The issue of right and wrong has always been open to debate and scrutiny. In people’s private lives, it is open to interpretation and is quite subjective. However, in the business world, there is not that individual definition of right and wrong, at least there should not be. Reflect back on your professional life and recall any time you can identify when, in your own opinion, your organization may have done something unethical. Please do not state or specify the name of the business, just the incident. Then, support your opinion with some research to substantiate your assertions.
- Search the library and the Internet for information pertaining to the ethical violation made by your organization, past or present, and be sure notto identify the organization. See if this incident has occurred in other organizations; give 2 examples and their outcomes.
- Can you think of any legitimate justification for the organization’s actions with 2 examples? Explain.
Assignment 1A 850 to 1000 words)
You have worked at this organization for over 10 years and feel totally unappreciated. You have not received a promotion or pay raise in over 5 years, and you work long days and typically take work home with you to stay caught up. Your supervisor—who you despise because of the way he treats you and because he does not authorize any promotion or raise, whereas other departments do—climbs the staircase in front of your cubicle every day to get to his office. This particular supervisor has been with the organization for over 30 years and can essentially retire at any time, but he chooses to continue to work. You happen to notice that a portion of the staircase is rotting out and you are fearful of stepping on it yourself. You don’t particularly like your supervisor, so you don’t report it to your maintenance manager.
Last Monday, your supervisor fell down the flight of stairs and did substantial damage to his back, necessitating his retirement. You found out that you are being promoted to his position. Your promotion will provide you with a handsome pay increase and allow you to get your family to live in a nicer and safer neighborhood that is closer to work and has better schools. Have you violated any laws by your actions or inactions? Have you made any ethical violations? Explain.
Assignment Guidelines:
- Do you believe you acted unethically by not reporting the rotting stairs? Why or why not?
- How would you handle the situation if you were the owner of the organization and found out that your employee failed to do anything or report the rotting stairs?
Do you feel your actions or inactions warrant any disciplinary action? Explain. As an individual, do you feel that the scenario described could be or should be defended with something like “I was owed this raise and promotion because of my ability and time with the organization”? Explain.
- Compose your findings into a Word document (850–1,100 words), and be sure to cite your sources.
Assignment 1B ( 3 to 5 paragraphs)
- Using the CTU Library and/or Google Scholar, find and describe an actual episode of a student, business professional, or well-known public figure being expelled, punished, or fired for plagiarism. Be careful to cite direct quotations from your article and to put the words into quotations, identifying the writer/speaker.
- Use this case as a springboard to discuss the importance of practicing academic honesty in school and beyond. In your answer, define plagiarism and describe ways that students and employees can unwittingly perpetrate academic dishonesty without realizing it.
- Finally, discuss what steps you can take to ensure that you are always properly crediting ideas that you use in your own work.
Your Individual Project should contain the following:
- An introduction with a clear thesis statement
- Body paragraphs with topic sentences
- Supporting information in the form of quotes or paraphrased passages
- A meaningful conclusion
- A properly formatted reference page with at least one reliable source
- Proper in text citations
In addition to these structural guidelines your individual project should also contain the following:
- A cover page
- Headers
- Page numbers
- Be double-spaced using 12 point, Times New Roman, Arial, or Courier fonts.
