From the article Blowing the Whistle on JCPenney\'s \"Fake Sales\" Which of Kohl
ID: 1162666 • Letter: F
Question
From the article Blowing the Whistle on JCPenney's "Fake Sales"
Which of Kohlberg's six stages of moral development would you say that Bob Blatchford had reached? Explain.
Do his actions and motives support or undermine Carol Gilligan's views?
What would you say is unique about him or what he did?
How does William Damon's theory of moral identity apply to Bob Blatchford?
Ron Johnson, CEO of JCPenney for only 17 months, was fired on April 8, 2013. Under Johnson, company sales revenues fell by $4.3 billion, the company lost $1.3 billion, and the stock lost half its value. Johnson had instituted a new policy of "fair and square every-day" low prices. Yet his every-day low price policy alienated JCPenney's traditional customers, who preferred periodic sales with heavily discounted merchandise. Johnson's replacement was Mike Ullman, who got rid of the every-day low price policy and brought back the sales promotions that customers loved. Under the new management, the sales promotions came along with a sales strategy. On July 24, 2013, Bob Blatchford, a JCPenney employee, appeared on NBC's Today show and said that JCPenney was systematically raising its prices so it could later claim it was selling its goods at lower "sale" prices, a practice that could be illegal. Blatchford said, "I saw a lot of pricing teams going through the store, raising the prices, mostly doubling-towels and clothing. Then they would go on sale, and they wouldn't always go on sale for 50 percent off. Not only was it a fake sale, but they [customers] were actually paying more than they would have been previously." Before revealing what the company was doing, Blatchford said, he had contacted senior executives about what was going on; although they said they would look into it, nothing changed. So even though he knew it might cost him his job, he had gone public. "I thought it was wrong and I thought the public had a right to know," he said.Explanation / Answer
Kohlberg says that moral reasoning is the basis for ethical behavior which has 6 developmental stages. He emphasized that process of moral development is basically concerned with justice and it continues throughout an individual’s lifetime. Kohlberg classified 6 stages of moral development into 3 levels such as Pre-conventional, Conventional and Post-conventional.
We will discuss these stages in detail below to understand the actions of Bob Blatchford.
Pre-conventional morality: This level of moral reasoning is basically found in children though sometimes adults can also exhibit it. Here morality of an action is judged based on its consequences. This is further divided in 2 stages.
Stage1 (Consequences driven): In this stage an action is considered morally wrong because one will get punished. Someone is good in actions to avoid being punished & if someone is punished he must have done something wrong.
Stage 2 (Individualism & self- interest driven): At this stage an individual’s right behavior is because of a belief that this is in his best interest. Different individuals can have different viewpoint.
Conventional morality: At this level morality is characterized by acceptance of society's standards regarding right and wrong. We begin to internalize moral standards of adult role models. This is further divided in 2 stages.
Stage 3 (Good intentions as set by social consensus driven): Here an individual’s behavior is receptive to approval or disapproval of society’s views.
Stage 4 (Maintaining social order driven): Here an individual comes to know the wider rules of society so his actions are driven by obeying rules in order to uphold the law and avoid guilt.
Post conventional morality: Here an individual’s actions are based on self- chosen principles. Moral reasoning is based on individual rights and justice. It has two stages.
Stage 5 (Social contract and individual right driven): While an individual thinks that laws might exist for larger good, there are instances when they work against the interest of a particular individual or group of people.
Stage 6 (Universal ethical principles driven): At this stage people develop their own set of ethical principles which may or may not fit the law. An individual will act to defend universal principles like human rights, justice and equality even if it means going against rest of the society.
Bob Blatchford has undergone these different stages of moral development reaching to a point where he gave more importance to justice and larger benefit to society over his self -interests. He considered the act of fake sales hazardous to society and it was not in the interest of people therefore he raised voice against wrong practice by JC penny and ignored his self-interest.
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