Assignment Instructions
Discussion Topic Task: Reply to this topic
This week's discussion has two distinct elements: 1) application of a portion of the critical-thinking model form Browne & Keeley (20% of your overall grade for this discussion), and 2) application of the Badaracco framework for ethical decision making (80% of your overall grade for this discussion). Your response to this discussion will not be complete unless it includes both of these elements
Please follow this approach:
First, complete the reading assignment and watch the Badaracco video (readings and link are included in the syllabus under W3).
Second, analyze the Director's Daughter case using the following steps from the Browne & Keeley text:
1) What is the issue?
2) What are the reasons?
3) Are there any value assumptions and conflicts or descriptive assumptions? If so, what are they?
4) What significant information has been omitted?
5) What conclusions are possible?
Third, using the Badaracco framework, analyze the Director's Daughter case. Be sure to address all four of Badaracco's questions and his 3 tests specifically in your analysis.
Hosmer, L.T. (2011). The Ethics of Management: A Multidisciplinary Approach (7th ed.). New York, N.Y. McGraw Hill/Irwin. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4.
View: Badaracco, J.L., Jr. (2002). Defining moments: A framework for moral decisions. Harvard Business School Faculty Seminar Series. (B) PURL: https://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fsv&AN=2861c&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Case Study: The Director's Daughter
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Andrew Manning is the CEO of Mesa Meals, Inc. (MMI), a group of four successful restaurants in the Southwest. One member of the MMI board of directors, Clark Foster, has a daughter, Tabitha Foster, who has just started Tabitha's Tablecloths, a business that supplies restaurant linens. Foster has approached Manning to explain Tabitha's business. Tabitha's Tablecloths has adopted an environmental emphasis in its operations as a way of countering the industry trend toward the use of paper products in restaurants. Clark Foster initially recruited Manning as CEO, was instrumental in having the board select Manning, and is one of Manning's strong backers. Foster supported Manning when other board members were impatient with his new procedures, policies, and changes. Ordinarily, when someone approaches Andrew Manning with information on a new supplier, he takes the information and refers it to the purchasing/supply area or refers the person directly to the manager of purchasing. In this case, Andrew personally presented the information to MMI's purchasing manager, Zoe Apse. Andrew offered Zoe the Tabitha's Tablecloths brochure and card and explained, "She is Clark Foster's daughter. She graduated with a degree in marketing from the State University last June and now has her own firm. See what you can do. Our contract with Loretta's Linens is up for renewal. Maybe we can do something."
Zoe evaluated Tabitha's and Loretta's proposals, as well as that of an additional firm, in making the purchasing decision. Although the pricing between Tabitha's and Loretta's is equivalent, Tabitha's is too young a firm to have a track record, and Zoe is not convinced that Tabitha's can handle MMI's large account. Given Mr. Manning's interest, however, Zoe is confused about what recommendation to make.
Introductory Comments: Critical Thinking and the Scientific Method
Discussion Topic Task: Reply to this topic
In W2, you were introduced to Browne and Keeley's 10-question critical-thinking model in Asking the Right Questions (2012); then you applied that model in the W2 Individual Assignment. In that assignment, you used critical thinking to analyze and evaluate a business memo. However, the art and skill of critical thinking has many more applications in business beyond evaluating memos. Beginning here in W3 and continuing throughout this course and into your remaining courses in the MBA program, you will find applications for critical thinking in all sorts of business problems and situations.
It should also be pointed out there are other models, going by other names, for attaining the same purpose. For example, you may have encountered during your earlier studies another approach to critical thinking and problem solving called, "The Scientific Method." Chris Fillebrown, in his article "Can the Scientific Method Solve Business Problems?"[1] defined the scientific method as "...a solution-strategy for business problems.... Even though the scientific method is used for solving problems in the physical sciences, this pattern applies directly to business problems."
Although some people think of the scientific method as merely "trial and error," it involves a basic three-step process:
Formulate a hypothesis
Test the hypothesis through experimentation
Compare the expected result with the hypothesis
Because managers and executives may be unfamiliar or uncomfortable with terms like "trial and error," "hypothesis," and "experimentation," adapting the scientific method to business probably necessitates a few changes in terminology.
In an effort to build on your critical thinking skill, the following chart presents a side-by-side comparison of B&K's critical thinking model and the scientific method as applied to a typical business problem:
Steps to the Using the Scientific Method in Business
A Simplistic Example Using the Scientific Method in Business
Comparable Steps in the Browne and Keeley Critical Thinking Model
Some result or situation is not meeting the expected goal or objective
Sales results and revenue are lower than were projected, based on the annual business plan.
Step 1 - What are the issues?
Step 4 - What are the value and descriptive assumptions?
Through discussion knowing people (generally, but not exclusively, managers) in the organization, consultants, or research groups, collect and analyze information. Specifically:
What is the problem?
Where is the problem?
Who is the problem?
When does it occur?
What's the root-cause?
How do you know?
It is determined people are unaware of the company's products.Therefore, we need to do more customer education on the benefits and features of our products.
What is the problem?Sales are off 10% while revenue is off 12.7%
Where is the problem? Worst results are in the Western region; however, no region report positive numbers
Who is the problem? Nearly all district sales managers lack experience and have not been doing follow-up training of local sales reps.
When does it occur?Within the first six months of a new rep's hiring.
What's the root-cause? Inexperienced district sales managers
How do you know?Observation and comparison of the results between experienced and inexperienced sales managers
Step 2 - What are the reasons?
Step 6 - How good is the evidence?
Step 7 - Are there rival causes?
Step 8 - Are the statistics deceptive?
Step 9 - What significant information is omitted?
The organization's management and/or consultants develop policies, practices, training, etc. designed to mitigate or eliminate the root cause of the problem. Generally, they will implement this design in a limited environment to determine whether or not the design works. In the best of all worlds, they will include both controlled and independent variables.
