Sunday, October 18, 2015

Business Ethics Discussion Case

EMPLOYEE TIME THEFT MANAGEMENT CASE
CSR AND BUSINESS ETHICS

The Board of Directors of Art Vandalay Consultants (AVC) has become very concerned about “time theft” among its employees.  The medium-sized firm has a large number of sports fans on its payroll.  Senior management noticed high web traffic to sports web sites and decreases in employee productivity during the 2015 NCAA Basketball Tournament and 2014 World Cup and reported it to the Board. In addition, major clients have indicated their displeasure with employees’ attention towards sports rather than their projects.  One leading client lodged a complaint about the AVC Fantasy Football League.  The company has supported the league to boost morale, but expects employees to participate only during their free time away from work.  The Board of Directors has asked you to address several issues:
  • What is time theft?  How does it compare to other forms of employee theft?
  • How is this a principal-agent problem?
  • The Board is considering a new corporate policy whereby it blocks certain websites and has a reliable outside information technology contractor secretly track employee Internet usage.  What are the legal and ethical implications of this proposed new corporate policy?
  • The Board is also considering expanding its corporate code of conduct to provide stricter penalties for time theft (including possible termination) and to incentivize employees who report cases of time theft.  Is this a good idea?
  • Provide further recommendations to the Board of Directors to address this issue.  How might they impact shareholders and other stakeholders?

No comments:

Post a Comment