) Which of Enderle’s Global Company Ethical Approaches is
being used by the German firm?
3) Which alternative approach would you recommend? Why?
4) Give an example of how this approach would actually have
played out in this situation. How should the boss have
handled the situation?