Writing Essay: Writing Essay: Writing Essay: Writing Essay: Five years ago, Al g
ID: 3810388 • Letter: W
Question
Writing Essay:
Writing Essay:
Writing Essay:
Writing Essay:
Five years ago, Al graduated from college and began working for Superlative Software Corporation. His most recent promotion has made him the manager of a large group of software engineers and support staff. One of Al’s responsibilities is to submit his budget request for the next scal year. He’s never done this before, so one day over lunch he asks Barb, a more experienced manager, for some advice.
Barb: Figure out what you need to complete the projects your group will be doing, and then add another 20 percent. High-level management always cuts everybody’s budget 10 to 20 percent, so after they reduce your budget, you’ll still have the money you’ll need.
Al: But the memo from the Vice President said we should only ask for the amount of money we need.
Barb: Nobody pays attention to that.
Al: What if they ask me to justify my budget? It’d be pretty obvious that I’ve padded it.
Barb: They never do that—they don’t have the time. Even if they did, you could work the numbers to justify the extra staff you’ll need to meet the tight deadlines they’ve set.
Al: You mean lie?
Barb: Look, what are you going to do if your group doesn’t get the budget it needs? You won’t be able to staff up for the new projects. That means you and all your current staff are going to be super stressed all year long trying to meet the deadlines. Spare yourself a lot of grief and do what all the other managers are doing.
What would you do if you were in Al’s position? Why? Support your choice by referencing ethical theories.* I recommend a 5-paragraph structure for this essay
* Choose theories from the textbook's four workable theories: Kantianism, Act Utilitarianism, Role Utilitarianism, or Social Contract Theory.
Explanation / Answer
Al has 2 options, either to submit exact budget or hike it up as per the advice from Barb.
Let us apply the 4 workable theories:
Kantianism -
The rightness or wrongness does not depend on the outcome, it depends on whether they fulfil the duty.
Hence in the case submit exact budget will be the conclusion.
Utilitarianism
This checks whether the general happiness is improved by the decision. The end result matters. Hence
Act Utilitarianism -
"The end justifies the means" is how act utilitarianism works. Here the projects can be completed successfully, people working on it will be happy and hence requesting for the higher budget is justified.
Rule Utilitarianism -
Role Utilitarianism focuses on what is the general rule followed and gets maximum happiness to the most people.
Hence in this case the suggestion given by Barb to hike the budget should be ok.
Social Contract Theory
“morality consists in the set of rules governing behavior, that rational people would accept, on the condition that others accept them as well.”
As no other manager submits the budget to the actuals, only Al doing it does not help.
After applying the referencing ethical theories, it appears that most of them support what Barb has suggested. It works in the long term survival of the organization, successful completion of the project, people being happy and the benefit of the organization. So even though the decision does not fit with Kantianism, it is better to add 10-20% to the budget.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.