Nerekha
Question2 …
Question2
CORCON is a large construction company that employs 3 600 people on a permanent basis. Although the company’s growth has been very good, there is pressure on all employees to perform and reach difficult targets. Younger employees feel frustrated, rather disloyal and utter phrases like ‘we feel leaderless’ and ‘there is no management in this company’. There seems to be a poor climate in the organisation. The company has also lost its reputation for being an employer of choice. Furthermore, there have been allegations and talk in the corridors about the company being targeted by a large- scale investigation about corruption in the construction industry. It appears that the company’s management are divided into two camps regarding the importance of ethics: one group is of the opinion that ethics ‘does not belong in business’ and that the company’s only obligation is to their shareholders; the other is of the opinion that the shareholders are but one stakeholder of the company.
A new employee, Sean, has recently graduated from university with a degree in human resource management. He was fortunate enough to get a job as management trainee in the HR department (the recruitment/selection section) of the company.
During his first two days with his new employer he attended a voluntary, but quite comprehensive, induction programme. The topics that were covered included HR policies, health and safety regulations, training programmes available in the organisation, how the organisational benefits work, the organisation’s disciplinary and grievance procedures, as well as information on the organisation’s recreational programmes.
During the induction programme CORCON’s CEO gave a short speech. The speech contained a few words of welcome, after which the CEO provided some statistics on the organisation’s successes during the previous financial year. He also stated in no uncertain terms that the new employees had to realise that ‘he didn’t care what they had to do in the process, as long as the work got done’. He also emphasised that ‘the work has to be done with a cost-cutting mindset’.He then wished them well and hurriedly left to attend a board meeting.
After the induction programme Sean was introduced to Jay, his supervisor. Jay was the manager of the recruitment/selection section in the HR Department. He gave him a hearty welcome and assured him that the HR Department was the ‘best department’ in CORCON, even to the extent that other departments were envious of it.
During his first week on the job he was asked to work through a batch of CVs of candidates applying for jobs in CORCON’s call centre. He was told by Jay to eliminate all those candidates that were older than 30 years. When he asked why the cut-off was 30 years, Jay told him that that they already had enough dead wood in the organisation. While discussing this with Jay, the phone rang. Jay spoke to the caller for a few minutes and then put the phone down with a triumphant glint in his eyes. ‘I just organised a weekend in a resort for my wife and I!’ he said. ‘And it’s for free!’, he continued. Sean later heard through the grapevine that Jay’s resort trip was sponsored by Finders, a recruitment agency that often did business with the CORCON. Jay had made about 60% of all new appointments during the past year through Finders.
Later in that week Sean got a call from a person called Marvin. Marvin introduced himself as an assistant manager with Finders and told Sean that Jay suggested he call Sean and get to meet him. Marvin suggested they have lunchtogether the same day. During the lunch,which Marvin paid for, he toldSean that he had good relations with the footballfraternity and that he could arrange free tickets to all major football events. Marvin also suggested that he seriously consider some excellent candidates for the call centre position whose CVs had been sent through by Finders.
Things startedbothering Sean. He felt uncomfortable deep down. He was uncertain as to how to deal with the issue regarding Marvin. The next day he approached Jay who told him that Finders ‘always provided the best candidates’. Jay also told Sean that Marvin had many connections and that he was a good person to know. Sean, sensing that something was not above board, then attempted to find out what the company policy regarding accepting gifts from suppliers and vendors was. He was told that there were no specific guidelines in this regard.A supervisor in another department told him not to be a stirrer, and another HR manager told him to use his gut feel to deal with his uncertainties. He even phoned the Communications Department, but no-one there could answer his query about accepting gifts.
When he got to his office the next day, there were two tickets to the next major football game in a blank envelope on his desk
Question
What arguments would you use to convince the managers that are of the opinion that ethics ‘does not belong in business’ and that the company’s only obligation is towards the shareholders, that ethics does in fact matter in business? (40)
