Group task requiring consideration of ethical dilemmas in the workplace

Charlotte, the girl was on cloud nine, all pumped up with excitement! Subsequent to working and engaging for a long time as an administrative officer in a small retail organization in, EasyBuy, she was offered her fantasy promotion in the organization she was serving.

In the past decades, the EasyBuy’s centre business had been centralizing operations that includes the store planning, human resource and some of the store operations including import of fruits, vegetables, grocery items and effective merchandising and marketing in a daily basis. In any case, EasyBuy had recently been granted a huge contract with a multi-national Food and Beverage company. This contract has furthermore developed some of the new vacancies for the more than 200 labourers lost their job when EasyBuy shut one of the retail manufacturing plants in the country.

To convey on this agreement, EasyBuy expected to expand the span of their own group of Client Managers and Charlotte was an extremely undeniable role for one of these jobs. Charlotte had a close learning of the organization’s activities and was esteemed by the organization proprietor/chiefs, Sofia and Thomas. Her promotion was thus an extraordinary reward for her past diligent work and acknowledgment of her administration skills and capacities. Charlotte felt that she has now got a huge responsibility in the role of client manager and successfully fulfilling her role will definitely help her to exceed in her career path.

The initial couple of months in this new job role for Charlotte were a tornado of meeting with customers, meeting with the clients, rounding out paper works and materials, entering information and meeting with her partners and colleagues of Client Management. Charlotte cherished the test and the challenges of these duties, and also took incredible pride in the administration of the services that the EasyBuy was providing in their local network. Charlotte was very proud of the contribution she made to wards some of the achievements that included rising of the organization’s profile, enhancement of the company reputation in the competitive retail market and finally developing certain employment opportunities for the workers who lost their jobs previously.

This achievement has raised the profile of the retail organization, EasyBuy and was furthermore rewarding in the terms of finance from the stakeholders and the government of the country.

In the time when the manufacturing unit of the food plant of the company was shut, many of the workers lost their job and EasyBuy helped each of them with compensation and remuneration for their daily needs and activities.

Developing a script for the central character to apply Giving Voice to Values framework

At some point, after a meeting among Sofia and the Client Managers group, Charlotte was talking with her associate Ethan regarding her disappointment and frustration for not having the capacity to perform well and manage the financial profit level of the company even after getting promoted in the organization. Sofia overheard their conversation and was exceptionally astonished. She furthermore asked Charlotte whether she is not aware of the tactics and the strategies and finally asked her to follow her.

The client managers and Ethan exchanged smiles with each other. Charlotte on the other hand did not knew how to react.She did not know whether to feel embarrassed or not since she did not know some of the tactics or the rules of the organization. She was furthermore worried if she was about to reprimand in the office.

Charlotte should not have worried that much. She followed Sofia to her organization where Sofia explained her all the things she needed to know. Sofia opened the PC screen and checked an electronic copy of an incomplete form explaining her all the services that the organization seeks from the job role of Charlotte. Sofia serenely apologized to Charlotte for not explaining this procedure to her prior. She furthermore explained her how the persona data of the clients and the customers of the existing base are being extracted from the zip file and then they are being gathered and noted down in an excel sheet and passed to different financial organization who are connected to EasyBuy as major stakeholders.

This process and tactic left Charlotte in the state of shock. Though she did not intend to disclose her disappointment, she kept on thinking about the thing through out.

Charlotte at that point came back to her work area, feeling somewhat stupid for not having thought of this arrangement herself. She spent her day evaluating her customer documentation and reordering the raw data of the customers to finish the excel sheets in which she had been explained by Sofia. But as the evening passed, she started putting forth a number of inquiries to herself about what she was doing, and turned out to be highly uncomfortable and awkward doing it. Charlotte was fighting with herself in the ethical dilemma whether she was doing right or not. She was wrapped in the values of the ethics that challenges her act of passing the personal data of the customers and the clients that includes their banking details, the number of transaction they did on EasyBuy, the credit card they use for buying staff and the amount of the monthly transaction from their credit cards.

Creating a fictional scenario for ethical dilemma

Charlotte knows why she feels so awkward and needs to offer voice to her ethical and the legal values she follows. With whom would it be advisable for her to talk and what would it be advisable for her to state?

Charlotte has been thinking over the night regarding the discomfort, the unethical practice of disclosing the personal data of the clients to the financial institutions of the country without their acknowledgements. It was busting her head so she decided to have a talk regarding this.

Charlotte: Hi Ethan, have you got a moment?

Ethan: Sure! Did you make the most of your small meeting with Sofia?

Charlotte: Actually, that is the thing that I need to discuss. Sofia revealed to me that the company reveals the personal data of the existing customer base to the financial stakeholder organization connected to EasyBuy.

Ethan: Yeah, we as a whole do it. See, I’m not excited with developing reports or the documents without the customer’s learning, however the company sells the personal data of the client base in exchange of more financial investments from the stakeholders. How else do you think we can complete our target and increase the organization’s profit?

