Business ethics and law 1st assignment.

Decision Making and Cases, 8th edition, South

Western Cengage Learning. Pp 87-88.
1. There are several of Josephs ethical problems which are :
a. While doing some reguler checkup work on sales personnel, Joseph found out that
Carl had been giving kickbacks to some of his buyers. It makes his sales volume
raised significantly. Besides, Carls already had experience in the company for
several years. Which means, Carls will be more respected by others than Joseph.
While, Carl is vice presidents son-in-law.
b. It was not only Carl which did kickbacks, but also 3 of his 10 people were doing
the same thing and the boss did not know about this situation. It means Carld and
3 of his people lied to their boss.
c. The policy of the company was not mention any specification of kickbacks, even
kickbacks ultimately reduce fair competition. Which eventually leads to reduced
quality and increased prices for customer. (Fairness)
d. Joseph is called as Little Joey or Joey because of his age. (Abusive).
e. Kathryn, the vice president had a tendency to shoot the bearer of bad news.
f. The chain-of-command structure in the company mande it very dangerous to fo
directly to a vice president with this type of information (kickbacks which done by
Carl and 3 of his people).
g. Ellen (Josephs wife) was choosen by Kathryn as her new broker. (Conflict of
interest).
2. There are several options which can be considered by Joseph. I think there must be
two point of view. The first point a view is Joseph as a worker, and the second view is
me as students of business ethics and law. The first point of view, Joseph can stay in
this situation without tell Kathryn anything about the kickbacks. There are some
consideration of this option, here are the reason :
a. Joseph still had a lot of financial problems because of his spending. So he still has
to do work.
b. There are Carl and his 3 people that did kickbacks, but it turns out fine until now
for the company.
c. Carl already on Alcon company within years, so Kathryn and the rest of people
will trust Carl than Joseph. Besides, Carl is vice presidents son-in-law.
d. Ellen (Josephs wife) was choosen by Kathryn as her new broker. If Joseph tells
about kickback problem which Carl and his people did, it will make Kathryns
relationship with Joseph going down. While Ellen is Josephs wife, it means
Kathryn will be not choose Ellen as her broker anymore.

The second point a view as a student of business ethics and law, Joseph has to report
the kickback which Carl and three of his people did. Even, Joseph will get fired and
break up with his wife. It seems a little bit risky to report the kickback, but if Joseph
report the kickback, it means he have integrity and honesty.
3. Additional information that I need to know before making decision are the working
condition at the company, the working relationship between Joseph and Carl, Kathryn,
and others, and the financial condition of Ellen and Joseph. Also, the relationship
commitment between those two if there is something ethical dilemma that Joseph had.
4. There are some example in business area which have problem about ethical issue,
here are the example :
a. Contractor building project
Government usually have a project to build a building. The project will be given
to several constructors to be fair. The kickback happens when constructor A
give some portion of money to government official while other constructors do
not know about it. Then, the constructor A will win the construction bidding
and sign the contract to build the governments building.
b. In mining industry, the quality assurance is the main function of the company. It is

include the safety of workers, the quality of tools, and the technique to prevent
accidents. A drill rig contains a large drill which creates the hole into the ground
deeply. Unfortunately, there was a case that made mass accident because of
substandart drill rigs quality of tools. The mass accident makes mud flood in
those area. It found out that the supplier of the tools was doing kickback to the
mining company. So, the substandart drill rig tools was used during the drill.