ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR  ETHICAL DILEMMA

 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR ETHICAL DILEMMA

Jill Warner, President of Ace Toys, sat looking at the monthly profit and loss statement. For the fifth month in a row, the company had lost money. Labor costs were killing them. Jill had done everything she could think of to reduce costs and still produce a quality product. She was beginning to face the fact that soon she would no longer be able to avoid the idea of out-sourcing. It was a concept that Jill had done everything to avoid, but it was beginning to look inevitable.Jill felt strongly about making a quality American product using American workers in an American factory. But if things continued the way they were, she was going to have to do something. She owed it to her stockholders and board of directors to keep the company financially healthy. They had entrusted her with the future of the company, and she could not let them down. It was not her money or company to do with as she pleased. Her job was to make sure that Ace Toys flourished.However, if she chose to outsource the production segment of the company, only management and the sales force would keep their jobs. How could she face the 500 people who would lose their jobs? How would the small community that depended on those 500 jobs survive? She also worried about the customers who had come to depend on Ace Toys to produce a safe product that they could give to their children with confidence. Would that quality suffer if she sent production halfway around the world? How could she ensure that the company she hired to produce their toys would live up to Ace’s standards? Would the other company pay a fair wage and not employ children? The questions seemed endless, but Jill needed to decide how to save the company. 

You are Jill. Is sending jobs out the country unethical? Evaluate your options according to: 1.    Consequential ethics2.    Rule-based ethics3.    Character (virtue) ethics

What is your decision? Based on which ethical decision-making model?