MgtS 4461 – Business and Society

Lesson plan: February 14, 2008

Ethical problems of managers

Goals of today’s lesson:

In this class, we introduce you to the daily life of the manager. We expose you to some basic employment issues (dealing with recalcitrant employees; hiring, discipline, and termination issues; workforce diversity).

• Students will understand some of the nuances and issues dealing with ‘problem’ employees.
• Students will understand some of the nuances dealing with establishing hiring criteria, dealing with employee discipline, and terminating employees.
• Students will think through issues related to diversity, both on campus and in the workplace.

“Employment Basics”

Q1: Dealing with recalcitrant employees:

Consider the short case on page 176-177. This is actually a situation you may easily confront early in your career. For example, you may start your career as a management trainee in a local bank. You answer to the branch manager, and you have 3-4 tellers who answer to you. The tellers are likely to be middle aged females (this is a career still somewhat ghettoized by sex), and have far less education than you do. (Thus, they’ll likely further perceive you to be “a snippy youngster who thinks s/he’s really great ’cause s/he’s got an education.”) In your group, think about your strategy for dealing with this situation.

1a. If you approach your supervisor, what request do you make? How do you want him or her to act? (Do you want them to handle the situation directly, or do you want them to stop acting a certain way?) What will her / his possible responses be to your comments? Think through the full possible range. What is an acceptable response, and how do you maximize your chances of getting it? (Note – if you’ve actually encountered this on the job, talk about your actual experiences instead. Did what you did work? Why or why not?)

1b. Should you approach your subordinates directly? If you do, how do you want them to change? What are their responses likely to be to your orders / requests? (And do you frame your communication as an order or a request? What determines that?) How do you maximize your chances of succeeding? (Again, if you’ve actually experienced this, what happened?)

1c. What seems to be the best course of action (the one most likely to produce the outcomes you desire)? Why?

1d. Are there any ethical considerations in your choice of actions? What are they?

Q2: Hiring and relevant job qualifications:

Read “Hiring Case #2” on page 155.

2a. Generally, do you believe that non-work related criteria (such as personal appearances) should be considered in hiring an employee? What does the law say on this point? What are the limits?

2b. Think about organizations you are familiar with that seem to hire based on criteria such as physical appearance. Can they make a reasonable business case to support their position? Why or why not?

2c. Do you hire the homely sales manager? Why or why not?

Q3: Disciplining employees:

Read the short case on discipline on page 159.

3a. If you were Steven’s manager, what should you do? How do you handle this specific situation? Is this worth canning Steven over? Why or why not?

3b. More generally, should you have “a law for the rich and a law for the poor?” Why or why not? What signals does it send to have a two-tier system? If you want only a single system, how could you take into account the eccentricities of your stars?

“Workforce Diversity”

The portion of today’s class on diversity will be a multi-phase class discussing issues surrounding diversity on the campus and in the workplace. My goal for today is that you come to have a better understanding of what diversity is and why it will be important for you as you enter your managerial careers.

Phase 1: On your own, please answer the following question:

I believe that diversity on the campus is a good idea. (Circle your response.)

1 = strongly agree.

2 = agree a little.

3 = neutral.

4 = disagree a little.

5 = strongly disagree.

Phase 2: In your small groups, please come up with a definition of the term “diversity.” Please be as broad as possible in your thinking. (I.e., please move beyond “it’s having a bunch of (fill in ethnic group of your choice) take up a bunch of valuable class space.”)

Phase 3: In your small groups, please start to come to grips with why many people find the concept of diversity so offensive. Is it the concept itself that is offensive, or the way you see it being operationalized? (Leads to discussion of research methods & operationalization of constructs.)

Phase 4: In your small groups, please look at either the positive or negative aspects of diversity on the campus. I will assign each group to look at one or the other perspective.

Positive aspects of diversity

Negative aspects of diversity

Phase 5: I will select (at random) a small group of students to meet (for 3 minutes) and devise a summary of arguments. Each group will have 2 minutes to present their case to the class. After each presentation, each group may ask the opposing group one question. At the end of this, I will ask you to evaluate the effectiveness of each group’s arguments.

Phase 6: On your own, please re-answer the following question:

I believe that diversity on the campus is a good idea. (Circle your response.)

1 = strongly agree.

2 = agree a little.

3 = neutral.

4 = disagree a little.

5 = strongly disagree.

Has your opinion on this issue changed? Why or why not?

Phase 7: Why does diversity matter? (What happens when you get into the “real world”?)

Conclusions:

• Dealing with employees can be a challenging and complicated thing.
• While sometimes it seems easy to decide on criteria used to hire employees, they can turn out to be very thorny and problematic.
• Issues of discipline and termination are challenging, as what seems to be a minor issue may blow up, and what seems terrible may really be miniscule.
• Diversity of the workforce exists and will grow in importance over your careers. Finding ways to promote diversity can lead to strategic advantage for firms, but is also fraught with difficulty.