OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the four ethical communities
2. Apply the ethical communities to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

The company I am presenting is Lawson products. Lawson is a large scale distributor in

the maintenance, repair, and operations industry (MRO). Distributing hardware, chemicals,
safety supplies and small parts to the maintenance professionals in various industries. Some
of their customers include hospitals, construction companies, factories, and military. I am a
territory sales representative for them. Recently they acquired a competitor and during this
process, brought in additional sales reps which has brought a lot of tension in the sales force.
Territories are no longer defined and there is confusion between roles and responsibilities.
To further make things worse supply chain issues have been complicating deliveries of
products to customers.

2) Describe how the ethics of the organization influenced the situation.

Ethics according to Bolman, “ethics should be rooted in the soul: an organization’s

commitment to a deeply rooted identity, beliefs and values.” (Bolman, pg 396). When I
first started and was hired on with Lawson, they preached about how integrity was a t the
core of everything they did. They insisted it was the number one concern for them as a
business. However, over time I felt that wasn’t exactly true. Pricing strategies for each
customer has been all of the board for a long time. This means that when one
representative quotes something at $5 another rep could quote the same product at $20.
The fair market value for the item is around the $4 mark which the first quote was fair
and ethical.

However, in the example above many representatives will charge four times the fair value
for an item and the management will applaud them like they are amazing. While I will
often quote close to the fair value of the item and get the sale, I am often overlooked

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 because of the extra profit the other reps are bringing in. This to me is not integrity, it is
not serving the best interest of the consumer and not fair for the reps who are practicing
ethical selling.

Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

I think that the role of ethics is huge in any organization. However, in a predominately
sales driven organization ethical practices should be even more important and a greater
emphasis should be given. I would recommend that the range of pricing that an item
could be sold for be reduced. For instance, I can sell a certain item between $90 and $15
dollars. This is quite a swing in pricing for the particular item. That would be the
equivalent of selling a cup of coffee between $35 and $3. Obviously, no one would pay
$35 for a cup of coffee, premium or not, so the range should be reduced to $10-$3 to keep
it more in line with the market.

Another key issue facing the organization is the multiple sales reps servicing the same
accounts. This is another ethical concern because it leads again to a cut-throat attitude
between co-workers. Again this to me doesn’t sound like an ethical situation or ethical
practice, and it needs to be address by the upper levels of the organization.

3) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about ethics.

In the situations I mentioned above, there isn’t a whole lot I could have done or do
differently. Most of the concerns have to do with overall running of the business which
means upper levels of the organization would need to address. I think that ethics within
an organization comes down to leadership. If the leadership is only concerned with
profits then it will lead to a higher chance of unethical practices.

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 Reference or References

Bolman, Lee, & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(6th  ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.