Power in Knowledge: The Effects of Motivation and Information on Ethical Decision-Making Case Author: Kristofer Gossett Online Pub Date: January 04, 2017 | Original Pub. Date: 2017 Subject: Business...

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Power in Knowledge: The Effects of Motivation and Information on Ethical Decision-Making Case Author: Kristofer Gossett Online Pub Date: January 04, 2017 | Original Pub. Date: 2017 Subject: Business Ethics, Compensation Management, Employee Motivation Level: | Type: Experience case | Length: 3018 Copyright: © Kristofer Gossett 2017 Organization: fictional/disguised | Organization size: Large Region: Northern America | State: Industry: Education Originally Published in: Publisher: SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526407382 | Online ISBN: 9781526407382 © Kristofer Gossett 2017 This case was prepared for inclusion in SAGE Business Cases primarily as a basis for classroom discussion or self-study, and is not meant to illustrate either effective or ineffective management styles. Nothing herein shall be deemed to be an endorsement of any kind. This case is for scholarly, educational, or personal use only within your university, and cannot be forwarded outside the university or used for other commercial purposes. 2021 SAGE Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved. The case studies on SAGE Business Cases are designed and optimized for online learning. Please refer to the online version of this case to fully experience any video, data embeds, spreadsheets, slides, or other resources that may be included. This content may only be distributed for use within Victoria University. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781526407382 SAGE © Kristofer Gossett 2017 SAGE Business Cases Page 2 of 7 Power in Knowledge: The Effects of Motivation and Information on Ethical Decision-Making Abstract Paul was a third year faculty member at a community college in the Midwest. While working with the Chancellor on several committees in his brief tenure he struck up a good rapport with administration. During his third year, Paul was asked by the Chancellor to be one of 2 faculty representatives on the budget committee that spring. At the meeting, Paul learned that a larger than normal merit pay pool was available that year, and that unused monies in the merit pool would be transferred back into the general fund. As a third year faculty member, Paul felt he was underpaid compared to some of his other colleagues and had a decision to make regarding what he was going to do with the information he ... Case Learning Outcomes By the end of this case study, the student should be able to: • Describe the impact of fairness and equity on decision-making. • Discuss the different decisions that can be made based on different ethical models. • Discuss the complexity of disseminating information to others and the ethicality of the decisions made with the information. • Discuss the responsibilities of individuals who are elected to a position versus those who are appointed to a position. • Discuss the concept of information power and how ethics play a role in how an individual uses this type of power in an organization. Section 1: Case Overview Paul was seeking a career path after finishing his MBA in 2000. After searching for a few months he was offered a teaching position at the community college in the city where he grew up. He was excited to start a career in teaching and soon after starting his new job he realized that this is something he would like to make a career out of. During the first few years, Paul worked closely with several people in administration including the Chancellor for the region. Paul was considered a rising star at the college and had even won the college’s Advisor of the Year award after his second year. While Paul continued to excel in his new position, he quickly realized that he was considerably underpaid compared to a lot of other colleagues at the college due to his low starting salary after graduate school. Since the community college was a public institution, Paul decided to look up the salaries of his colleagues. The most discouraging information for Paul was that his direct colleague in the region, Jim, was making over twice his salary but was not doing the work that Jim was. Shortly after Paul learned this information, the Chancellor asked him to attend the yearly budget meeting as a faculty representative for the region. Paul agreed and quickly learned that a significant merit pay pool was available for that upcoming year. Paul was presented with some information that could lead to a substantial merit raise for himself but possibly at the cost of sharing the information with other faculty. Section 2: Background Information Paul and the Job at the Community College In 2000, Paul had graduated with his MBA and had moved home to look for jobs. The job market in his home state was tough, with unemployment hovering around 5 percent. MBA degrees were becoming more common than when he had started the program. Paul interviewed at several companies during his first two months back home. He was then approached by a neighbor about a job at the local community college, a full-time faculty member to teach general business courses. Although many in Paul’s family were teachers, it was not a career Paul had considered. With no real job opportunities presenting themselves, Paul submitted an SAGE © Kristofer Gossett 2017 SAGE Business Cases Page 3 of 7 Power in Knowledge: The Effects of Motivation and Information on Ethical Decision-Making application for the teaching position. The job description had indicated that the ideal candidate would have at least five years of work experience in addition to an MBA. Despite his lack of experience, Paul successfully navigated the first round of interviews, and he started to see himself as a business instructor. As he went to the final stages he knew that he would have to impress the hiring committee with his teaching presentation and he spent hours putting it together. The work paid off as Paul was picked for the position out of four finalists. Paul was hired on a 9-month contract for $32,000/year which included a teaching load of 10 classes for the academic year. He was told that summer employment, while not required, would typically be offered to most members of faculty. These contracts were pro-rated from the base salary and could include up to two courses in the summer. The starting salary was relatively low compared to what other instructors were making on average ($52,000/year) in the region, but Paul was grateful for the opportunity and realized that he would have to prove himself to the organization due to his relatively young age and lack of work experience. Paul accepted the offer. Paul excelled at his job for the first few years. He was willing and able to teach multiple courses at any time and location. The community college system where he worked consisted of three distinct campuses, and within the first two years Paul had agreed to teach at all three campus locations and to teach in the evenings. He also had a strong rapport with the students; Paul was in his mid-20s when he started in the position and it was easier for him to relate to the 18- to 22-year-old student population. At the end of his second year Paul received the college's Advisor of the Year award, which gave him a higher profile in the region with other faculty members and administrators at the other campus locations. Paul was a rising star in the region; the administration had asked him to serve on various campus and regional committees during his second year. The most prestigious committee was the Chancellors' Cabinet, a team that consisted of the five highest ranking administrators on campus in addition to two faculty members. Paul built good relationships during his tenure on this committee, and he felt that more opportunities would come his way in the coming years. The Community College System: Pay and Administration The compensation system within the community college was pretty straightforward in the first two years Paul worked there. All members of faculty received across-the-board percentage raises; for each of the first two years that Paul was employed with the community college the percentage raise for employees was 4 percent. The community college as a whole was a state-wide system consisting of 14 separate regions within the state. Major administrative decisions were made either in the state legislature or at the central offices in the state capital. These decisions included overall budgeting and compensation systems. With the community college system classified as a public higher education institution, and because many states and localities work to show transparency with their budgets, information about employee compensation was made readily available to the public and constituents within the regions. The Chancellors of the regions were not involved in the pay raise negotiations at the state level. The only pay decisions that top administrators in the regions were responsible for involved pay for adjunct faculty and distribution of merit pay raises. While all employees received across-the-board raises, the percentage raise differed depending on the employee classification. The classifications were broken down into administrative and support staff, and faculty. For the first two years Paul worked in the community college system, he received a letter from human resources stating that all members of faculty would receive a 4 percent increase in their base salary for the upcoming year. As far as Paul knew, there were no other avenues for receiving pay increases. He thought the 4 percent raise was more than fair, so he did not pursue other avenues to increase his pay; especially considering the administration and support staff’s raise was only 3 percent. Paul’s Dean indicated to him that as long as enrolment stayed high in the region and in the college as a whole that he should see the same pay increases indefinitely. Paul was encouraged by this information about his future earnings. As a result, he was happy with his overall pay and performed at a high level throughout the first three years with the college. Paul did not realize that a merit pay pool existed, which was determined by the regional Chancellors to help mitigate pay issues with certain faculty members. These pay raises were historically used to retain employees SAGE © Kristofer Gossett 2017 SAGE Business Cases Page 4 of 7 Power in Knowledge: The Effects of Motivation and Information on Ethical Decision-Making who the college wanted to keep but who might require higher pay than other faculty members with similar years of tenure. This pay pool was also used to increase adjunct pay rates if the Chancellors felt they were not competitive regionally for qualified adjunct faculty. The monies were assigned regionally; therefore, any monies not spent in merit pay adjustments were returned to
Answered Same DayApr 17, 2021