Charlotte: But this is illicit and you know that!

Ethan: No you are getting it all wrong. These are our customers and we have taken the necessary steps and we are coming clean in front of the management of the organization. The financial institutions and our stakeholders are not doing any fraud with their data, they just want those so that they can pursue the clients with their more offers and reward schemes so that they themself get benefited.

Charlotte: Hmmm, I assume

Charlotte did not say any more thing to Ethan. She did not felt to pressurize Ethan regarding this manner and her understanding regarding the unethical and illegal practises that the organization is involved in. She was feeling more confused and alone all of a sudden. She thought that the best way to deal with her disappointment and uncomfortable mind is to have a talk with Sofia. So she headed to her office.

Charlotte: Hi Sofia, do you have a second? 

Sofia: Tell me Charlotte. 

Charlotte: I’ve been considering the action of the organization towards passing of the personal data of the customers and the clients to the financial stakeholders and I am really confused about it. 

Sofia: Look, I comprehend what you will state, and no, the passing of the data of the customers is not something that we do in pride. But the financial institutes need the data from us to grow their organization’s profit margin and their sales. Our company furthermore gains profit from the financial stakeholders.

 Charlotte: I can totally understand the significance of the growth of the organization and the increase in the sales figure, however I am concerned the dangers that may exceed the advantages. 

Sofia: What does that mean? 

Charlotte: Well, as you have stated, passing customer’s data isn’t something we would ordinarily excuse, hence it is certainly something we would not have any desire to get exposed in the public. This training is putting in danger to all the majority of the great work we have done in building the trust and the reputation of the company. On the top of that can you just imagine what will be the cost to the company if the clients, the government come to know about the illicit and unethical practises in our organization? This act will totally destroy the reputation and the name of the company and the company will be shut due to zero offered contracts. Imagine the uncomfortable conversation we will have to face with our existing client base which we have created with so many hard works and passion. 

Sofia: Charlotte! Please! I think you are going overboard. This is actually not such a big thing to discuss now! Over the entirety of our jobs, we are actually performing pretty well.  Truth be told, we are one of the business pioneers here – we get a greater amount of stakeholders and investors than a large portion of our rivals! 

Everybody in the business does this passing of the customer data. I am aware of numerous work organizations that don’t even get paid for passing of the data. Please relax. I thing you are being hyper. 

Charlotte: Sofia, it is awesome that we are driving and leading in the market we perform and this is something I am pleased with since I felt that I somehow contribute to their achievement. But you need to understand one thing that passing and revealing the personal data of the clients does not suit the profile of the industry leader and not at all for the cost of the hard earned reputation of the company. 

Sofia: I wish you would quit calling it illegal and frauding! 

Charlotte: Dear Sofia, please be a realistic and matured professional. You need to understand that changing this practises is an open door for us to improve our notoriety and reputation by giving more administration in this space and rise like a shinning star among all the other competitors in this market. 

Sofia: Can you please tell me how exactly this will happen? 

Charlotte: Well, if this is a typical issue in the business, where organizations are feeling constrained and forced into revealing the data of the customers, just like you do in the mindset that these practises are challenging the ethical values, I am certain the Fund Administrators and the Government might want to think about it also. We ought to converse with them about this issue and work with them to grow better frameworks.

Possibly we have to discover another method for giving confirmation of the administrations and the services we have provided. We should develop another method for the advancement and the growth of our stakeholders. 

Sofia: Actually, perhaps we could simply approach the directors for some room or resistance for the act of non-compliance. We as a whole know we can’t get 100% of our work done. May be most of our stakeholders will not invest in our company any more, but trust me we would be clean. 

Charlotte: That’s correct! I’m certain there is definitely a superior way for us to do this thing. We can talk with our management and discuss regarding the challenges we face and the ethical dilemma that comes in between the work tactics. 

Thank you Sofia. It was really nice talking to you. I now feel a lot relieved to share my views and the thoughts that was haunting me back before I came to your office.

Sofia: I will inform others regarding our conversation and we will definitely discuss this issue and our points with the administrators of the Fund. Is it ok? 

Charlotte: Sure Sofia. 

Charlotte left Sofia’s office with a feeling and expression of relief, just as an incredible weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Sofia hadn’t yet changed the practise but Charlotte felt there was the opportunity for initiating the change. Hence, she was satisfied that she had chosen to state something to Sofia. The unethical behaviour regarding the employment or the workplace business is one of the key elements towards the growth and the success of the organization. The following script and the scenario describe about the character Charlotte who got recently promoted and came to know about the major unethical practise that is being followed in the organization and on which the entire reputation of the company is dependable. She faced an ethical dilemma when she came to know about the fraud practise of revealing and passing of the personal data of the clients to the financial stakeholders of the organization without their consent. She furthermore had a conversation with her fellow colleague to express their views regarding the values she follow and how she thinks these ill practises might hamper the reputation of the organization.

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