McCaskey
Martha McCaskey: Is business bluffing ethical?
1. What is troubling Martha McCaskey? Do you agree with her assessment of the situation?
Martha McCaskey is facing an issue easy to solve for those who have no sense of morality: she needs to decide to compromise her values, or not; to cross the line separating hard-working employee and industrial espionage between companies, or not.
McCaskey is a woman with an outstanding resume who has demonstrated several times that is able to work at 110% for the company, achieving outstanding results. She has been recently awarded with a substantial increase in pay, and a high bonus; and a promotion has been promised to her if the Silicon 6 project is successfully completed.
Such promotion is within reach, and she has two options for it: first, talking to Devon, an ex-employee who could provide with the necessary information the client is asking; and second, handing the project over to Chuck Kaufmann, a senior associate with a special talent to get proprietary information.
Both options require to play a game she doesn’t like, but a game that has been longtime played in her company and is the only way to success. In my personal opinion, she should be ambitious and play her cards to get to the top.
2. What suggestions do you think that Carr might have given to Martha McCaskey? How would you comment on Carr’s possible suggestions?
“Violations of the ethical ideals of society are common in business, but they are not necessarily violations of business principles”
Throughout the text, Carr compares business with poker, as a game in which bluffing is not a violation of the law, but just a part of the game, a tactic to win. He also defends that personal and professional life are governed by different laws, so a special ethical outlook should be adopted when a man plans to take a seat in the business game.
Taking into account only Carr’s part, and not ‘The executive conscience’ by Clarence Randall at the end of the text, I think Carr
1. What is troubling Martha McCaskey? Do you agree with her assessment of the situation?
Martha McCaskey is facing an issue easy to solve for those who have no sense of morality: she needs to decide to compromise her values, or not; to cross the line separating hard-working employee and industrial espionage between companies, or not.
McCaskey is a woman with an outstanding resume who has demonstrated several times that is able to work at 110% for the company, achieving outstanding results. She has been recently awarded with a substantial increase in pay, and a high bonus; and a promotion has been promised to her if the Silicon 6 project is successfully completed.
Such promotion is within reach, and she has two options for it: first, talking to Devon, an ex-employee who could provide with the necessary information the client is asking; and second, handing the project over to Chuck Kaufmann, a senior associate with a special talent to get proprietary information.
Both options require to play a game she doesn’t like, but a game that has been longtime played in her company and is the only way to success. In my personal opinion, she should be ambitious and play her cards to get to the top.
2. What suggestions do you think that Carr might have given to Martha McCaskey? How would you comment on Carr’s possible suggestions?
“Violations of the ethical ideals of society are common in business, but they are not necessarily violations of business principles”
Throughout the text, Carr compares business with poker, as a game in which bluffing is not a violation of the law, but just a part of the game, a tactic to win. He also defends that personal and professional life are governed by different laws, so a special ethical outlook should be adopted when a man plans to take a seat in the business game.
Taking into account only Carr’s part, and not ‘The executive conscience’ by Clarence Randall at the end of the text, I think Carr