Shruti Pandey
Case Study Characters & Roles
Main Characters
- Maria (Cashier)
- Sophia (Customer)
- Ria (Cashier supervisor)
Stakeholders
- XYZ Company
- Employees
Case Study
XYZ Company believes in providing the best service to their customers. They make sure their policies are designed in a way that the customer does not come back with any complains may it be discounts for their members or providing selected customers with extra discounts. One of such policies is their customer return policy. It mentions that the customer needs to make a return within 30 days of purchase and if it exceeds the time limit or they don’t have the receipts of the products they want to refund, they should be provided with store credits instead. They should not be denied a refund unless the supervisor accepts.
Maria has been working for the company for 2 years and Has always appreciated Ria’s customer service skills as she was always available to help the cashiers by dealing with difficult customers and making sure they leave happy.
On a busy day Maria meets Sophia who wants to refund a shirt. Sophia mentions she had misplaced the bill while travelling so it would be great I she could get a cash return, but store credit should work as well. On observing Maria realizes that the product may not be from their store. She questions Sophia about where she bought it from and Sophia gets angry accusing her of doubting her and says she is in hurry so Maria better fasten up the refund process. Maria still worried calls Ria for support however she seems to be out for lunch.
Maria having worked with Ria for so long knew that she would have made sure the customer gets what they need. She wanted to raise a concern but decided that she should follow the basic policy in absence her supervisor. Being the only cashier on that day and seeing the huge customer line up Maria halfheartedly decides to go ahead with the refund process by providing Sophia with store credits. Maria was still unsure about her decision as refusing the customer felt like the right thing to do but at the same time maintain the company reputation and following the policy was the only right decision seeing the circumstances.
Case Study Ethical Issue
The right vs right situation here is
- Maria figured that the product may be fake and returning would have caused loss to the company. The right thing in this situation would be to deny the Sophia from the refund as she might be a fraud and maybe trying to use the opportunity to gain the store credits.
- However, Maria needs to make sure she is following the company policies as going against it will be considered as unethical. Since Ria is not allowed she needs to make sure she is maintain the customer satisfaction level by fulfilling their needs.
Case Study Questions
- What steps can the company take to avoid the employees from facing such ethical dilemmas?
- Do you think Ria would have taken the same steps as Maria?
- Should the company give their cashiers more decision-making power to make the right choice?
Inclusion of the Case in Open Learning
Can Rachael include your case in open learning resources? YES
Sebastian Herrera Bernal
Case Study Characters & Roles
- Josh: Driver
- Roger: Manager
- Regional manager
- Customers
Case Study
ABC is a transportation company that offers merchandise logistics to businesses across Canada. In the lower mainland the organization is structured with 2 levels of management: regional manager, and operational manager. In this way, the operations and procedures must be reported to the regional manager and further to the CEO of the organization. Indeed, Roger is the operational manager that ensures products and documents are in order before leaving the business facilities. On the other hand, Josh works as a truck driver for ABC, he has been working at that company for 5 years. During these five years working at the company, he had have two operational managers working at his facilities before Roger arrived to work at ABC. Having a high labor turnover in that position could be a symptom that represents a weak culture in the organization. Moreover, besides transporting the merchandise, Josh must make sure to have two copies of paperwork. One piece of paperwork needs to be signed by the operational manager before leaving and the other copy from the customer at the moment of downloading the merchandise. Josh have realized that Roger was not conducting rutinary standards and avoiding the paperwork. Moreover, Josh has acknowledged that not performing these procedures would have many consequences not just for him but also to the business and clients. As part of Josh duties he had to ask for Roger’s signature to depart and deliver the requested shipment of the day. Surprisingly, Roger have asked him to skip the procedures just once and left. By the time that josh have worked in the organization is the first time that he encountered unethical behavior at the workplace. He is conscious that skipping paperwork and not performing standard procedures are against the code of conduct of ABC. He knows that he has a responsibility to blow the whistle but he is afraid that this would have an impact on his job. He does not know if it worths the risk of losing his jobs, neither know if the organization would support him.
Case Study Ethical Issue
There are two right choices. One choice is to whistle blow and assume the consequences, that would imply that you care about stakeholders that might be affected by avoiding standards of service quality. Another option is to not take any risk and assume that roger is telling the truth that it will be just once. By not participating you will preserve your job and not be involved in any ethical dilemma.
