PHI 300

Professional Ethics

Case Study 1
To ship or not to ship

Name ID
Ala Azribi 1058972
Overview of Case Study:

Rachel is a quality assurance engineer at a company, who is responsible for the final testing of
the servers and for deciding when new products will be shipped for distributors.

Rachel doesn’t ship products which she knows may cause physical harm to customers, but she
will ship products which have a high likelihood of failure - with the acknowledgement that they
may result in data loss for the customer.

Ethical Dilemma:

Rachel couldn’t complete the Quality Control tests due to the limited time she has. She couldn’t
perform every possible test on the servers to ensure they are defect free. But if she doesn’t ship
in the specified time, her competitors will.

So, the dilemma is about whether to ship the servers.

In this case, Rachel will have to go through the decision-making process and assess the
consequences of her actions.

Potential Stakeholders:

- The Company & Shareholders

- The customers/clients of the company
- Quality & Assurance department (including Rachel)

Relevant Laws:

There are many Consumer Protection Laws that exist to protect the customers from unfair
commercial practises.

Possible solutions:

 The first possible and likely solution is that Rachel will ship the servers, without fully
testing them.

Stakeholder Effect
The Company & Shareholders Short term: They will achieve their objective
 and will most likely achieve their expected
sales and revenue.

Long term: With an increase in complaints and

unsatisfied customers, it could affect their
brand reputation. And their enduring
relationship with customers.

Customers Customers could lose their data, without any

previous warnings.
They could end up extremely angry and may
seek for compensations. If there are large
numbers of affected customers, they will
publicise their dissatisfaction which will reach
a broader audience and could negatively effect
the brand’s survival.

Quality and Assurance department They could be questioned legally, externally

and internally as to how they shipped such
products without fully completing the quality
checks.

They may get very negative evaluations, and

could also be terminated from their jobs, if the
consequences of their decision were very bad.

 The second possible solution is to complete all the quality tests regardless of the time
aspect.

Stakeholder Effect
Main Company & Shareholders Short term: The company will release the
products late. They could lose a hefty
percentage of their expected sales and revenue.

Shareholders will be very dissatisfied and will

call for explanations.

Long term: The company could lose some of

their customers who would have sought after/
or diverted to other available brands.

But, on the other hand, they will maintain their

quality standards, and their customer’s trust.

Customers For some customers, they will not find the

products available in market, at demand. So,
they will probably not wait and will search for
other options.
For those who do continue to use the products,
they will be happy with the value they receive
overall. And it will also mean achieving higher
positive customer reviews and satisfaction.

Quality and Assurance department They failed to meet one of the company’s main
objectives. The competitors took advantage of
the situation.

The company’s managers and shareholders

will put them through a lot of stressful
investigations and negative evaluations, as to
why they didn’t release the servers in time.
  The third possible solution is to understand the root causes of why they cannot perform
all the quality checks in time. One of the possible solutions could be to invest in new
technology and task management software, to speed up the process and increase
efficiency.

Stakeholder Effect
Main Company & Shareholders Short term: It will be very expensive and may
have its own drawbacks.

Long term: If the technology proves to be very

useful, it will eventually be a very valuable
alternative. And will increase the operations
efficiency.
However, there will also always be a risk
factor that it may not be beneficial, or too
expensive to maintain.

Customers Customers will be satisfied and may even

receive the products at a shorter time than
usual.

Quality and Assurance department It may result in laying off some employees.
However, in the long term, it will help to make
their job easier and much quicker.

 The fourth Solution is to revise their business model. They might need to search for
different suppliers who will provide the chips and components in a shorter time.
They could also re-address their objectives and goals and identify their competitive
advantage and work more on strengthening it. They have to compromise between quality,
quantity and demand, and if they are not able to get the right balance, there must be
something wrong with their model.

In conclusion, I think that Rachel should not ship the products, because it is unfair for the
customers who have put their time and money to invest in their brand. Loyal customers
will wait for their products, even if they were released late, because they will not be
willing to take the risk of trying a new brand. So, I think they deserve a much more
honest relationship. Also, even if she shipped this time, and managed to get away with
her decision, the problem will arouse again. Thus, it’s not a sustainable solution. I think
the ideal way to act is to share this problem with the management team and look further
into possible solutions such as introducing new technology to increase the efficiency of
their operations.