Answer To: Power in Knowledge: The Effects of Motivation and Information on Ethical Decision-Making Case...

Arunavo answered on Apr 18 2021
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ETHICAL DILLEMA ASSOCIATED WITH WALSH, BARRETT AND ASSOCIATES
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Analysis of the Situation    3
Organizational Culture    3
Decision Regarding Promoting Roger Willis    4
Conclusion    5
References    7
Introduction
Organizational operation runs in smoothe
r manner when there is a sense of harmony, respect, ethics, integrity and the environment to grow exists in the organization. This will ensure that all the employees remain motivated and they pursue towards working towards achieving the organizational goals. However, any kind of humiliation or discouragement from the senior officials will create a sense of communication gap and also this creates a sense of disruption in organizational harmony. In this report a detailed discussion is done with respect to the ethical perspective of promoting a middle level manager to the senior level position, who does not have a healthy relationship with the employees. The discussion is done on the ethical perspective of whether to promote that person or not.
Analysis of the Situation
Walsh, Barrett and Associates (WBA) is a high-tech consulting firm, which provides consultancy services to the large-scale information technology projects. The company is known for fastest growing careers with a high growth percentage and it is also known for well compensated company in the industry (Toklu & Taskin, 2017). The company is having good terms with the clients because of their employee Roger Willis, who is among the favourite of the clients because of his ability to complete any task assigned to him. He shows the courage and enthusiasm that attracts the clients and he is among the favourite to be promoted for the post of vice president in the company. However, Willis does not have a very good relationship with his subordinates in the organization. Many of the staffs of WBA have requested staffing manager to not allocate them with Willis because of his rough and insulting behaviour. Therefore, there is a situation where the employees are protesting against his promotion as the post of vice president.
In an organization it is important that a harmonious situation always prevail, where the employees feel encouraged, such as in WBA, where the employees feel like they are a family and they work with compassion with each other. This is a positive aspect because it motivates and encourages the employees to contribute their efforts for achieving the organizational goals. However, as discussed by Atan & Mahmood (2019) it is important to provide a family oriented environment in the organization, however, it is important that the employees must be kept under observation and hierarchal structure in order to ensure they are committed towards their work.
Organizational Culture
Organizational culture is one of the...
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