Case Study Questions
Do you think that not taking hands into the matter is a valid position?
Do you think that a whistleblowing system is necessary for organizations?
If you witness a misconduct from your superior would you be comfortable to discuss about the topic with an upper level manager?
Inclusion of the Case in Open Learning
Can Rachael include your case in open learning resources? “Yes”
Hande
Case Study Characters & Roles
- Employers: Cana and Derya
- Employees (Senior Accountant) Cem, Maya and Derek (accountants)
- Customer: (Family)
Case Study
Cem is working in an independent elementary school as an accountant. The school is consisted of 320 employees including staff, teachers and principals, there are also approximately 900 students from grade 1 to grade 8. This school has departments which are Accounting, HR Department, Sales Department. Accounting department is the eye of the school because they are responsible for all the monetary things which are following the enrollments of new¤t students and enrollment fees, sales, salaries and wages for the whole staff. The school is well known with its success and qualified teachers and principals, it also has more than 10 locations. While the school has lots of good reputation because of the all staff that have been working for it but the employers do not have enough interaction with the staff, they do not have sufficient benefits and their salaries are not satisfactory according to the working conditions.
Cem has been responsible for the enrollment and its fees because he has been working in this company more than 10 years and the employers, top managers trust him for especially in his field. Even though, sometimes Cem encounters challenging parents who tries to demand discount he is good at managing and persuading people. He is supporting all the staff and plays a bridge role between them and top managers. When he started to work as a junior accountant, he had learnt many things not only about the school but also how to regulate the monetary issue. That’s why, he constantly arranges training for the junior accountant in terms of learning their roles, chain of command etc… However, after Cem teaches the most important points, they do not want to work because of the low wages or they want to leave because of workload.
The top managers Cana and Derya observe the increasing of pay leaves and they share the strict rules about it and the employees have to share health report in case of their absences otherwise they are getting warning and salaries are cut off.
2 weeks later, one of the new accountant Maya does not come to work and she has sent an email and shared her excuse with Cem. Cem could not see his email in the morning, he was so busy throughout the day. At the end of the day, Cem realized Maya was not in the office, then he checked his email and saw her email but she just apologized not to come to work without explaining her excuse. He got disappointed because the school has strict rule about absences, he should go and share this with the top managers because the rules have just been explained and they are clear. Now, she should get verbal warning and cut off her salary. While Cem was thinking, he also saw another email from one of the customer about estimated fee and the customer claimed that Maya shared the total estimate of education, service and food wrong because of that he missed another reasonable school enrollment. The customer threatened us to complain Maya and her department to the employers. While he was thinking on his own, the other accountant Derek came and he told about Maya’s real excuse. Maya had to stay at home with her daughter because her daughter is disabled and normally her mom is supporting to look after her daughter but today she could not go and Maya could not let her daughter be alone at home. She did not want to share before hiring because she was scared that it could be a reason for rejecting and she needs money to survive because her husband passed away and she has to rent a house and look after her daughter. Now, Cem has difficulty in making decision, actually the rules are clear she has to be informed to the top manager, however, if Cem told the situation to the top managers they would label Maya and they think that she has difficulty in adopting our rules and procedures. Additionally, Cem is responsible for his team and he should protect her because he knows that it is very difficult to look after a disabled child on her own. On the other hand, He is honest to his employers all the time that’s why, they always value his words however, they also focus on the productivity, sustainability and reliability of their employees therefore, if Cem promises not to happen this kind of situation again in behalf of Maya, Maya also may put Cem in difficult situation because he does not know her much.
Case Study Questions
What should Cem do?
Did Maya behave ethically?
Does organization structure cause Maya to hide her situation?
Inclusion of the Case in Open Learning
Can Rachael include your case in open learning resources? Yes
Gagandeep Kaur
Case Study
The business is a leading producer of semiconductor devices, including rectifiers, resistors, diodes, transistors, and other kinds. Comprising of management team, departmental managers, HR professional, diverse workforce having members from all age groups (older [who have proved themselves by providing their services throughout their lives] to younger [who are entering after getting their degrees, all the management and business related skills cum abilities, in short starting their career with all the required tactics needed to deal with the unpredictable future]). The management of the company is involved in taking such decisions related to policy makings, HR team to look after the performance of employees from their entry till exit, including handling grievances, empowerment, appraisals, engagement activities, complaints, etc.
