challenges that individuals face in an organization when undertaking various activities
Introduction
The study involves reviewing the challenges that individuals face in an organization when undertaking various activities. Employees are faced with certain dilemmas that require critical thinking and analysis to come up with an appropriate solution. To better analyze the problems presented in these scenarios, we will apply the Ethical Decision Model. Tony, Avery, William, and Rachael are seen to possess extrinsic and intrinsic factors that guide their decision making. The first case of Rachael, who is a quality assurance engineer in an electronic company. Rachel’s is to review the products that the firm is preparing to ship. Being a quality assurance engineer requires her to make critical decisions about the operations of the firm.
In the second scenario, we find William, who is working for the SDX Alliance, one of the firms dealing in computers and software. When employed in the company, William was an entry-level engineer who was later allowed to come up with a code for the new disc controller the company was preparing. To accomplish this assignment, William intends to use the code he had previously developed while working with another firm. It was later realized during the review that William had committed copyright offense. For that reason, the firm had to come up with another code that might take more time or use the code presented.
The third scenarios involve Tony, who is a project leader in one of the companies that frequently produced codes for government entities. Then re-use of one code for several companies is allowed in this case, but the problem is who is going to benefit more from the shared code. Tony is faced with the challenge of contacting the government to clarify the issue regarding the person that will benefit from using the code.
The fourth scenario involves Avery, who is a salesperson in her company dealing with the integrated circuit test system. Avery is faced with the challenge of ensuring that she sells more for the firm to go public. Her manager advises her about falsifying the documents to increase the sales so that the firm can go public in that period. If Avery does not achieve the target stated, the company is faced with the challenge of not going public, and this will take another year before such an opportunity comes, and Avery will lose profits.
Analysis
Employment and social factors
Scenario 1.1
Market competition
Rachael fears that their rivals might ship the same product they are shipping id they do not import the product. She is then forced to ship products with defects to stop their competitors from trading the same goods. She is willing to ship machines that can lead to loss of data on the side of the customers. Rachael does all this to avoid entering into competition with their rivals.
Time constraints
In the company, quality assurance is the last department before a product is sold. In this case, the department has been given minimal time to undertake the test on the products to be shipped. The time constraint puts the department under pressure to test all the goods and ascertain their quality.
Customer safety
Rachael is working towards ensuring that customers are protected by not shipping goods that are harmful to consumers. Rachael is striving to ensure that customers are protected from any harm that is associated with their products by not accepting to ship any product with known defects.
Scenario 1.2
Copyright issues
The RDX Company is critical when it comes to the quality of its products. This is why it conducts quality testing before sending them to their products to the market. After William had developed the software, the company had to review it first, and it is through the review that they realized William had committed copyright mistake.
Williams’s ignorance of the law
It is clear that William had not mastered well the laws governing copyrights. After William was employed, it was the duty of the firm to remind him and also orient him on the copyright laws before handing him an official job to undertake. William was also supposed to be taken through the laws that govern the firm.
Use of the same code by various firms
Even though there are copyright issues, the decision by William to use the same code he had developed saved much time. This is because the ideas applied are of the same person that is William since he is the one who developed it at first. The re-use of the code made the project go smoothly according to the expectations of the management.
Information disclosure
William did not disclose to anyone that he was using the code that was already owned by another organization. The decision by William not to disclose the information about the code led to many problems later, which put the firm a dilemma to decide what to do about the code.
Scenario 2.1
Code re-use
Tony, after being given a job at FlyHigh Company, decided to wait for the approval of the government before re-using the code. Tony gets the job done but later realizes that there was a misunderstanding in who should benefit from the re-used code.
Misinterpretation of contracts
Once the contract has been signed, parties might misinterpret the terms leading to conflicts. Ton is in a dilemma on whether to contact the government to clarify the issue or not since it will involve revoking the previous contract and increasing the amount paid earlier.
