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Ethics Case Study Paper

Decent Essays

Is pleasing the customers, and telling them what they might want to hear, more important than being honest with them? When clients ask the company for reports, their main interest should be to get a thorough and comprehensive analysis. If they were only looking for a confirmation of what they wanted to hear, they should not need the research.
This case study review will show that ethics and honesty are more important than pleasing the customer. When Greg was given revised numbers, and was asked to rewrite the report to match the changes, he was put in a difficult situation. He just recently joined the organization, and is likely still getting a feel for the company culture. What are the values and shared goals? His supervisor, Elizabeth, …show more content…

Elizabeth is likely struggling from two perspectives. She has to follow directives of the company owners, in this case Mr. Collins, although she might not agree with the decision. At the same time she is the one that has to explain the change to the analysts. Kouzes and Posner (2012) found that "Before you can be a leader of others, you need to know clearly who you are and what your core values are. Once you know that, then you can give those values a voice and feel comfortable sharing them with others" (p. 17). Elizabeth's behavior is not ethical, but she is in a similar position as Greg. Obey the orders, get the analysts to change the report, and have the outside computer firm revise their printouts, or risk getting written-up or terminated.
I would be surprised if this was the first time such a redo of a report was ordered by the owners. This has an overall negative influence on the company culture and values being communicated. If employees feel that unethical actions are being performed, it taints all messages being communicated. Kouzes and Posner (2012) stated that "If you don't believe in the messenger, you won't believe the message" (p.

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