Business Ethics Problem - Essay Example

Therefore, employees should behave professionally and ethically in all situations because ethical behavior is the key to the resolution of complex issues. Hall (2011) states, “Ethics pertain to the principles of conduct that individuals use in making choices and guiding their behaviors in situations that involve the concepts of right and wrong” (p. 112). In this paper, I will relate an example of a U.S. software company where a customer confidence problem occurred between an employee from the programming department and a customer of the company.

The base of the issue was less accounting knowledge of the software developer. Description of the Company The name of the company where the ethical issue arose is SyBase. The company belongs to the Computer Software industry and deals with the development of software products and applications. The company started its operations in 1984. The company has become one of the top software companies of the United States due to the quality of its products and services. The Ethical Issue An ethical issue occurred in SyBase in 2004.

One day, a customer came to the customer service department and made a complaint about the accounting software that the company developed for him on request. He made a claim that the application had some errors because it was not giving correct results. The software was showing incorrect results for the calculations of Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, and some other calculations. He wanted to meet the software developer who developed that accounting software for him. When the customer services officer to whom the customer brought the issue contacted that database developer, he started making excuses and did not come to meet the customer.

Upon telling the real situation to the developer, he asked the customer services officer to make the customer come after a week. The customer left the office and came again after a week to get the remodeled accounting software. When the customer services officer told the developer about the arrival of the customer, he asked him to apologize to the customer once more. The reason was that the developer was still not able to remove the errors. The customer became disappointed with the situation and asked the customer services officer to file a complaint to the manager of the programming department.

When the manager investigated the issue, he came to know that the software developer was not able to fulfill the requirements of the customer due to which he was delaying the issue. The developer did not have a grip over complex accounting issues due to which he was not able to develop reliable accounting software for the customer. The ethical issue in this example was that the developer tried to hide his inability in removing the errors by delaying the issue. Individuals Involved in the Issue The individuals involved in the issue were the software developer, the manager of the programming department, and a regular customer of the company.

Outcome of the Issue The issue not only decreased the customer’s confidence in the company but also resulted in putting a spot on the company’s image. The developer could have tackled the situation in a much different way. He should have made the company aware of the real situation instead of being afraid of losing his job. Recommendations for the company The manager of the