The said organization is producing high-quality goods, complies with all legal requirements, and places a high priority on customer satisfaction, the company has a great reputation in the international market. But discrimination based on “wage inequality” is also an ethical problem. Despite having excellent management and qualified engineers running it, the workplace is chaotic and stressful for young people due to pay discrimination (deserving candidates who can be the future of the company). Young, qualified, and deserving candidates who can benefit the company through their advanced management skills, innovative tactics, and creative minds, have to face the experienced (senior) staff members who has proved their loyalty throughout and have become not only rigid towards youth’s style of working but also resistant towards modern business trends. The management choses to pay them more than the new young hires which has now created a tensed atmosphere in the workplace culture. Because of this, the new recruits often leave their positions or job sooner than expected because their compensation does not match their level of responsibility. This lowers production while raising expenses, absenteeism, turnover, and turnover rates. It is also having a negative impact on the brand’s reputation. The ethical dilemma the organization is facing is choosing its experienced staff for higher pay rates along with recruiting creative management professionals but unable to absorb them in the work culture because of communications gaps or other similar factors.
Case Study Ethical Issue
The ethical dilemma the organization is facing is; on one hand it is choosing its experienced staff for higher pay rates because they have proved their loyalty by giving their whole life to the company, along with recruiting creative management professionals but unable to absorb/ retain them in the work culture. Though the management is being fair to their senior staff members for their services, but in order to do so, their transparent policy makes things unfair for the new hires who, despite being better qualified and possessing the necessary skills, deserve to be paid more but are prevented from doing so by their wage structure or policy. This has a negative impact on their performance, leading to higher turnover, less creativity, etc., and a decline in their sense of loyalty, determination, trust, and motivation.
Hence the management is lacking in creating a win-win situation or more specifically saying unable to do collective bargaining between new and old employees, because in today’s era for smooth functioning of any organization it is very important that both young and old brains can work together with cooperation to achieve the goals successfully through a combination of ‘experience’ + ‘creative ideas’ = ‘ desired results (in the form of increased production, satisfaction, excellent work culture, brand reputation, loyal employees and satisfied customers.
Case Study Characters & Roles
The characters in the above said case are:
- The management: comprises of members that make policies and take decisions for the organization, includes CEO, Director, Plant Heads.
- Senior Members (Main team leads or departmental managers): these are the senior staff members who represent their individual departments and responsible for meeting the targets. They are the ones who have devoted their lives in serving the company and stayed loyal towards it in all situations.
- HR Head: is responsible to act as a mediator between the management and all the employees. It can voice for them and makes all types of committees, meetings, trainings, recruitments, appraisals, compensations, engagement and ensuring compliances of all types.
- Other Employee members: these are the staff of the organization who is working for the company/ organization.
- Newly Hired Employees (New Hires): these are the subject in question who is feeling discrimination and remain unstable because of the weaknesses of the concern.
Some initiatives to deal with the issue
Management:
The company has started using motivational strategies like rewarding their efforts with performance certificates in order to keep up their good work moving forward. To recognize and reward its top performers and keep them loyal to the company, the company employs a variety of techniques. These tactics include praising some individuals for their outstanding performances, throwing celebrations for achieving production targets to involve and engage them, empowering team leads to work independently and display their abilities, etc.
HR Head
- The HR should a safety committee, whose members are required to meet on a regular basis at predetermined frequencies to discuss the issues brought up by the employees. As a result, the whistleblowing procedures are quite effective. Anyone can participate and speak out against improper conduct, an unsuitable culture, poor working conditions, or any other unethical issue that requires immediate attention because the group’s members come from every department.
- Other committees like Canteen, Harassment, Suggestions etc. can be developed and regular meetings should be arranged to deal with the emerging issues,
- Regular audits, checks should be incorporated so that compliances of all types are met.
- Trainings for seniors for emerging changing trends, importance of corporation, team buildings etc. and for new hires proper orientations should be arranged so that all is clear to them right from the beginning.