Scenario 2.2
Increasing sales
Avery is faced with the challenge of increasing sales in the company so that the firm can go public. Maintaining profits for five quarters in arrow is not easy, and therefore the firm has to do anything to ensure that it maintains profits for it to go public.
Sales shortage
Avery, after the fifth quarter, realizes that she has a short of one sale to meet the goals for a firm to go public. It is difficult to meet the target that has been set at times, but for Avery, one sale is letting her down.
Legal factors
Scenario 1.1
Products with defects
Rachael is willing to allow shipment of defective products in the company, which have the potential of losing data. In this case, the quality assurance department will lead to the distribution of defective goods to customers who have created their loyalty to the firm to produce quality goods.
Scenario 1.2
Issue of copyright
It is against the law for William to re-use the code he had developed once in a different company in his new firm. This is against the right of the intellectual owners of the code. It is wrong for William to use the code without informing anyone that the code is being used in another company.
Scenario 2.1
Contract misinterpretation
Tony must clarify the situation about who should benefit more by using the code. Understanding a contract is vital to ensuring that there are no disagreements among parties undertaking business. Tony has to ensure that each party in question well understands the law.
Scenario 2.2
Falsifying sales
Avery is advised by her manager to falsify the sales to meet her goals which, is against the law. Despite the managing having full knowledge that it is illegal to give false information, he tells Avery that he will look the other side.
Professional factors
Scenario 1.1
No accountability
The department led by Rachael cannot perform tests on all the products that are shipped. There is an assumption being made on goods after a few of them have been tested due to lack of time. According to the profession, it unethical to undertake such practices.
Data safety
The quality assurance department is ready to ship products that will lead to data loss for customers. According to data integrity, losing data will be unethical. All this arises due to the shipment of goods with defects.
Scenario 1.2
The action of the manager
The manager is concerned with the products of the company, and therefore he takes the initiative to question William on the cause of copyright issues. It is from this that William can explain in details to the manager what had happened.
Having knowledge of the law
The actions of William to re-sue the code he had designed might not be illegal since he was not aware of the copyright laws.
Scenario 2.1
Failing to disclose the information
Tony, after realizing that there is no clear clarification on who should benefit from the contract, fails to report. He is afraid of the consequences that might arise as a result of disclosing the information.
Scenario 2.2
Cheating
It is unprofessional to present wrong figures to receive favors. Avery is asked by the manager to falsify the figures against what the profession expects one to do once undertaking their duties.
Wrong advice
It is wrong for the manager to advise Avery to falsify the sales by claiming that he used to that when he was a sales manager. This is against the professional, ethical code when dealing with employees in the company.
Personal factors
Scenario 1.1
Risking
By allowing the shipment of defect goods, Rachael is risking losing her job as well as the data of customers using their products. Despite the consequences of shipping defect goods, Rachael goes ahead and allows it to avoid competition.
Scenario 1.2
Wrong information
William cheated the manager by implying that the start-up he once developed was no longer in use. This made the manager accept the code developed, but still, even if it was out of business, the ownership remained with the company that developed it first.
Scenario 2.1
Fear of the outcomes
Tony was worried about the results after he contacts the government to clarify the issue of the beneficiary of the code. Despite the long term consequences of not clarifying the issue, tony remained silent.
Scenario 2.2
Inquiring from top leaders
Avery, after realizing that she will not meet her goals, decided to consult the manager on what she can do to meet the demands of the firm. She receives advice from the manager on the possible solution to what she was going through.
Lack of honesty
The manager is not an honest person as he advises Avery to falsify the sales to meet the needs of the company. This is an attribute that the manager possesses since even when he was a salesperson, he used to give false information about the sales.
Intrinsic factors
Scenario 1.1
Responsibility delegation
Rachael has delegated the responsibility in the company of being a quality assurance engineer. By being given such a crucial department to lead, the company must have seen her be responsible.
