Supervisors make decisions that affect employees in many, complex ways. Frequently, it is not obvious what should or can be done. Supervisors face many ethical challenges involving the individuals who work for them, the managers they work with, the company itself, as well as their customers and community. This case considers one such situation and requires the analysis of the supervisor’s behavior described in this scenario.
Read the case and answer the questions that follow.
Several years ago, a supervisor at Vurv Technology discovered that two employees were facing similar difficulties. Renee Richmond, a single mother of two, had been commuting to work in an old Chevrolet Cavalier with more than 150,000 miles on the odometer. One day, it just died, and Richmond worried about how she could afford to replace it. Around the same time a new hire, Tim Gunter, was stuck because the car he was driving broke down. Gunter persuaded a neighbor to drive him to work but he was concerned about losing his job due to not having reliable transportation.
Some supervisors might be willing to arrange for a day off work for an employee to shop for a replacement car, but Richmond and Gunter’s supervisor went a big step further. The supervisor went to Vurv’s founder, Derek Mercer, with a plan. The company should buy each of the employees a car and give it to them so they could keep their jobs.
Mercer took the idea seriously because the supervisor offered logical business reasoning. Hiring and training replacements for the two workers, who were talented and cared about customers, would cost more than the price of two used cars. So Vurv bought and donated the cars—and won the deep loyalty of two workers, who have remained with the company. Gunter expressed their feelings vividly: "We were willing to go the extra mile for the company and work extremely hard in an effort to give back and thank Mr. Mercer for his generosity."
What Richmond and Gunter’s supervisor did for them went beyond a supervisor’s usual role. In fact, this kind of help for an employee might not always be in the company’s best interests. But supervisors are often called on to weigh issues that go beyond job descriptions. They also have to consider what is the right thing to do, and what actions will hurt or harm other people.
The actions of the supervisor and the owner may
a. result in nepotism.
b. result in whistleblowing.
c. have many positive outcomes for the company.
d. have negative effects on sustainability at the company.
e. cause tax problems because the cars are gifts not loans.