Write (Business Writing) a case study analysis report on the three business ethics case studies listed below.
First Case Study:
Quality or Quantity
When Incentives Don’t Match Your Values
Noah Rickling, Hackworth Business Ethics Fellow â 13
Frank, a recent Santa Clara University graduate, recently landed a sales job for a Silicon Valley tech company. He is part of a team that qualifies sales opportunities. After talking to potential customers, Frank decides whether or not they are quality leads. If they are, he refers them to an account executive (AE) to close the deal, saving the company precious time in money in avoiding low probability contracts. If not, he will not pass them on and the sales opportunity is not pursued. Account executives expect prescreening of potential leads in order to maximize their time. Each referral Frank passes to the AE is added to a tally that counts toward his target monthly total, and there is a monetary bonus for all sales staff members who reach their monthly quota.
This creates some controversy among Frank’s team members, who are faced with conflicting incentives; pass on low quality leads to hit your quota, or focus on quality and risk missing the monthly target. The pressure to “hit your number” comes from both the monetary incentive and management, who benefit when their sales team hits their quotas. To further complicate matters, since each sales representative self-reports how many leads they passed along, they can inflate their numbers in order to reach the monthly target goal: a common occurrence among Frank’s coworkers.
As Frank tries to adjust to his new job, he is finding it difficult to balance his own moral compass with the pressure of hitting his monthly number.
How would you handle the dilemma between hitting the quota and submitting quality work you stand behind? What factors would weigh into your decision? What solutions would best solve this dilemma?
Second Case Study:
Startup Management
Friend or Liability?
Alexis Babb, Hackworth Business Ethics Fellow 2013
Edward is CEO of a nonprofit startup. He hired Charlie, a high school friend, last summer, to stabilize the company while Edward finished his degree. Charlie is from a prominent family, with a powerful network that has raised a large amount of money for Edward’s nonprofit. Both Edward and Charlie are committed to the mission of helping low-income students go to college, and with this shared vision they get along well.
Although Charlie is great at strategy formulation, Edward finds that he is poor at executing plans and taking action. Now that Edward is graduating, he wants to take the nonprofit to the next level, but is concerned about Charlie’s lack of execution will hold the company back. On the other hand, Charlie made a major contribution keeping the company afloat the past year, in addition to his family’s contributions, not to mention the two have been friends for some time now.
What should Edward do?
Third Case Study.pdf
Cultural Barriers
When Equality Compromises Efficiency
Saayeli Mukherji, Hackworth Fellow 20 13
Ralph was a sales representative of a small but fast-growing mobile and social advertising platform. Working directly with the co-founder, Mike, Ralph was responsible for door-to-door sales, pitching the company’s platform that helped clients gain a virtual following of customers.
The business owners in the area often spoke English as a second language, making clear communication between the two parties a key concern for Ralph.
On one sales call, Ralph approached a small hair salon and secured a contract along with a $100 signup fee. However, the situation soon turned sour, as the hairdresser was furious after learning that she would have to operate the online platform herself, as opposed to the full service deal she thought she had signed.
Mike, Ralph’s boss, now found himself stuck in tough situation. Ralph claimed that he was blatantly clear what the contract was offering, though mentioned communication was strained due to the language barrier.
Under the company’s philosophy of putting the customer first, Mike refunded the $100 signup fee and voided the contract.
This was not the first time Mike had to refund a contract under these conditions, causing Mike to revisit both the contract and Ralph’s sales pitch to ensure that the language was a clear as possible. After this incident, it was clear that adjustments have not made an impact, and the company continued to lose money on negated contracts and time wasted not pursuing interested customers. Mike began to consider redrawing their target areas away from those where English is not the predominantly spoken language, but is concerned that would be an injustice to those potential customers.
Should Mike make the decision to work only with English-speaking customers? Is that an ethical solution? Are there any alternatives?
You MUST follow THE EXACT FORMAT of the TEMPLATE:
Introduction
(The introduction, which should be 4 short paragraphs, should include, in business writing format:
• One paragraph: The titles of the case studies you chose
• Three paragraphs, one per case study: Why you chose to write about EACH of these specific case studies)
(Title of Case Study #1)
Summary:
(No more than half a page, in business writing format, in which you describe what the case study is about, with no opinions.)
Recommended Solution/Course of Action:
(One paragraph, in business writing format, in which you state what course of action should be taken in this case.)
Analysis:
(2-3 paragraphs, in business writing format, analyzing the case study, explaining why you chose your course of action, using the discussion questions after the case study, which help you the most, to develop your analysis.)
Soft Skills Needed:
(1-2 paragraphs, in business writing format, stating which three soft skills are most needed to carry out this course of action/solution and how they will help.)
(Please note:
• You need to use all of the headings above.
• To develop your analysis/soft skills needed, you also need 1-2 APA cited credible outside sources.
• Your paragraphs should not be very long, since they are single-spaced and left justified. Review the sample report for how long they should be.)
(Title of Case Study #2)
Summary:
(No more than half a page, in business writing format, in which you describe what the case study is about, with no opinions.)
Recommended Solution/Course of Action:
(One paragraph, in business writing format, in which you state what course of action should be taken in this case.)
Analysis:
(2-3 paragraphs, in business writing format, analyzing the case study, explaining why you chose your course of action, using the discussion questions after the case study, which help you the most, to develop your analysis.)
Soft Skills Needed:
(1-2 paragraphs, in business writing format, stating which three soft skills are most needed to carry out this course of action/solution and how they will help.)
(Please note:
• You need to use all of the headings above.
• To develop your analysis/soft skills needed, you also need 1-2 APA cited credible outside sources.
• Your paragraphs should not be very long, since they are single-spaced and left justified. Review the sample report for how long they should be.)
(Title of Case Study #3)
Summary:
(No more than half a page, in business writing format, in which you describe what the case study is about, with no opinions.)
Recommended Solution/Course of Action:
(One paragraph, in business writing format, in which you state what course of action should be taken in this case.)
Analysis:
(2-3 paragraphs, in business writing format, analyzing the case study, explaining why you chose your course of action, using the discussion questions after the case study, which help you the most, to develop your analysis.)
Soft Skills Needed:
(1-2 paragraphs, in business writing format, stating which three soft skills are most needed to carry out this course of action/solution and how they will help.)
(Please note:
• You need to use all of the headings above.
• To develop your analysis/soft skills needed, you also need 1-2 APA cited credible outside sources.
• Your paragraphs should not be very long, since they are single-spaced and left justified. Review the sample report for how long they should be.)
Conclusion
(This section should be no more than a page long, in business writing format, in which you:
• Paragraph 1: State what you learned from writing this report about business, business ethics, business relationships, and/or any other relevant issues.
• Paragraph 2: Explain what you will do with this knowledge, how you will apply it in your professional life, and even in your academic and personal life, if possible.
• Paragraph 3: End with the overall lessons that people in business can take from these case studies.
References
