"as part of our project, we have identified a dilemma you submitted as an assignment for your business ethics class as particularly interesting, engaging, and useful for teaching and writing about business ethics."
How cool! They sent Jake some legal paperwork to sign and now it's official! His work will live on as part of their ethics book. What a stud!
Ethical Dilemma
“I have some bad news. We don’t have any money and we can’t pay you.” This was the sad truth the director of human resources was telling you as you went to her office in search of your paycheck that was two days late. You really needed the money you worked hard for, but now it appears you will not get it.You are a poor college student trying to save money for your upcoming junior year. A week previous you were working hard at a construction site with a few friends when your boss informed you that he lost a major contract and had to lay your entire crew off. Luckily he was still able to make payroll and you took home money from that week’s efforts. Desperate for positive cash flow in order to pay the bills you accepted the next job offer that came your way, working in a sales office for a startup software company creating leads for the more experienced salesmen.
Your new work was not your idea of a fun summer job, but your hourly rate was high enough to make it worthwhile. The company had been around for a while and had ~50 employees when you were hired. Now, a week and half later you are being told that the company is out of money and while you are welcome to continue working there is a good chance it will be all for naught. You wonder why a company would be hiring new sales people when they are so close to going under. In fact, the day before you were told the rotten news you saw new people being brought on board.
As a starving student you are close to having no money to live off and you need to find some income for your efforts. After all, the summer is short and your intense class schedule has kept you too busy to have a job during school. Your only chance at having money in the bank is to be employed for the 4 months between winter and fall semesters. You contemplate your options of how you can make the past 10 days worth your time. That’s when you begin to look around the rather sizable office. You see things like computers, a foosball table, and a ping pong table. What really catches your eye is the LCD projector in the conference room. It is worth about what the company owes you and maybe even a little less. This projector would be an easy sell and you could probably walk out the door with it and no one would be justified to stop you. The company won’t have any use for it in a couple of days and your boss probably will end up just taking it home anyway.
As you sit at your desk and wonder what your next steps are you realize most of your fellow employees are gone. You have literally nothing else to do at the office, but you would really like to make your hard work worth it.
Conclusion
The professor asked Jake what the result was (since the class assignment was just to present a dilemma they had experienced and not what they chose to do). So Jake sent him this reply:I really did contemplate taking some office supplies and even discussed it with one of my buddies who I worked with. I remembered that on my mission a general authority (Elder McKelsen) came through and told us that, "The enemy of repentance is justification." I realized that I was trying to justify an action that I clearly wasn't completely comfortable with, so I walked out of the office with nothing.
The company declared bankruptcy shortly thereafter and the owner went on to start another venture. I actually ran into the brother of one of the senior managers about a year later, who mentioned how awesome it was that his brother got to take home a ton of computers and the ping pong table from the office and was able to pocket thousands of dollars. It made me think of him as a real slime ball and I'm glad that I wasn't "that guy".
I'm so proud of Jake! Not only for being in this book, but for his moral fiber. Jake is the guy you can count on. I think that really goes a long way - especially in a business world where ethics are disintegrating. I know that people realize Jake is a trustworthy and stand up kind of guy. So glad he's my hubby!
8 comments:
SO COOL! Way to go Jake, your Cougar legacy lives on! It's so nice to know that there are still good guys out there.
That is super cool. Way to go Jake! And congrats to you, Jenni, and marrying yourself a REAL man! :-)
That's my boy! His Dad is the same way---I've always been proud of him. The older I get, the more I prize integrity and honesty. It will take you far.
I am so glad you married Jacob too!
I am also glad that he did not take the ping pong table- that would have been a bummer to move all those times.
You always make us proud!
How exciting! Both of you are such good role models for all those who come in contact with you. I hope that some day all of your sweet babies know how lucky they are to have the two of you as parents! Way to go!
Too cool. I love that!
One of the great ironies in the schooling of my business degree at BYU was the acclaim several professors gave to one student who had made good money on poor ethics. This student had recognized that Windows would be a big thing, and he claimed the internet domain names of Windows95.com, Windows96.com, etc. Microsoft ended up paying him dearly for those domain names; I think it was in the millions of dollars. I remember one professor saying how great it was that this student had seen an opportunity and acted on it with the right timing. I sat there in class thinking, "This doesn't seem right. That guy did nothing to earn the money on the Windows name." About a year later, I had a different professor refer to the same "opportunity" and define it for what it was: legal theft. I know employers like to hire BYU grads because Cougars are known for their workplace integrity, but I was disappointed on more than one occasion in how my classmates in the business program there demonstrated a lack of ethics and showed a propensity for taking advantage of others in the name of opportunity.
Good for you Jake. I wonder what your professor would say about the Windows95.com guy.
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