District X's sales manager, who has been on-the-job for about 8 months, and all of her local sales reps (their mean length of experience is only 5.4 months) undergo a rigorous new training program designed to help them introduce and educate the customers on the company's product line. District Y's sales manager and all of his local sales reps - they all have about the same amount of experience as X's - are the "control group;" i.e., they do not receive the training. The VP - Sales and Marketing, and his staff established specific sales and revenue metrics for these two districts and track their results over the next several months.
Appropriate and unbiased managers in the organization will collect and analyze data to determine if the early analysis and solution were correct (and its application) were correct) your hypothesis is true or false.
After six months tracking these new sales and revenue results, and also conducting observations and "ride alongs" with both District Sales Managers and several of their local sales reps, the VP found that sales had increased in both districts, but District X's results were 11% better that District Y's, and X's revenue was up 14% over Y's. The staff wondered if there were any differences in customer service after the sale between the two districts. There were no differences in any externalities between the two districts. The VP decided the specialized training caused the improvement; however, investigation showed the same training could be accomplished in less time.
Step 2 - What are the reasonsnow?
Step 6 - How good is the newevidence?
Step 7 - Are there new and/or different rival causes?
Step 8 - Are the statistics deceptive?
Step 9 - What significant information is omitted?
Revise the solution and/or its application, then internalize it for wide-spread implementation
The VP mandated all districts receive this same training - the shortened version, of course - immediately. Staff was instructed to track all districts' results in the same fashion, and to conduct similar observations and ride-alongs.
[1] Fillebrown, Chris. "Can the Scientific Method Solve Business Problems?" Frame of Reference. Retrieved 2 June 2012 fromhttps://frame-of-reference.net/
Assignment Instructions
Discussion Topic Task: Reply to this topic
This week's discussion has two distinct elements: 1) application of a portion of the critical-thinking model form Browne & Keeley (20% of your overall grade for this discussion), and 2) application of the Badaracco framework for ethical decision making (80% of your overall grade for this discussion). Your response to this discussion will not be complete unless it includes both of these elements
Please follow this approach:
First, complete the reading assignment and watch the Badaracco video (readings and link are included in the syllabus under W3).
Second, analyze the Director's Daughter case using the following steps from the Browne & Keeley text:
1) What is the issue?
2) What are the reasons?
3) Are there any value assumptions and conflicts or descriptive assumptions? If so, what are they?
4) What significant information has been omitted?
5) What conclusions are possible?
Third, using the Badaracco framework, analyze the Director's Daughter case. Be sure to address all four of Badaracco's questions and his 3 tests specifically in your analysis.
The point of having an ethical framework is to give you a step-by-step process to evaluate ethical decisions. The process of applying the framework requires us to reflect on our choices and to see them from different perspectives, rather than reacting in a purely emotional or intuitive way. Intuition is a tool that we can use to make ethical decisions, but it's not the only tool, Critical thinking is also a very important factor in making ethical decisions. As Badaracco points out, our ethical decisions don't have to be "heroic" or dramatic, the every-day workplace issues involving co-workers and more routine situations are the ones that most of us are faced with. We probably think of them as so routine that we might not even recognize that they are ethical issues. The case you are presented with this week may be a bit more dramatic than some, but it still involves very real kinds of problems that occur in organizational life.
Don't worry too much about the particular laws that apply to the question, "Is it legal?" You are not expected to know the exact answer to this question, and many legal questions are very complex. If there were pat, easy answers to legal questions, we wouldn't have so many lawsuits and so many lawyers. However, you are expected to make a reasonable judgment and explain how you would proceed if you were making this decision in real life.
The questions regarding ethics are the most important questions this week. It is not sufficient to say. "This would not be ethical, because it is wrong." Why is it wrong? What standards are you applying? Ethical analysis involves the application of principles and values to particular situations. The readings will help you to see this.
I hope you enjoy the case, and I look forward to a stimulating discussion this week.
Case Study: The Director's Daughter
Discussion Topic Task: Reply to this topic
Andrew Manning is the CEO of Mesa Meals, Inc. (MMI), a group of four successful restaurants in the Southwest. One member of the MMI board of directors, Clark Foster, has a daughter, Tabitha Foster, who has just started Tabitha's Tablecloths, a business that supplies restaurant linens. Foster has approached Manning to explain Tabitha's business. Tabitha's Tablecloths has adopted an environmental emphasis in its operations as a way of countering the industry trend toward the use of paper products in restaurants. Clark Foster initially recruited Manning as CEO, was instrumental in having the board select Manning, and is one of Manning's strong backers. Foster supported Manning when other board members were impatient with his new procedures, policies, and changes. Ordinarily, when someone approaches Andrew Manning with information on a new supplier, he takes the information and refers it to the purchasing/supply area or refers the person directly to the manager of purchasing. In this case, Andrew personally presented the information to MMI's purchasing manager, Zoe Apse. Andrew offered Zoe the Tabitha's Tablecloths brochure and card and explained, "She is Clark Foster's daughter. She graduated with a degree in marketing from the State University last June and now has her own firm. See what you can do. Our contract with Loretta's Linens is up for renewal. Maybe we can do something."
Zoe evaluated Tabitha's and Loretta's proposals, as well as that of an additional firm, in making the purchasing decision. Although the pricing between Tabitha's and Loretta's is equivalent, Tabitha's is too young a firm to have a track record, and Zoe is not convinced that Tabitha's can handle MMI's large account. Given Mr. Manning's interest, however, Zoe is confused about what recommendation to make.
Post your analysis to the discussion according to the steps outlined in the general discussion instructions posted for W3 (i.e., critical thinking steps and Badaracco analysis).