Question

Jillian is the president of a company that makes small parts for the automotive industry. Customers are primarily auto manufacturers. Jillian's cousin, Frank, works at the company as a sales representative. A promotion to the sales manager position is open. Frank has applied and so has Lisa, another sales representative. While both Frank and Lisa are good employees, they are skilled in different areas, but Lisa has better evaluations from supervisors. Lisa is great with technology and with placing orders. She does an excellent job in following through with ordering problems. She is willing to work weekends and after hours. Frank, on the other hand, is better with customer relations, and customers seem to like him better, but does not follow through on orders as well as Lisa does. Jillian is unsure who to promote. She has several concerns. Her first concern is that it would be expected by her family that Frank should be promoted because he is family. Jillian's second concern is most customers are male, and Jillian suspects that the company's customers would respond better to Frank and purchase more parts from Frank because Lisa is female. Finally, Lisa and Jillian are childhood friends who are very close and Jillian knows that Lisa could use the extra money as a single mother. Define and discuss the WH framework for business ethics, and within that framework propose a solution. Be sure to fully address the populations, purposes, and guidelines included within "W" and "H."

Answer 1

This assessment will define and discuss the WH framework for the business ethics and then a solution for the above case:

WH framework is a set of ethical guidelines in business ethics that helps us decide human actions can affect, the purpose of our activity, and how we can view it morally.

First of all, deciding the W: who it affects:

The decision would affect the population of customers, the organization, and all the employees working, including superiors.

If we promote Frank, then there are chances that customers will get satisfaction. Still, it will negatively affect Lisa since she has better evaluations from the supervisors, and she has excellent skills with placing orders. Moreover, she needs it as a single mother.

If we promote Lisa, then there are chances that other employees working in an organization get inspiration from her, and supervisors will also be satisfied because they gave Liza better evaluations.

Addressing the H approach, we will evaluate how to make decisions:

As per the golden rule, we should treat others the way we want to get treated.

I don't think Jillian would like to get rejected from promotion because of gender discrimination or family politics.

If we talked about the public disclosure test, where we would imagine that our actions are getting broadcasted on a television, then also, it would be better if we promote Lisa. She deserves it, and she needs it.

As per the universalization Act, we would consider:

what the world would be if all the people in the universe acted in this way.

If everybody started discriminating against people based on their gender, then humanity will cease to exist, and it will become hell for women. Moreover, people would start feeling nobody cares for the skills and would begin finding other wrong ways to get success.

As per the population, purpose, and guidelines within the WH framework,

The organization should look forward to promote Lisa.