Scenario 1.2
Knowledge
William, after getting an internship with RDX, acquired enough skills, which enabled him to succeed in his career. Working with RDX showed that William was competent enough to handle complex work given to him. The company had also developed trust in William to be able to handle his work well.
Deflecting from reality
William, instead of acknowledging that the code he developed belongs to another firm, claimed that it is out of business. He was trying to run away from the reality that there are copyright laws.
Scenario 2.1
Competency
Tony, after careful analysis of the contract that was signed by the agency, realizes that it did not specify correctly about the beneficiaries of the code. It is the knowledge that Tony has that enables him to decide on whether to contact the government to clarify the issue or not.
Scenario 2.2
Subversion
Avery shows submission to the manager by consulting him on what to do, given that she was short of sales to reach her goals. By going to the manager to seek advice, it shows that she is below the manger, and she always takes orders from him.
Authority
The manger shows that he has the power and authority when it comes to decision making. He tells Avery that if she falsifies the sales, then he will look the other side, meaning he has the power over the decisions that will be made.
Prioritization
Scenario 1.1
- Defective products
- Data safety
- No accountability
- Time constraints
- Customer safety
- Market competition
- Risking
- Responsibility delegation
Scenario 1.2
- Copyright issues
- William’s ignorance of the law
- Managers action
Scenario 2.1
- Contract misinterpretation
- Failing to disclose information
- Code re-use
- Misinterpretation of contracts
- Fear of the outcomes
- Competency
Scenario 2.2
- Falsifying sales
- Cheating
- Wrong advice
- Increasing sales
- Inquiry from top leaders
- Lack of honesty
- Subversion
- Authority
Scenario 1.1
Rachael and the team need to apply EDM for them to come up with appropriate decisions regarding the dilemma facing them. The ethical decision model is vital in analyzing the problems that one is facing. The quality assurance department should ensure that no defected product is sold to customers
Scenario 1.2
Using the EDM model makes it easy to highlight various problems that the firm is facing. If William had applied the model, then he would have understood that the code he generated was owned by someone else.
Scenario 2.1
From the analysis, it is now clear that Tony ignored a very critical part of contracts, which requires appropriate clarification. Tony should have applied the model earlier to arrive at his conclusion.
Scenario 2.2
For Avery, she needs to apply the model for her to make an informed decision because various factors have been highlighted by using the model
Discussion
Scenario 1.1
From the scenario presented, it is evident that many factors impact the decision that a firm will take. Using the ethical decision model, we realize legal factors play a major role in the success of the firm. Therefore if the firm had considered the legal consequences of shipping products with defects, other issues might not arise. It is important to trust someone with the responsibility that they can manage in an organization, just like Rachael was given the responsibility to lead the quality assurance department.
Scenario 1.2
The use of ERD enables the firm to state factors according to their importance in the firm. Looking at the scenario presented, copyright was a factor that William did not consider to be important in his work. If he had considered the importance of copyrights, then the development of the code would not have caused any challenges like the ones they got themselves into. William needed to consider revising the laws in the firm before applying his class knowledge in designing the code.
Scenario 2.1
From the scenario, Tony can apply the model to come up with the best solution that can help the firm. Making critical decisions is important for the growth of the firm. Knowing what comes first in the organization can help Tony make an informed decision that will benefit the firm and all the stakeholders in the business. Deciding on which action to take requires that Tony applies the ERD model to understand what comes first in an organization.
Scenario 2.2
Avery should not consider the decision given to her by the manager but instead apply the ERD model for her to come up with an appropriate solution. From the scenario, we see that many issues have been highlighted, which, when the model is applied, can help solve the problem that Avery has encountered.
Conclusion
In all the scenarios presented, individuals got themselves in a certain dilemma that required critical thinking for them to come up with an informed decision. It is, therefore, vital that they consider using the ERD model in their analysis to come up with appropriate decisions. The model helps individuals arrange various factors according to priority and importance that they carry in a business. There are some decisions made by individuals that were ethical because they did consider the importance of each action in the firm.