Question: Respond to below with 200 words and 1 direct question.
Theft is an ethical conflict that is becoming more and more of an issue in environments like restaurants. In these types of jobs, servers carry cash on them for extended periods of time. Many hands are going in and out of cash drawers and the idea to take some off of the top is a top concern for managers. The money is not counted until the end of the night, so that leaves plenty of time for some of it to go missing.
Experts have come up with all kinds of terms and profiles for how ethics and morals are divided. Professional Morale Courage or PMC has five dimensions: "moral agency, multiple values, endurance of threats, going beyond compliance, and moral goals" (Sekerka, Bagozzi, & Charnigo, 2009, p. 565). This is used to see how management shapes up and how leaders want to organize their values. These values are not always passed down to the employees, but making a chart and posting it in the breakroom would be a great start.
There are five systems in the mind: "harm, fairness, authority, ingroup, and purity" (Haidt, 2008). When it comes to theft, there should be a firm line that it is indeed wrong. The opposite is true however, and employees think that it is fair to them to get what they "deserve." Managers must look for these warning signs and take care of their employees, so that they do not feel so inclined to want to steal. Sometimes employees feel that it will do no harm if they steal some money or some product. They are wrong: it will always cause harm to the business and they do not have the authority to make such a call.
References
Haidt, J. (2008). Video: The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives. Retrieved from:https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind#t-435403.
Sekerka, L. E., Bagozzi, R. P., & Charnigo, R. (2009). Facing ethical challenges in the workplace: Conceptualizing and measuring professional moral courage. Journal of Business Ethics, 89(4), 565-579. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-0017-