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.

I work for a high volume craft brewery and taproom in the Bay Area of California called
Fieldwork Brewing Company. This company is headquartered in Berkley, CA and has
seven different taprooms across the Bay Area. I have worked for this company for two
and a half years now and have been able to work my way up to an assistant manager
position. About a year ago, my company decided to switch the way we provide service
and our point-of-sale system. Where we used to provide table service through a server,
we now allow guests to run their tab through a QR-code that is on each table and we
would drop off their order to them. Our sales have noticeably gone up due to this change,
however it comes with a few downsides. The biggest downside is that the company
needed to lay off multiple servers across all taprooms as that role became obsolete. Our
guest connection also has gone down as many of the taproom associates simply run
drinks and food from the bar to the table, limiting their interaction with the guests.

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

One of the biggest ethical issues in this situation was how the company decided to let go
of all of the servers. While it isn’t complete unethical to lay off employees, if that is what
a company decides to do, it doesn’t really instill faith that they have their employees’
interests at heart. Some may argue that heart and soul should not make business
decisions, but as a result of this change we have lost a lot of our regular costumers along
with our overall guest connections.
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 As the company laid off a lot of the servers, we noticeably lost a lot of our regular
clientele. Our servers were at the forefront of our guest connections and ultimately were
the face for the company for our guests. A lot of our regular customers did not want to
support the company anymore because they felt that terminations were wrongful. Despite
the company having the right to lay off employees as they see fit, this specific instance
did not feel very ethical.

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

I think that investing in resources that relate to human capital ultimately pays off for an
organization. Bolman & Deal state, “Evidence suggests that tapping a deeper level of
human energy pays off,” (Bolman & Deal, 2021, p. 414). I have recommended this
before, but I believe it would have been more beneficial to the company to reevaluate the
servers position. One of the issues faced with laying off multiple employees is how
behind we are on other duties around the taproom. If we repositioned the servers, we
could pick up a lot of the slack that has been ignored.

I truly believe that this would be a great alternative course of action because it would
show that the company cares about their employees. By showing that they care enough
about their employees to keep their employed, especially as we come out of a worldwide
pandemic, customers notice this and appreciate it. It is becoming increasingly apparent
that organizations that prioritize healthy working environments and use ethical decision
making, it pays off in the long run.

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

In this specific situation, I would try to create a conversation with upper management in
hopes to place a higher value on ethical decision making. This could be a bit intimidating,
especially as the company I work for does not like to have their actions questioned. I
would have liked to discuss the possibilities of reevaluating positions and tried to help
upper management create a solid company culture moving forward.

If I wasn’t able to convince them on the benefits on keeping the servers on the payroll, I
would really try to focus on creating and advising a company culture that places a value
on the remaining employees. If my company was able to put an emphasis on creating a
positive work culture, especially after losing employees, the customers would see this
effort and appreciate it.

 Reference

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership
(7th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.