A thread of 8001500 words in response must be submitted through the Discussion Board Forum For each thread and each reply, you must support your assertions with at least 3 outside sources (other than the text and course materials) and cited in current APA format. Acceptable sources include: books, legal cases, articles, the Bible, etc. Sources should be more substantial than basic internet dictionaries.Discussion Board Forum 1 Case Study
Topic:
Business Ethics
Benji Watson graduated near the top of his
class in the Liberty University MBA program, and he was recruited by several
national corporations. One of those corporations was New Gen Health Sciences.
New Gen manufactures and sells various vitamins, health foods, and health
supplements; it was recently featured in Fortune Magazine as one of the fastest
growing companies in America.
Benji was invited to attend a weekend-long
Get to Know Us event at New Gens headquarters in Seattle, WA, with all
expenses paid by New Gen, an invitation that he agreed to accept.
While sitting in the Richmond, VA, airport,
awaiting his flight to Seattle, Benji decided to do some online research about
New Gen. Most of the articles touted the great financials the company was
producing. One article talked about how New Gen sent researchers around the
world in search of new beneficial health resources. Another article contained
an interview with New Gens founder and CEO talking about his mission to
create a healthier America and about his companys industry-leading ethics
code.
Another article, however, mentioned how the
founder and CEO had a pattern of starting new businesses, building them up and
then, selling them at a huge profit before moving on to something else. There
was also another article that talked about how New Gen was a big contributor to
Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and various progressive causes.
Benji also came across a gripe site that
accused New Gen of various questionable business practices such as: forced
purchase; tie-in agreements with their distributors that required distributors
to purchase set amounts of product with payment in advance, regardless of the
distributors actual sales; and required them to purchase set amounts of less
popular products if they wanted to purchase the more popular products. The site
argued that these practices had helped to drive many of the distributors into
bankruptcy in slow economic times.
When Benji arrived at New Gen, he was met
by a corporate recruiter and was given a New Gen Polo Shirt, custom New Gen
Apple iPad 4, and a carrying case loaded with various promotional literature
and DVDs.
At lunch, the recruiter talked up the
company and how smart, young people like Benji were joining the company in
droves and rapidly climbing up the management ranks and earning big bucks.
When the recruiter asked Benji if he had
any questions or comments, Benji mentioned what he had read about the company sending
researchers around the world in search of new beneficial health resources. The
recruiter laughed and said, We have the greatest P.R. people in the corporate
world. Benji asked if that meant that
the article was inaccurate and the recruiter said, Well, our P.R. people do
make a habit of taking promotional photos in exotic locations, but of course
most of our products are actually developed in our laboratories right here in
Seattle.
Benji mentioned that he had read about New
Gens industry leading ethics code and the recruiter responded, Well, of
course you have to have something like that these days in order to attract
investors and pacify government regulators. Our lawyers made sure that they
covered all the bases.
Benji mentioned having come across the
gripe site, and the recruiter said, Dont worry about that. There are always
disgruntled ex-distributors looking to blame others for their own incompetence.
Our lawyers will have that site shut down within the week.
Later, at a company Pep Rally, the CEO
put on a flashy display complete with 3-D video and company cheerleaders. He
talked about how much he really cared about people and about making their lives
better; however, when an infant that had been brought to the event by another
attendee started crying, apparently upset by the noise and flashy displays, the
CEO harshly told the infants mother to please show some consideration to the
rest of the people there and take the child out of the room.
The CEO then went into a form of corporate
sermon, telling the attendees, Brothers and Sisters, we are here to offer
salvation to fat, lazy, lethargic Americans and to transform this nation in our
image. And, if we should happened to get rich as a result of doing so, wheres
the harm in that? Can I get an Amen? Many
in the room shouted Amen.
At the end of the weekend, Benji was
presented with a recruiting contract offering him a starting salary of
$80,000.00 plus commissions. He would attend a 2-week corporate orientation and,
then, be sent out as a junior manager in the companys Atlanta, GA, office. The
recruiter remarked that, because Benji was a Liberty grad, the company assumed
he was a Christian, which meant he could likely talk the talk needed to bring
in some new distributors in the south.
Your
assignment:
Looking
at the situation from both a spiritual and an ethical perspective, advise Benji
as to whether he should sign the contract, and why.