- Revised salary structure should be made by approaching the management depending upon he current market rates and criteria’s should be defined openly so as to avoid stress amongst the employees.
- Engagement activities, team collaboration and empowerment strategies should be part of the work culture.
- Appreciations (for both individual and team work) in the form of any intrinsic or extrinsic indicators (i.e. monetary or non-monetary) for deserving employees should be a regular fashion.
Other Employees
- Good positive work culture with diverse workforce and open culture will make manpower adjustable and flexible to changes. If they understand the benefits of team-work, plus having a zeal to work for the growth and upliftment of the organization together, they will never be reluctant to work collectively. So, welcoming nature for the new hires or fellow employees can definitely improve the working conditions and increase the positive factors for the smooth functioning of the concern.
New Recruits
• Adaptable Nature, using their energy or skills in the desired direction for the upward movement of the company, viewing senior staff members as an experienced source about the organization and willing to learn and become a part of new cultures, along with the belief that collective efforts by seniors and juniors can achieve desired outputs that will undoubtedly benefit the organization is right direction in the market among its rivals are just a few of the factors that senior staff members are thought to be an experienced source about.
Case Study Questions
Some relevant discussion questions for the said case can be:
- Is the management ethically right or wrong in choosing senior staff members over newly joined employees?
–The management is right in placing its loyal staff members over new ones but at the same time it should not underpay or underestimate the deserving employees who have gained the desired skills, knowledge required to deal with the changing business trends. It should think to create a win-win situation by thinking of a midpoint that can compensate both of them.
- Who can act actively and play an important role in the organization to handle the situation well and convince both the parties, why you think he/she fits the role?
–HR head can play actively by working with the manager to create transparent policies (fair for all). Because he/she is the only one that can deal with the employees as well as the management simultaneously and balance both (being close to both). It is the HR who takes care of the employee and its activities from its entry till its exit.
- What can be some way-outs that can help in balancing the situation and normalizing peaceful cum healthy working conditions at the workplace?
–Some ways to deal this case can be: modifying the pay structure in a way that balances both the seniors and others on the basis of their skills. This can be implemented by developing set guidelines that are unique and equal for all. Complying with which can get the desired compensation package. Then involving all into activities by engagement programs, scheduling trainings on importance of teambuilding, empowering, changing business trends etc., creating a work culture where all can participate, remain satisfied with working conditions of the organization.
Inclusion of the Case in Open Learning
Can Rachael include your case in open learning resources? Yes or No.
YES
Mariana Sadeck Cunha
Case Study
Julia is the Operations Manager for a medium-sized college situated in Vancouver. Due to the rapid growth of the college, Julia’s team has been facing some significant problems in accommodating the increasing number of new students joining every month. Despite Julia’s team doing an excellent job, upon reviewing the budget for her campus, Julia realized that they were significantly over budget. This issue prompted Julia to bring this situation to the attention of the CEO, Carlos, who instructed her to make some cuts.
The following week, Julia scheduled a meeting with Jessica, the Student Support Manager, and Lucas, the Director of Finance, to discuss where they could cut costs without harming the business. Lucas suggested cutting the budget for the Student Support Department, arguing that they did not need as many agents to deal with the students. Currently, the department has five agents taking care of 100 students, at least. However, Jessica strongly objected, stating that cutting the customer service budget would decrease student satisfaction, thereby harming the college’s reputation.
Furthermore, the Student Support agents was: Lucia: she was pregnant of 28 weeks, Ronaldo: the oldest employee working at the company, Fanny: an 18 years old student who just move to Canada without any family and work for pay the college fees, Tom: a recent married who has just discovered that her wife has cancer and Susan: a middle age mom who help to take care of her sister children as her own since her sister has become a drug addict.
As a result, Julia is now facing an ethical dilemma. She wants to follow the CEO’s advice to cut costs and stay within budget, but she also understands the importance of providing excellent customer service and maintaining the college’s reputation. With the college’s growth and the increasing number of students, Julia realizes that cutting costs can be detrimental to the college’s future success. Therefore, Julia must carefully consider all options and ethical implications before making any final decisions that could impact the college’s long-term success. Furthermore, Julia will need to decide whom should be fired facing the fact that all these employees provide an excellent service and have no reason to be fired.
