Subject category:
Human Resource Management / Organisational Behaviour
Published by:
Babson College
Version: 23 April 2004
Length: 3 pages
Data source: Field research
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https://casecent.re/p/20246
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Abstract
This case is primarily concerned with ethics, the individual, his or her personal system and the way it affects his or her perceptions and actions. Secondarily, it is organisational, related to rewards and punishments and how these influence behaviour. Susan is a student employee at a campus snack bar who is caught between a wish to do what she thinks is right, that is, take some steps to stop food being taken off the premises without payment for it, and the fear of negative consequences if she takes some action to prevent it. There are corollaries to Susan's dilemma; namely that she would also like to see students work harder, and finish what is assigned to them on the night shift, and be punished for stealing from the cash register. This is a wonderful case for virtually all students, especially undergraduates who are certain to be struggling with the very issues in this case, namely idealism (a wish to make a better world); virtue and conscience on the one hand and pragmatism on the other; cynicism (because of 'the way the world is'); a need to fit in, be liked, be one of the gang, violate conventional social norms (though being very conventional in going along with the gang). In one way or another, almost all students are facing, or have recently faced, peer pressure to do things that violate their value systems. This case will help them to understand why they feel so much ambivalence, sometimes going along, and sometimes drawing a line beyond which they will not go. Some issues are ethical. Some involve criminality. The issues include: (1) sexual permissiveness and experimentation; (2) drug use and dealing; (3) cheating; (4) trespassing; and (5) stealing. The case also raises questions of a company's (organisation's) ethics and responsibility for creating, or allowing, a climate that tolerates at best, and encourages at worst, illegal, criminal or unethical behaviour. The case provides an opportunity to explore ethics and its definition.
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Abstract
This case is primarily concerned with ethics, the individual, his or her personal system and the way it affects his or her perceptions and actions. Secondarily, it is organisational, related to rewards and punishments and how these influence behaviour. Susan is a student employee at a campus snack bar who is caught between a wish to do what she thinks is right, that is, take some steps to stop food being taken off the premises without payment for it, and the fear of negative consequences if she takes some action to prevent it. There are corollaries to Susan's dilemma; namely that she would also like to see students work harder, and finish what is assigned to them on the night shift, and be punished for stealing from the cash register. This is a wonderful case for virtually all students, especially undergraduates who are certain to be struggling with the very issues in this case, namely idealism (a wish to make a better world); virtue and conscience on the one hand and pragmatism on the other; cynicism (because of 'the way the world is'); a need to fit in, be liked, be one of the gang, violate conventional social norms (though being very conventional in going along with the gang). In one way or another, almost all students are facing, or have recently faced, peer pressure to do things that violate their value systems. This case will help them to understand why they feel so much ambivalence, sometimes going along, and sometimes drawing a line beyond which they will not go. Some issues are ethical. Some involve criminality. The issues include: (1) sexual permissiveness and experimentation; (2) drug use and dealing; (3) cheating; (4) trespassing; and (5) stealing. The case also raises questions of a company's (organisation's) ethics and responsibility for creating, or allowing, a climate that tolerates at best, and encourages at worst, illegal, criminal or unethical behaviour. The case provides an opportunity to explore ethics and its definition.