In
connection with this assignment, you may want to research the following ethical
concepts and incorporate what you find in your DB post, if you consider them
relevant:
Corporate CultureHonestyIntegrityStrategic Ethics vs. Real EthicsAny other legal concepts you believe may be
relevant
You
may also want to look at:
John Dobson, Virtue Ethics as a Foundation
for Business Ethics: A MacIntyre-Based Critique, a paper offered at California
Polytechnic State University. Retrieved
from:
.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/cst/conferences/antwerp/papers/dobson.pdf”>http://www.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/cst/conferences/antwerp/papers/dobson.pdf
Discussion Board Forum 1 Case StudyTopic:
Business EthicsBenji Watson graduated near the top of his
class in the Liberty University MBA program, and he was recruited by several
national corporations. One of those corporations was New Gen Health Sciences.
New Gen manufactures and sells various vitamins, health foods, and health
supplements; it was recently featured in Fortune Magazine as one of the fastest
growing companies in America.Benji was invited to attend a weekend-long
Get to Know Us event at New Gens headquarters in Seattle, WA, with all
expenses paid by New Gen, an invitation that he agreed to accept.While sitting in the Richmond, VA, airport,
awaiting his flight to Seattle, Benji decided to do some online research about
New Gen. Most of the articles touted the great financials the company was
producing. One article talked about how New Gen sent researchers around the
world in search of new beneficial health resources. Another article contained
an interview with New Gens founder and CEO talking about his mission to
create a healthier America and about his companys industry-leading ethics
code.Another article, however, mentioned how the
founder and CEO had a pattern of starting new businesses, building them up and
then, selling them at a huge profit before moving on to something else. There
was also another article that talked about how New Gen was a big contributor to
Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and various progressive causes.Benji also came across a gripe site that
accused New Gen of various questionable business practices such as: forced
purchase; tie-in agreements with their distributors that required distributors
to purchase set amounts of product with payment in advance, regardless of the
distributors actual sales; and required them to purchase set amounts of less
popular products if they wanted to purchase the more popular products. The site
argued that these practices had helped to drive many of the distributors into
bankruptcy in slow economic times.When Benji arrived at New Gen, he was met
by a corporate recruiter and was given a New Gen Polo Shirt, custom New Gen
Apple iPad 4, and a carrying case loaded with various promotional literature
and DVDs.At lunch, the recruiter talked up the
company and how smart, young people like Benji were joining the company in
droves and rapidly climbing up the management ranks and earning big bucks.When the recruiter asked Benji if he had
any questions or comments, Benji mentioned what he had read about the company sending
researchers around the world in search of new beneficial health resources. The
recruiter laughed and said, We have the greatest P.R. people in the corporate
world. Benji asked if that meant that
the article was inaccurate and the recruiter said, Well, our P.R. people do
make a habit of taking promotional photos in exotic locations, but of course
most of our products are actually developed in our laboratories right here in
Seattle.Benji mentioned that he had read about New
Gens industry leading ethics code and the recruiter responded, Well, of
course you have to have something like that these days in order to attract
investors and pacify government regulators. Our lawyers made sure that they
covered all the bases.Benji mentioned having come across the
gripe site, and the recruiter said, Dont worry about that. There are always
disgruntled ex-distributors looking to blame others for their own incompetence.
Our lawyers will have that site shut down within the week.Later, at a company Pep Rally, the CEO
put on a flashy display complete with 3-D video and company cheerleaders. He
talked about how much he really cared about people and about making their lives
better; however, when an infant that had been brought to the event by another
attendee started crying, apparently upset by the noise and flashy displays, the
CEO harshly told the infants mother to please show some consideration to the
rest of the people there and take the child out of the room.The CEO then went into a form of corporate
sermon, telling the attendees, Brothers and Sisters, we are here to offer
salvation to fat, lazy, lethargic Americans and to transform this nation in our
image. And, if we should happened to get rich as a result of doing so, wheres
the harm in that? Can I get an Amen? Many
in the room shouted Amen.At the end of the weekend, Benji was
presented with a recruiting contract offering him a starting salary of
$80,000.00 plus commissions. He would attend a 2-week corporate orientation and,
then, be sent out as a junior manager in the companys Atlanta, GA, office. The
recruiter remarked that, because Benji was a Liberty grad, the company assumed
he was a Christian, which meant he could likely talk the talk needed to bring
in some new distributors in the south.Your
assignment:Looking
at the situation from both a spiritual and an ethical perspective, advise Benji
as to whether he should sign the contract, and why.In
connection with this assignment, you may want to research the following ethical
concepts and incorporate what you find in your DB post, if you consider them
relevant:You
may also want to look at:John Dobson, Virtue Ethics as a Foundation
for Business Ethics: A MacIntyre-Based Critique, a paper offered at California
Polytechnic State University. Retrieved
from:.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/cst/conferences/antwerp/papers/dobson.pdf”>http://www.stthomas.edu/cathstudies/cst/conferences/antwerp/papers/dobson.pdf
