Lead Levels In Whistles Paper
MEMO
Date: May 2, 201
To: CEO
From:
Re: Lead levels in whistles
An issue was raised the manager of the QA team that I feel we need to address. Whistles that are part of the toy collection scheduled to be shipped to a customer in South America have lead content that is higher than allowed by current U.S. standards. Shipping potentially harmful toys without disclosure could do irreparable damage to the image of the company, even if shipped out of the U.S.
Before addressing the issue I have considered the business and business stakeholders and our obligation to them. This has included the level of effort and costs associated with several courses of actions. I have also considered our obligations both legally and morally to our customer and our future customer. Our business has always held itself and its products to the highest quality standards and our customers in turn have rewarded us with continued trust and business. Our reputation and image should be a considering factor with any course of action that we take.
I have carefully considered possible …show more content…
options and have identified three viable possibilities which would keep our reputation intact and provide the service our customers have come to expect. We can remake the whistle in question and repackage the entire collection; remove the whistle and ship the collection with a replacement of similar or higher value from our catalogue; keep the whistle included but add a separate replacement of similar or even higher value with instructions to discard the whistle and replace. Any solution should ensure the utmost customer satisfaction and provide our customers with the care and consideration, not to mention value, our customers rely on when they chose our company. It is also important to try to minimize the cost and effort required to remedy. This will not only minimize financial impact to the company but will help ensure we can remediate quickly in order to fulfill our shipments on time. All three have advantages and disadvantages which I will elaborate.
The first option, remake the whistle in question and repackage the entire collection, has the advantage of providing our customer with exactly what they ordered and thus not jeopardize the relationship we have in place. It would however be a significant undertaking as we would experience a great amount of labor for the remanufacture and unpacking and repacking of the product. Legally and ethically there would be no issues but the financial impact of this approach would be about 100K.
The second option, remove the whistle and replace with an item from our catalogue of equal value would allow us to utilize stock on hand and ship quickly. If the customer requests, we can ship the remade whistle at a later date. This option would remove the ethical and potentially legal concerns of shipping an unsafe product and if the customer accepts the replacement without requesting the shipping of the whistles to follow, would be significantly less costly than remaking the whistles in urgency to meet the shipping deadline. However, by substituting the whistle, even offering to ship the replacements at a later date, our reputation of accurate and timely shipping may be compromised with this customer.
The third option, keep the whistle included but add a separate replacement of similar or even higher value with instructions to discard the whistle would save costs of remanufacture and additional shipping. The schools could keep or discard the whistles as the whistle would pass any safety issues in South America. This would eliminate any legal concerns and would provide the best value to the customer and lowest cost to the company. However, knowing that these would not pass safety levels in the U.S. I feel that this would be highly unadvisable. If the schools chose to keep the whistles there could be resulting health issues to the children.
My recommendation would be to proceed with the first option, to remake the whistle and repackage immediately. Although it is the most costly to the company upfront, the loss of reputation or customer faith would prove more costly in the long run. Our company prides itself on delivering to the highest levels. Compromised quality or orders the customer may feel are incomplete could damage the relationship and potentially future business. Additionally, any solution that may allow the tainted whistles in the hands of children could result in a more serious lack of confidence in our company. Our company is built on providing for educational and safe experiences for children worldwide. Anything less would be unethical.
In order to get in front of future issues of this type I recommend that we put in place a formal notification and escalation process for concerns of toy safety.
We should clearly spell out what each employee is responsible to do and how the company will respond. If we consider potential issues before they occur and address the remediation it will remove any chance that we will be pressured into a fast and poor choice which may have long term impact to our company or our customers.
I also recommend that we formalize the company ideals into a code of conduct that is available for our employees and customers. An excellent example that addresses responsibility to all stakeholders internally and externally is the code of conduct for the Mattel Company. The Mattel Company code of conduct addresses legal and ethical concerns and how to respond if there are concerns. (Mattel Inc.,
2011)
The Mattel code of conduct removes any cloud of judgment in a tough situation by addressing the concerns of the company, its stakeholders and its customers. It provides a clear explanation of the need and is easily understood. It includes core values that tie in to the company and products; play fair, play together, play with passion and play to grow. It also includes a value statement “act with unwavering integrity” that makes the company’s emphasis on ethics to be paramount. The code of conduct addresses the responsibilities of all employees and additional responsibilities of leaders to be role models. In addition it spells out the consequences that should be expected if the code of conduct is not adhered.
I strongly suggest that we develop a complete code of conduct such as this that will provide a guideline for the company and its employees for any future events as well as the day to day expectations.