Case Study Ethical Issue
The ethical dilemma is whether Julia should follow the CEO’s advice to cut costs by reducing the budget for student support or to maintain the current budget and ensure student’s satisfaction and how to decide who is supposed to be fired.
Choices
- Follow the CEO’s advice to cut costs by reducing the budget for the Student Support Department, potentially causing a decrease of student’s satisfaction.
- Maintain the budget for Student Support Department to ensure the student’s satisfaction, going over the budget and facing consequences from the CEO.
- All the employees need the job to survive. How to decide who is going to be fired taking into account that everybody’s performance is excellent.
Case Study Questions
What should be considered when deciding about the budget?
How can Julia balance the CEO’s needs and Jessica’s needs?
What are the consequences of cutting Jessica’s budget and how Julia can mitigate these risks?
Which factors should be relevant to decide who is going to be fired?
Inclusion of the Case in Open Learning
Can Rachael include your case in open learning resources? Yes or No.
Yes, Rachel is authorized to include the case in opening learning resources.
Raghav Dawar
Case Study Characters & Roles
- Anushka – Marketing Manager
- Virat – Sales Manager
- Yashika – CEO
- CEOs and Partners – Stakeholders
Case Study
Anushka and Virat are employed at a retailer that specialises in selling green items. Yashika, the CEO, has ordered them to create a fresh marketing strategy for a range of reusable straws. Anushka suggests that the business give a part of their earnings to a nearby environmental non-profit. Virat disagrees and says the business ought to give discounts to patrons who bring their own reusable mugs into the establishment.
Yashika gives both recommendations some thought, but ultimately chooses to take Virat’s recommendation since he believes it would draw in more customers and boost sales. Virat and Anushka are left with conflicting feelings. As it would help the community and adhere to the company’s eco-friendly principles, Anushka thinks that donating revenues to an environmental charity is the ethically appropriate thing to do. On the other hand, Virat believes that rewarding consumers who bring their own cups with discounts is the more sensible strategy since it would directly encourage customers to make ethical decisions and increase business revenues.
Both Anushka and Virat provide right vs. right options. Whereas Virat’s plan is based on justice and self-interest, Anushka’s suggestion is founded on altruism and the greater good. Both ideas are in line with the company’s overarching objective and are ethically justifiable.
Case Study Questions
How can the company balance its social responsibility with its financial goals?
Can a company be truly sustainable if it prioritizes profits over social and environmental impact?
What role does personal values and ethics play in decision-making in the workplace?
Inclusion of the Case in Open Learning
Yes, The Professor, Racheal Newton can include this case in open learning resources
Prince Thukral
Case Study Characters & Roles
- Chris, Manager of a small family-owned restaurant
- Michael, Head Chef of the restaurant
- Maria, Waitress at the restaurant
- Customers of the restaurant
Case Study
Chris owns a small family-owned restaurant that prides itself on providing high-quality
meals made from locally sourced ingredients. The restaurant has become quite popular in
the community due to its reputation for fresh and tasty food. The head chef of the
restaurant, Michael, is known for his culinary skills and creative menu items that keep
customers coming back. Recently, the restaurant has been struggling to make a profit due to
the high cost of locally sourced ingredients, and Chris has been under pressure to cut costs.
One evening, Maria, a waitress at the restaurant, overheard Michael discussing plans to
start using lower-quality ingredients to save costs. Maria knows that using lower-quality
ingredients goes against the restaurant’s values and may lead to negative reviews from
customers. She is conflicted because she doesn’t want to go against her boss, but she also
wants to do what is right for the customers.
Case Study Ethical Issue
Maria is faced with a dilemma where she has to choose between being loyal to her boss and
keeping the restaurant’s values intact by using high-quality ingredients or going against her
boss and reporting the use of lower-quality ingredients to the customers.
Case Study Questions
What ethical obligations do employees have to customers when they witness
unethical behavior in the workplace?
Should Maria report the use of lower-quality ingredients to the customers, even if it
means potentially losing her job?
What steps can Chris take to reduce costs without compromising the restaurant’s
values and reputation?
Inclusion of the Case in Open Learning
Yes, Rachael can include this case in open learning resources.
