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.

Grainger explores advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance operational

efficiency within its distribution centers (DCs), integrating automation for tasks like
picking and receiving. The DC Engineering Team collaborates with various departments
to deploy AI solutions, including efforts to introduce a robotic racking system aimed at
streamlining product picking and order fulfillment processes. This initiative aims to
replace hourly team members with automation, freeing them for more impactful roles, a
decision positively communicated by senior leadership to corporate team members,
leaving middle management to communicate to hourly team members.

In addition, my eight-year tenure with the company involved roles in DC operations and
corporate supply chain, focusing on supplier performance and close collaboration with
internal departments. The implementation of AI in our DCs indirectly impacts me
through the portfolio of SKUs managed by my suppliers. Drawing from my previous
experience in middle management at a DC, I can empathize with the communication
strategies employed by higher-level leadership. Such situations will continue to influence
me directly as I transition to the distribution center engineering team in future roles.

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

When implementing AI in place of physical operations, it’s important to ensure the

adoption of AI technology aligns with ethical principles and values. Ethical
considerations such as transparency, fairness, and accountability should be integrated into
the construction, deployment, and use of the AI systems to mitigate potential ethical
risks. In this case, upper leadership teams proposing to place the hourly team members in
more impactful roles aligns with promoting responsible AI adoption. By providing a plan
to the impacted team members for their development, upper leadership continues to build
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 trust and maintain a positive reputation. This helps increase employee loyalty to the
company as well as clarity around the company’s vision (Bolman & Deal, 2021).

In terms of transparency, upper leadership had communicated amongst corporate

stakeholders within the company before project kickoff, and has followed up with
updates throughout. These communications provided these stakeholders with clear and
accurate information about the changes, such as the reasons behind the specific AI
technology chosen, potential impacts, and support if necessary. However, there was lack
of transparency with upper leadership’s communication down to the DC teams. This lack
of communication demonstrated lack of empathy, transparency, and accountability,
ultimately risking the potential of a negative organizational culture, mistrust, and
resistance to the changes.

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

Given the complexity around job replacement in this situation, I would apply the Caring
and Love ethical community. To utilize this ethical community, upper leadership should
foster an environment of trust, empathy, and support, emphasizing how AI can enhance
their well-being, job satisfaction, and development within the organization. Ultimately,
better communication from upper leadership to hourly DC team members would increase
the chance of acceptance. Highlighting how AI can alleviate mundane tasks, streamline
outbound processes, and create more impactful opportunities for them as team members
would strengthen the trust for upper leadership decisions by the hourly DC team
members.
Involving the hourly team members and DC leadership in the AI implementation process
by soliticing their input and addressing any concerns face to face with empathy can
demonstrate a genuine commitment to their well-being and build team members’
confidence in the AI technology. Upper leadership communicating directly to the hourly
team members can foster trust and respect of the middle managers at the DC as well by
demonstrating that upper leadership is there to support the DC leaders throughout the
change. Nurturing a caring and supportive culture can foster buy-in from team members
for AI technology by emphasizing its potential to enhance their lives and contribute to
their success.

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

I would not change the plan upper leadership developed for implementing the new AI
technology. When implementing AI technology, it’s important to consider how it will be
integrated into the organization as well has how it will impact the teams, both directly
and indirectly. In this case, upper leadership proposed more impactful roles for the hourly

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team members as part of the integration plan. This reduced the risk of job insecurity,
mistrust, and decreased morale across the teams directly impacted, while aligning with
the principles of the organization.
I would have changed the way upper leadership handled communications across the DC
teams that were directly impacted and provided additional support to the middle
management leaders at the DC. Even though the plan for AI technology was ethical
overall, upper leadership teams should have provided better visibility to the teams
impacted directly to maintain team cohesion, organizational culture, and ensure job
security via direct communication. Rather than leaving the middle management teams to
execute and manage communication of the plans for the implementation, upper
leadership teams should have provided support in order to build trust, empowerment, and
relieve tension between upper leadership and team members. In chapter twenty, Bolman
and Deal state that caring requires listening, understanding, and accepting (Bolman &
Deal, 2021). Emphasizing this mindset could have resulted in more effective
communication amongst the upper leadership teams, resulting in better acceptance of the
technology.

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 Reference
- Bolman, L. G. & Deal, T. E. (2021) Reframing Organizations, 7th edition. Jossey-Bass.

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