Ethical Dilemma: IML and Promotions Case Study

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International medical Laboratories, acronymed as IML, is one of the largest manufacturers of biomedical equipments. The unique selling point of IML is completing heart surgeries using high class equipments. John Cannon is the man behind the structure of the German section of the company (Morris, 1997). John now aims to increase his market reach by approaching surgeons based in Germany. He targets all the clinics and hospitals of this area. John is also the marketing manager of this line of product so it is his responsibility to increase yhe company's reach in international lands. As John plans to expand the company's reach, he will need to address issues of quality, reliability and economic nationalism (Morris, 1997).

In order to establish the credibility of IML, John sets up a meeting with the known cardiovascular surgeon of the region, Dr. Hans Rombach. John is sure that if Mr. Rombach agrees to go with the product line of IML then the product will get accepted in the market (Morris, 1997). John convinced the doctor on the basis of the positive points of the product and the doctor does see the positive effects of using the product. He eventually agrees to go with equipments of IML.

The main reason for agreement of Dr. Rombach is that he thinks with the help of this equipment, he will be able to make further progress in his own research work (Morris, 1997). Mr. Rombach however, puts a condition in front of John for agreeing to use his equipment line. The doctor needs some contribution for his own research work and demands $25,000 for accepting the proposal. The ball is in John's court and he is supposed to go for a particular option. There are several questions that John needs be answered before he can decide on giving $25,000 from cash fund of $100,000 of IML (Morris, 1997). John needs to think whether the situation will fall under the purview of bribery? Is it worth to spend $25,000 for the deal? What will be the returns of such an investment? Are there any kinds of risks involved? Will Mr. Rombach bring in so much credibility to the whole IML's product line that the product line will get an instant recognition amongst public? Will anyone anytime be able to dig deep and find out the actual truth? Will this deal lead to some kind of legal problems for the company and John himself?

Points worth addressing

If the problem is dissected properly, ethics would be the centre point of it all. It is unethical to take/give bribe in some nations. In some countries it is also unethical to incorporate any changes in the technology related to research work of stem-cell and bio-engineering (Dych and Neubert, 2008-page 139). However one fact cannot be negated that ethics changes on the basis of changes happening in society. Moreover, how does John fit into this whole ethical dilemma? Is it ethical to shell out $25,000 for the contract? The answer is that it is a manager's responsibility to address such ethical issues and take decisions on the basis of ethical guidelines mentioned in the company's guidelines that John is working in. John represents IML and should know the fact that his morals, represents company's morals (Dyck and Neuburt, 2008-page 139).

Manager's decisions are very important and it should not be led by personal greed and gains, as in case of Enron and Worldcom's managers (Dyck and Neuburt, 2008-page 139). There were many unethical decisions made by managers in past, and the above is one such example. Every kind of organization has at one time or other seen such unethical decisions taken. Educational organizations, government organizations and religious set-up, nobody is indifferent from unethical behaviors. These examples show the importance of ethical knowledge one should have. When faced with tough situations, managers should be able to take right decisions and not unethical decisions (Dyck and Neuburt, 2008-page 139). Researches done by centre of creative leadership has proven one fact that any kid of unethical decision can put a manager's long-term career on stake.

Ethics however is a personal opinion and not a universal one. Not every person will share same view point as far as ethical decisions are concerned. Any situation could be ethical and non-ethical depending upon the person who sees it (Dyck and Neuburt, 2008-page 143). Similarly, various managers will have different viewpoints as far as ethical decisions are to be made (Dyck and Neuburt, 2008-page 139).

Ethics required to be followed in business

There is a very simple definition of business ethics as per International Trade Association and that is responsible business conduct.

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Defined procedures and policies gives a guideline for carrying on the business in ethical and responsible manner. There are a few expectations of stakeholders of every company and the policies defined in the company ensure that every employee acts in a responsible way and meet those expectations of all stakeholders (Williams)."

To ensure that all the employees and officials remain on the path of right conduct, companies define a set of procedures. This is the basis for any employee to chose right and correct actions and not otherwise. There are many examples which will clarify the point of organization's values and how they are followed in daily business proceedings. A company might follow a customer value where the company takes care of its customer by never charging excess money for a particular good and also by following relaxed refund policy (Williams). Some company might be very concerned about the environment it works in and thus bears all kinds of safety costs to ensure good environment. The company might also keep checking its machinery and equipments so that environment is not damaged from faulty machinery (Williams).

Right workplace ethics and employee behavior are those two pillars which can ensure that all the company's efforts are going into making the company more profitable (Amico). Ethics and behavior can be directly compared with a company's team work and high morale amongst employees. Like the second set of values are important for company growth, similar is the case with prior set of values. Every business of every industry follows a set rule of guidelines and each and every employee is required to follow them. These guidelines must be clearly defined and updated in employee's handbooks (Amico). There are however certain individual human traits which keeps any employee on right track, integrity and honesty and are especially important for certain business sectors. For example, health industry requires more integrity because in that sector, employees are required to manage ill, handicapped and mentally challenged patients. This demands more integrity as compared to any sector that deals only with money. A particular trait of any employee with integrity is that they never indulge into things like gossip and sneakiness (Amico).

Two courses of action in John's case

What could be possible solutions for John's case? Let us know two of them.

1) John does not agree to give $25,000:

John can agree on not giving any money to Dr. Rombach. Meanwhile he can use that money in promoting IML all by himself and see if his efforts are paying off or not. What will be John's plan of action if he goes for this option? He will have the option of promoting positive points about the machinery and will also be saving the money. This action will definitely fall under the purview of ethical behavior and match the ethical standards of the company. The company should however, follow the policy of not getting involved in any kind of bribery for getting the work done (writer's thought).

2) John agrees to give the money:

The second obvious option is that John give's $25,000 to Dr. Rombach. Also, IML has a separate fund of $100,000 for spending on product's promotion. $25,000 can easily be covered from among this budget. Using budget in the right way is totally upto John and he is required to achieve results (writer's thought). When money is advanced to Mr. Rombach, he is totally willing to buy IML's machinery and also it will ensure that IML gets required publicity. At the end, when ends are achieved, will the course of action really matter that much? What if Dr. Rombach does not adhere to terms and back out at the last moment even after having money? What will happen to the reputation of the company? Will there be any kind of ethical issues (writer's thought).

Conclusion

As far as ethical decision is concerned, John should decide not to give money to Dr. Hans. The main job of John is to promote the product and he should concentrate his efforts in doing that totally ethically (writer's thought). For a start, he can try to increase his reach by looking for other options to sell off his product. He can enter into the whole market of Western Europe. Also trying too much to make things happen often does not give expected results, so John should let….....

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