Mary Thomas Prappas Business Ethics Essay Competition
2015
To write the essay you will need to view Joseph L. Badaracco’s Defining Moments: A
Framework for Moral Decisions. The Defining Moments video is available on-line through the
Business Source Complete (BSC) database on the University of Iowa website
(http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/biz/: type Business Source Complete into the SmartSearch field; the
database will be your first hit). Once in the BSC database, click on the link to the Business
Videos library, and do a search for “Defining Moments.” Your search should take you to
Badarraco’s Defining Moments video.
During your senior year in college, you developed a mobile phone application that allows area
restaurants to make their menus available to customers, who can use the application to place their
orders for take-out food from the restaurants. The application sorts different restaurant options
for the customers by price range, restaurant location, preparation time, and menu items.
After your graduation from college this past May, you agreed to create a limited liability
company with your best friend to sell your application to local restaurants. Your best friend (an
accounting major who also graduated this past May), will manage the business, and you will be
responsible for the technology that supports the application. The money to pay for the
development of your application, and to help run the business, has come from your savings
earned from past summer jobs and internships, and a significant cash gift your best friend
received from his grandparents. While this money was sufficient to start the company, both you
and your friend (your co-owner of the business) agree that the company will need additional
capital (money) in the future to continue business operations.
Although running your own business is riskier than taking a job with an existing company, or
going to graduate school, you are excited about the chance to be a business owner. Under the
terms of your written operating agreement for your limited liability company, you and your best
friend equally share in making all business-related decisions, and also equally share the business’
revenues, losses, and legal liabilities.
In order to increase sales of your company’s application, you have decided to hire an employee
to market your application to local businesses. Your company is based in the city where you
went to college. You believe that the addition of a marketing manager can increase sales of your
application to restaurants that offer more international food items than what is offered by your
existing group of customers, restaurants that generally sell pizza, deli sandwiches, and
hamburgers.
Two people apply to be your company’s new marketing manager. One applicant graduated from
college three years ago with a degree in marketing. She was president of the campus chapter of
the American Marketing Association student organization and had an internship with a “guerilla
marketing” start-up company that specialized in developing Internet marketing campaigns. For
the past two years, this applicant has worked as a general manager for a local pizza restaurant.
This applicant knows many of the business owners in the city where your limited liability
company is located.
The second applicant graduated from college this past May with a degree in accounting.
Although she only completed the required introduction to marketing class during college, the
Mary Thomas Prappas Business Ethics Essay Competition
2015
second applicant stated in her cover letter that she is “excited” about working for your company
and is “willing to learn how to best market” your mobile phone application. For the past year,
this applicant has worked for a community foundation that awards small grants ($5,000 or less)
to nonprofit organizations for programs such as improving educational opportunities for low
income elementary school age children, and providing job training to unemployed community
residents. She also expressed an interest during her interview in finding ways your company
could “give back” to the local community.
You believe, based on the application materials and interviews conducted with both applicants,
the first applicant is the most qualified candidate to be your company’s marketing manager.
Your co-owner, however, believes the second candidate is the better qualified. His decision is
largely based on the second applicant’s interview disclosure that she belongs to the same church
that his grandparents worship at. The second applicant contacted his grandparents, telling them
that she had applied for the marketing manager position at your company. Your co-owner also
reports that his grandparents believe it is important that you hire this applicant because of their
shared religious beliefs. In fact, his grandparents have promised to gift $50,000 to your company
as a capital contribution if you hire this applicant to be your new marketing manager. Your coowner also believes that that the second applicant’s work experience with the community
foundation can establish “good will” for the company in the local community.
You are conflicted. On the one hand, your company desperately needs to hire a qualified
marketing manager as sales of your application have been slower than expected. On the other
hand, your business desperately needs additional capital to keep the business operating. You
know that state and federal employment discrimination laws prohibit employers from making
hiring decisions based on the religious beliefs of job applicants. You also know, however, that
your company does not employ enough workers to be covered by these laws.
What would you do in this situation? Assume that you must hire one of the two applicants. Use
the following steps to assist you in structuring your answer although do not write the essay as
just answers to the series of questions below. Your essay should have a clearly articulated thesis
and effective claim statements for paragraph topic sentences in which you develop your position.
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What are your primary values? (In identifying the values you use to make an ethical
decision, also describe the source of your values – where do your ethical values come
from?)
What is the ethical issue or problem?
What are the critical facts related to your decision?
What are possible solutions/actions/responses?
Who will be affected by your decision? (Who are the stakeholders?)
What is the effect of the likely solutions/actions/responses on the stakeholders?
What is your decision? How do you propose to justify your decision based on
Badaracco’s four Frameworks for a Decision (i.e., best net/net, individual rights,
messages sent about character, and what will work in the world as it is)?
What makes your decision “ethical”?
Mary Thomas Prappas Business Ethics Essay Competition
2015
Your essay should be written in paragraph form, with indented paragraphs and no headings or
bulleted points. Essays should be between 3 – 4 double-spaced pages (one-inch margins, page
numbers and 12-point font). Essays longer than 4.5 pages will not be eligible for the
competition.
All Tippie undergraduates are eligible for the contest. Essays should be submitted as a Word doc
to Pamela Bourjaily, Frank Center director, (pamela-bourjaily@uiowa.edu) no later than May 4.
Thanks to the generosity of Mary and Dempsey Prappas, monetary awards will be given to the
students whose essays are considered by the essay contest external review judges to be topranked. First, second, and third-place winners will receive $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000,
respectively, to be credited toward their U-bills assuming they are continuing students at the UI.
Finalists for the 2015 contest will be determined in mid-May and will have to agree to revise
their essay over the summer to be eligible for the final round of judging in September. Winners
will be announced in October.