The beginning of this originated from problems incurred with the computer system when it was hit by a power surge from fierce thunderstorms from the night before. When this occurred, Phil Bailey, who was Kevin Pfeiffer’s supervisor was instructed to observe the damage to the system from the thunderstorm and report back to him. Once this request was made, Kevin Pfeiffer reported back to Phil Bradley and instructed that the damage to the underground wires and computer circuits could be repaired for about fifteen thousand dollars.
Once Kevin Pfeiffer made these observations, Phil Bradley did not appear happy and simply instructed Kevin Pfeiffer to go to the reception area while he called Roger, who was the chief financial officer, and also Antonio Melendez’s superior.
After this was done, Phil Bradley called Kevin Pfeiffer back into his office and instructed him to dig up nearly all of the underground wire and cable and then haul it all off prior to the arrival of the insurance adjustor. Carrying out this task would result in a damage estimate of roughly five hundred thousand dollars, which of course is much higher than the amount Kevin Pfeiffer estimated based on the true damages. Phil Bradley’s primary purpose for instructing Kevin Pfeiffer to do this was to simply help obtain insurance funds for damage to the current system to help cover the costs of a new system.
In response to Phil Bradley, Kevin Pfeiffer refused to carry out the task, though he was a new hire and technically on probation. Antonio Melendez congratulated Kevin Pfeiffer for his refusal, though in the end, it did not really matter since another individual, Matt, was called upon to do the task.
Antonio Melendez saw the motivation behind the
References: Daft, R. L. (2010). Management (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Martinsons, M.G., & Ma, D. (2009). Sub-Cultural Differences in Information Ethics across China: Focus on Chinese Management Generation Gaps. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 10(11), 816. Thompson, L. J. (2010). The Global Moral Compass for Business Leaders. Journal of Business Ethics, 93(6), 15.