Date: May 2, 201
To: CEO
From:
Re: Lead levels in whistles
An issue was raised the manager of the QA team that I feel we need to address. Whistles that are part of the toy collection scheduled to be shipped to a customer in South America have lead content that is higher than allowed by current U.S. standards. Shipping potentially harmful toys without disclosure could do irreparable damage to the image of the company, even if shipped out of the U.S.
Before addressing the issue I have considered the business and business stakeholders and our obligation to them. This has included the level of effort and costs associated with several courses of actions. I have also considered our obligations both legally and morally to our customer and our future customer. Our business has always held itself and its products to the highest quality standards and our customers in turn have rewarded us with continued trust and business. Our reputation and image should be a considering factor with any course of action that we take.
I have carefully considered possible …show more content…
options and have identified three viable possibilities which would keep our reputation intact and provide the service our customers have come to expect. We can remake the whistle in question and repackage the entire collection; remove the whistle and ship the collection with a replacement of similar or higher value from our catalogue; keep the whistle included but add a separate replacement of similar or even higher value with instructions to discard the whistle and replace. Any solution should ensure the utmost customer satisfaction and provide our customers with the care and consideration, not to mention value, our customers rely on when they chose our company. It is also important to try to minimize the cost and effort required to remedy. This will not only minimize financial impact to the company but will help ensure we can remediate quickly in order to fulfill our shipments on time. All three have advantages and disadvantages which I will elaborate.
The first option, remake the whistle in question and repackage the entire collection, has the advantage of providing our customer with exactly what they ordered and thus not jeopardize the relationship we have in place. It would however be a significant undertaking as we would experience a great amount of labor for the remanufacture and unpacking and repacking of the product. Legally and ethically there would be no issues but the financial impact of this approach would be about 100K.
The second option, remove the whistle and replace with an item from our catalogue of equal value would allow us to utilize stock on hand and ship quickly. If the customer requests, we can ship the remade whistle at a later date. This option would remove the ethical and potentially legal concerns of shipping an unsafe product and if the customer accepts the replacement without requesting the shipping of the whistles to follow, would be significantly less costly than remaking the whistles in urgency to meet the shipping deadline. However, by substituting the whistle, even offering to ship the replacements at a later date, our reputation of accurate and timely shipping may be compromised with this customer.
The third option, keep the whistle included but add a separate replacement of similar or even higher value with instructions to discard the whistle would save costs of remanufacture and additional shipping. The schools could keep or discard the whistles as the whistle would pass any safety issues in South America. This would eliminate any legal concerns and would provide the best value to the customer and lowest cost to the company. However, knowing that these would not pass safety levels in the U.S. I feel that this would be highly unadvisable. If the schools chose to keep the whistles there could be resulting health issues to the children.
My recommendation would be to proceed with the first option, to remake the whistle and repackage immediately. Although it is the most costly to the company upfront, the loss of reputation or customer faith would prove more costly in the long run. Our company prides itself on delivering to the highest levels. Compromised quality or orders the customer may feel are incomplete could damage the relationship and potentially future business. Additionally, any solution that may allow the tainted whistles in the hands of children could result in a more serious lack of confidence in our company. Our company is built on providing for educational and safe experiences for children worldwide. Anything less would be unethical.
In order to get in front of future issues of this type I recommend that we put in place a formal notification and escalation process for concerns of toy safety.
We should clearly spell out what each employee is responsible to do and how the company will respond. If we consider potential issues before they occur and address the remediation it will remove any chance that we will be pressured into a fast and poor choice which may have long term impact to our company or our customers.
I also recommend that we formalize the company ideals into a code of conduct that is available for our employees and customers. An excellent example that addresses responsibility to all stakeholders internally and externally is the code of conduct for the Mattel Company. The Mattel Company code of conduct addresses legal and ethical concerns and how to respond if there are concerns. (Mattel Inc.,
2011)
The Mattel code of conduct removes any cloud of judgment in a tough situation by addressing the concerns of the company, its stakeholders and its customers. It provides a clear explanation of the need and is easily understood. It includes core values that tie in to the company and products; play fair, play together, play with passion and play to grow. It also includes a value statement “act with unwavering integrity” that makes the company’s emphasis on ethics to be paramount. The code of conduct addresses the responsibilities of all employees and additional responsibilities of leaders to be role models. In addition it spells out the consequences that should be expected if the code of conduct is not adhered.
I strongly suggest that we develop a complete code of conduct such as this that will provide a guideline for the company and its employees for any future events as well as the day to day expectations.