Should Amy Go Offshore?
Amy Johnson graduated two years ago from the business program at a well-known local university. Immediately after her graduation, the Seinfeld Textile Corporation in Truro hired her as a junior manager in the production department. Her boss is the Vice President for production, Tom Harris. She is mostly happy in her new job but feels that her pay should be higher. She and her partner have recently become engaged to be married, and they would like to be able to buy a house. Amy would like to do a good job helping ST become more profitable and she would like very much to get a good year-end bonus and a promotion as soon as possible.
Amy is from Truro and knows many of the people who work at Seinfeld Textiles. She has made friends at the company, both with some of the managers and with some of the workers. She does find the other managers to be rather competitive, particularly the older and more senior ones. She worries about the demands of her work, about the sort of person she must become to compete in the company, and the effect of her time commitment to the company on her relationship.
The stockholders of Seinfeld Textiles are dissatisfied with the company’s returns. The Board of Directors has told the CEO that profits must improve. The CEO has told the VP in charge of production, Tom Harris, to cut costs, but has not said how. Tom has convened a cost-cutting committee to make a recommendation. Amy has thought about this problem and is wondering to herself, “Should I propose to the cost-cutting committee that our firm outsource the production of our most popular clothing item to an offshore contractor operating in a lower wage environment?”
From her research, she has identified a particular operator in Bangladesh, the Chittagong Clothing Company, which can do this sort of work well and cheaply. Amy also knows that this company, CCC, has had complaints against it for how it treats its workers, who are mostly young women. She knows that it pays its garment workers reasonably well by Bangladesh standards, but realizes that these wages are far less than they are in Truro. She has also found indications that CCC is rather lax about the safety standards in its factories. CCC’s factories are often shoddily constructed, and its supervisors often pressure its employees to work faster than is safe. However, Bangladesh sorely needs the new jobs that this contract will bring. Amy realizes that if the company implements her proposal and the strategy works, then she will receive a handsome year-end bonus and possibly a promotion. Amy knows that if her firm implements her proposal, then it will fire many of its present employees. This will take jobs from members of the local community and give the jobs to people overseas. Amy also knows that CCC will pay the women sewing the clothing in a developing country much less than ST is paying its present employees for doing the same work. As well, moving production offshore will mean that ST will not renew contracts with its present suppliers.
Should Amy recommend that ST contract with CCC in Bangladesh to produce clothing?
Should Ben Take the Bonus Fund?
Ben Freeman has worked for three years with Jane Smith, Marc Dupré, Susie Wong, and Jim Dexter at the Provincial Power Corporation. He feels that PPC underpays him. His boss, Mary Jenks, recently passed him over for a promotion, and he would like revenge.
Ben is from a background that expected everyone to look out for him or herself. Ben’s neighbors always locked their doors. Local people thought that anyone who did not lock up carefully was stupid and deserved to have their possessions stolen. Ben’s parents were both from the neighbourhood and brought up Ben to take care of himself first, and to take advantage of any opportunity for acquiring a little extra money.
The Provincial Power Corporation has a dog-eat-dog corporate culture. All the people working there, from the CEO to the typists, share a view that life is “every man for himself,” and that “she who dies with the most toys wins.” People expect each other to lie, cheat, and even steal when they can get away with it. The prevailing corporate culture is one of rampant self-interest.
Ben plays poker with some other men in a room above the local flower shop. He knows that the people who organize the game are rather shady. Recently, he has gone behind and borrowed $500 from the game-organizers. He cannot borrow the money anywhere because he has reached the limit on his bank-overdraft. He knows that the ruthless characters who loaned him the money will hurt him if he does not pay his debt very soon.
Every holiday season, Ben’s department collects a holiday-bonus fund by allowing department members to pay $5 to wear blue jeans to work on Fridays. Just before the holidays, everyone puts his or her name in a hat, and the boss gives the money to the department member whose name she draws. Ben is in a situation where he could easily steal $500 from this bonus fund. $500 is just enough to pay off his gambling debt. He may just act impulsively, but if he thinks before he acts, then he will find reasons both pointing toward taking his opportunity and pointing against doing so: He needs the $500 to stop the gangsters from hurting him. Someone might catch him, and then he will lose his job. On the other hand, he thinks that he can make everyone think that Susie took the money. When Jane, Mary, Marc, Susie, and Jim notice the loss and make inquiries, there will be an atmosphere of suspicion in his department for some months afterward.
Should Ben take the money? Your moral gut reaction will tell you what Ben should do. Here, however, you should analyze Ben’s situation as a way of practicing ethical analysis. Look at whose interests Ben’s decision will affect, and find as many relevant ethical considerations as you can, both for and against him taking the money. After you have done that, consider the interesting question of whether we should hold Ben morally accountable if he decides to take the money. Does either his cultural background or the threat from the gangsters imply that he cannot do otherwise than steal the money?
What are the ethical dilemmas?
How do they interact with personal decisions and conflicts?
What are the deeper systemic conflicts?
Is there a right or wrong answer here? Why or why not?