You work in the accounts department of a large company
8.2
BUSINESS DILEMMAS
78
READING
1
Work with a partner to discuss these ethical dilemmas.
1
Your best friend gives you an expensive birthday
present. You do not like it. What do you do?
2
Your friend’s husband has lost his job – you’ve seen
him at the job centre. His wife doesn’t know this.
Would you tell her?
You are an environmental manager for a chemical firm.
All last year, the company was looking for ways of reducing costs
because it was making a loss
. It decided, therefore, to cut back
on investment in technology.
As a result, the company did not spend money on buying some
expensive new equipment which reduces a special toxin in waste
water. At present, scientists don’t know exactly how poisonous
this toxin is, and your waste is within legal limits. However, the
polluted waste from the factory flows into a nearby lake and river.
It seems to be affecting fish and wildlife, and a local scientist has
warned that people should not eat fish caught in the river.
If you tell the press or the local authorities about the waste water, the
firm will have to buy the expensive equipment. The company could go
bankrupt and everyone, including yourself, would lose their jobs.
2
a
Read the three texts quickly and match them with
the following ethical problems.
a
You have information that could damage the
company you work for.
b
A company that gave you an expensive present is
trying to become a supplier for your company.
c
You have a colleague who doesn’t want to work.
You visited an overseas supplier some time ago, and
when you left, he gave you an expensive watch as a
present. On returning, you were planning to tell your
colleagues about the present, but forgot.
Last week, you were sitting in your office when
another present from the same supplier arrived
. It was
a magnificent antique clock! At the time, you were
considering three competing offers to supply radios for
a new range of cars. Your generous supplier had made
one of the offers. His firm’s radios were more expensive
than those of another supplier, while the quality of the
products was similar. You have never done business
before with the supplier of the cheaper radios.
You are Chief Executive of a car manufacturer.
Your friend, Julia, works in the same department. She is
a good friend who supported you when the two of you
didn’t get a good bonus at the end of last year. There
was a lot of work to do in the accounts department at
that time: a large international company bought your
company and everyone was asking to see their financial
data. A few mistakes were made and you couldn’t
explain them. Your boss said that your department
wasn’t working hard enough and so you didn’t deserve
a good bonus.
Yesterday, you were having a chat with Julia in a local
café and you noticed that Julia was looking bored. ‘I
didn’t arrive at work until 11 a.m. today, she said. ‘I don’t
want to work hard any more, but don’t tell anyone.’
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