A Good Team Player

Written Assignment Unit 7

Department of Business, University of the People

BUS5115: Business law, Ethics and Social Responsibility - AY2021-T3

August 3, 2022
Case Facts

This case is about Steven who is assistant manager at his department and Kristina, a new

supervisor was transferred his department and she was welcomed in the department. She

promised to improve the operations in the team and remove the unwanted behavior of the team

members. On the second day of her transferred she called Steven in her office and gave her

many questions. In this paper I will explore and suggest Steven about responding to these

questions.

Ethical Issues

There are a lot of ethical issues in this case. Steven was relaxed about his work as he

simply was overconfidence about the job as he ne the company. But as the organization expects

him to improve the performance consistently and show integrity and protect the positive

reputation of the organization. The tone that Kristina has used is a verbal harassment. She was

supposed to show respect for Steven and keep his dignity while treating him. According to Wolfe

(2019) “making eye contact is interpreted as showing interest, paying attention, and a sign of

self-confidence in USA”.

Stakeholders

 New supervisor Kristin is the stakeholder who has to dealt with her subordinate.

 Steven is a stakeholder because he is subordinate of Kristin and directly affected

by her behavior.
  Employees of the department who are worried about how they will be treated by

new supervisor (Fernando and Brock, 2021).

 Shareholders of the company have stake in the company and they want a good

reputation of the company.

 Management is also concerned because they want to improve the morale of the

employees and also please the shareholders.

 Competitors also want to improve their own performance.

 Society wants good treatment with their members and also employment for them.

Alternatives

There are some alternatives that the management can apply to implement the ethical

standards in the organization. The organization should make policies and inform all the

employees about them. Each of the employee should treat each other with respect and trust. The

Utilitarian perspectives should be applied which states that the decision should be based on the

action that would benefit a vast majority (Chonko, n.d).

The organization should create a system in which merit will be used and each employee

will be rewarded on the basis of their performance. The justice principle should be applied which

demands to act fairly and promote equality.

Practical Constraints

Some of the employees in the company may not be willing to act according to the policy

just because they are senior and they are overconfident that they know the company much which

was the case with Steven which could be a constraint to this situation. Misinformation may also
become a constraint to this situation. Employee resistance may also be constraints in the

implementation of the solutions.

Recommendations

Steven should respond to Kristin and answer all the questions in an educated and

calculated way. Speaking truth will set him free and he should give names of the employees who

are promoted through nepotism and favoritism. He should also explain the reason why he

believes these people don’t deserve that promotion. This will build confident and trust among the

leadership.
References

Fernando, J and Brock, T (2021) Stakeholder

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stakeholder.asp

Chonko,L (n.d) Ethical theories

https://www.dsef.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/EthicalTheories.pdf

Wolfe, L (2019) How Eye Contact Can Help You Close a Sale

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/business-and-social-etiquette-how-to-make-eye-contact-

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