ETHICAL CASE STUDY, PART Consider the following (fictional) situation: You are a
ID: 435346 • Letter: E
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ETHICAL CASE STUDY, PART Consider the following (fictional) situation: You are a regional manager for Dentexon, which sells medical equipment to dentist's offices. You manage six account executives over a two-state area, but your offices are located in Oklahoma City. Your manager, the VP for Sales in the Western Region, lives in California. She calls you to explain that Dentexon's quarterly results are not good, and the company has decided to implement a reduction in force, concentrating on account executives with sales less than SI million annually. You have two account executives that currently produce less than this amount, and your manager says that the decision about who to terminate is up to you; she will not second-guess your decision, but will hold you responsible for creating the best outcome possible. Naturally, she advises you to make the choice that is in the company's best long-term interests. Helen is 58 years old, and has been with Dentexon for more than 15 years. At various times, her annual sales have been more than S1 million, but her recent work output has been declining, and she now manages a customer portfolio worth $900,000, which is continuing to decline slightly She has a son in his early twenties who has a drug addiction. He has been a source of constant worry and expense for her, and a distraction from her job. She is not spending much time at the office, but being aware of her personal troubles you have not made a big issue out of it. Her husband has been a maintenance man at a local elementary school for years, and Helen is the main breadwinner for her family. She has stated several times to you that she doesn't know how they would make ends meet at her house without her paycheck. When Helen's troubles with her son began two years ago, she was failing to make appointments with a couple of her unprofitable accounts. You suggested that if time management was a problem for her, you would move the accounts to another rep who had time to develop them. Helen did not object-the two accounts in question rarely produced any commission for her, and moving them reduced demands on her time. Her remaining accounts are very devoted to her, as are several of the account executives whose jobs are not threatened: Helen is one of the experienced “old hands" who others go to for assistance with various company processes. Helen has lived in Oklahoma City her whole life, and has social connections through churches and civic organizations to many of her customer contacts. They know about her situation, and will probably be upset if Helen is terminated. Buck is only 28, but has been very active and successful since you hired him 2 years ago. To help him build an account base, you transferred the two accounts from Helen to Buck, and he has increased sales and profit in both. They were producing about S150,000 with Helen, but are now buying almost $250,000. Buck now manages a customer portfolio worth $850,000 but his sales are increasing monthly, and you expect that they will soon be over SI million dollars. Buck is very popular with his customers, as well, who are mainly younger buyers who enjoy his wit and style, but if he were to be terminated, you expect that most of them would not be that upset - he has only known them for a few months, in most cases. Buck is very ambitious, always on the lookout for ways to increase his sales and paycheck, and considered one of the "up-and-comingExplanation / Answer
1. From the perspective of the upper management, the company is making a transformtional change where the small books of accounts will be reallocated to form the bigger accounts and this consolidation will help to exploit the market in a better way.
2. The change is a source of demotivation for the all employees irrespective of the person who goes out. The change is surely not going to "invigorate" any salesperson, who would be saddened to know that the company does not value long association and loyalty ( if Helen is removed) and hard work and commitment ( If Buck gets terminated), thus forcing them to look for alternatives as they can be the next in line, in case the limit is raised to $2M or more, for further consolidation.
3. For the retained employee, the work will never be the same again, as he /she will lack the same zeal and commitment for the job, and would leave to join the competitor ( If it is Buck) and start looking for alternatives ( If she is Helen)
4. For outgoing employee, it would be a transitional change. If it is Buck, it will be a setback initially, but an opportunity for future. For Helen, it will be a struggle to make the ends meet, but she will also come out strongly out of it, given her experience and social well being.
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