Knox Case Study - Research Paper Example

Knox Case study Introduction Profit orientation is the aim of business organizations and managers develop strategies, such as rewarding employees, for improving their sales towards higher revenues and profits. Such occurrences however, occasionally, conflicts ethical values that are expected of organizations and their employees and may have long-term sustainability implications on businesses. This paper explores a case study and discusses conflicting interest between profit motives and ethics in the competitive business environment.

Possible reaction, as the manager, to Knox’s story and possibility of actionKnox’s story not only presents a dilemma to his manager, but to any stakeholder in the case because it revolves around a professionally conscious individual who begins by seeking permission for his actions and works diligently towards delivering his organization’s desires. As his manager, I would be positive about his success in winning a new client to the company but would not communicate his strategy to other employees and external stakeholders.

I would also urge him to be more sensitive to possible ethical concerns. No action should be taken against Knox for his initiatives but he should instead be advised to be more careful not to breach ethical values in his sales initiatives. My reaction would be based on an understanding of dilemma that employees face in defining moments and the possible consequences of victimizing employees for choosing a right thing over another. Knox did not take advantage of the client but used his skills to draw the client’s attention to what he could offer and subsequently what his organization could offer.

He was also not deceitful but generated mutual benefit for both the company and the client and should therefore not be reprimanded (Humphreys, Amed, Pryor, Hanson, Peppers, Rogers and Borg, 2009; Badaracco, 1998).Possible reaction, as another manager, to dealing with Armadillo and other salespeopleBeing another manager in the company, I would consult with Armadillo to determine their opinion about their interaction with Knox. My interest would be to determine their derived utility from the interaction for ethical consideration.

If they consider the approach dishonest and they believe that Knox initiatives coerced them, then I would explain to them our ethical policies and consider a remedy and a possible action against Knox. Their satisfaction with the initiative would however communicate utilitarian ethics because ethics is circumstantial (Badaracco, 1998).I would advise other salespeople to be careful in their sales initiatives because while some clients might consider such acts as ethical, others may be offended because of cultural diversity.

I would therefore recommend restraint from such behavior to eliminate possible social conflicts between the organization and its clients. This is also because not only does it matter to be ethical, but the means to towards the ethical action also matters (Badaracco, 1998). Why managers should be concerned with both end goals and means to those goalsManagers should consider their end goals and means to the end goals because this prevents and manages possible conflict between organization’s entrepreneurial interest and ethics.

Such a consideration ensures ethical practice towards clients’ social utility and consequently safeguards long-term interest in the end goals (Badaracco, 1998). Determining course of actionI can determine course of action by implementing established ethical standards in my organization to determine morality in actions. Such provisions help employees in their defining moments by aligning their values to those of the organization and preventing ethical conflicts. The provisions also offer a just benchmark for judging actions (Badaracco, 1998).

ReferencesBadaracco, J. (1998). Defining moments: When managers must choose between right and right. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Humphreys, J., et al. (2009). World-class bull. Harvard Business Review, 87(5), 35-42.