Total Quality Management ISBM EXAM ANSWER SHEETS PROVIDED
Answer the following question.
Q1. Describe how the golden rule does or does not influence each of the six concepts of TQM? (10 marks)
Q2. Describe two ways to determine a superior process? (10 marks)
Q3. Why are the product evaluation standards in the development stage? (10 marks)
Q4. What is the best way to improve market share for a product or service? (10 marks)
Q5. Why has e-Commerce grown so quickly? (10 marks)
Q6. Discuss the advantages of an empowered team? (10 marks)
Q7. Briefly describe the purpose of an ISO 9000 quality system? (10 marks)
Q8. What is the overall aim of the EMS Standard? (10 marks)
Business Communication ISBM EXAM CASE STUDY ANSWERS PROVIDED
Case Studies
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
Virgin Mobile UK is a mobile phone service provider operating in the United Kingdom (UK) and part of Virgin Media, the first
provider of all four broadband, TV, mobile phone and home phone services in the UK. It operates 80 stores, employing 550 staff in
retail outlets and a further 200 in “Lite” pop-up locations. Sarah Arthur is the Retail Communications Manager at Virgin Mobile UK.
The Retail Communications team is responsible for employee communications across all Virgin Mobile retail outlets. The team
needs to ensure that key internal messages are delivered to retail staff in a timely manner and that they can access operational
information — new packages and special offers, company news, IT notifications, internal campaigns and requests for feedback —
regardless of location or desktop environment. Virgin Mobile was relying on email and its intranet for communicating with retail
staff. They needed to continue to work with their existing employee communication channels and systems but they also wanted to
explore ways of delivering push communications which their core systems couldn’t do. Virgin Mobile implemented the SnapComms
internal communications software in 2008 and is using Desktop Alerts, Desktop Tickers, Staff Surveys and Internal Newsletters.
Arthur confirms that “SnapComms is a key tool for sending information to stores.” It is now their main retail communication
channel and vital to operations, as the information it conveys to staff enables Virgin Mobile to trade very day. Arthur explains that
“store staff on the shop floor needed something that popped up in whatever tool they were using and SnapComms gave us that
ability.It is the tool we use to push information to store staff.” The desktop alerts have been used in a wide variety of situations such
as to notify staff when support centers are closed, advise the time and nature of IT systems changes, provide updates about tariffs
and exclusions and communicate sales incentive campaigns. While each of the SnapComms’ employee communication channels that
Virgin Mobile is using can be used in isolation, they do integrate seamlessly. For example the staff survey is used to get feedback
and views from stores and can be distributed in combination with a desktop alert, directing employees to further information and the
link to the survey. Store managers are very supportive of the staff surveys and understand their importance in getting information
back from the stores to head office, and it’s not unusual to achieve 100% response rates from these. Stores have reacted well to the
tools and it’s simple and easy for them to receive information. This has been achieved through the Retail Communications team
controlling the level of communication so that staffs are not bombarded. They have ensured that the tools are not over-used and that
they do not step outside users’ expectations.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What are the main functions of Virgin Mobile UK.
Q2. What are the functions of retail communication team? Explain
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
This company is a voice and data company, providing innovative market leading products, services and customer focus to the
business, government, wholesale and residential sectors. They have the backing of and are wholly owned by one of Australia’s
largest telecommunications company. They wanted to: Ensure staff had the information they needed when and where they needed it.
• Cut through email clutter as well as reduce email traffic. • Remind staff of corporate messages, our business strategy and staff
benefits. • Be able to alert staff immediately a situation arose. • Let staff know about our current marketing campaigns and customer
7/11/2017 Aeren Foundation
2/2
offers. How a leading telecommunications company used the SnapComms tools to meet its objectives The company adopted the
Snapmag tool to circulate a digital newsletter “Info line”. In addition, a desktop pop-up message was designed to have the same look
and feel as the magazine and is used to notify staff when editions are published. Hence staff working in any location and at any time
of the day or night know it’s there.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What the company needed for their staff? How they fulfilled it?
Q2. Give an overview of the case.
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
The solution to improving English communication skills for international professionals is an English program that is highly
specialized for specific needs, objectives, and goals. Developing and creating an English program for specific needs, objectives, and
goals begins with an initial consultation. Contact Impact English Language Training and Consulting to make an appointment for an
initial consultation. Contact Impact provides English programs and English courses for professionals in the Boston area. English
programs are for one-to-one individualized training and coaching. English courses are for groups. Impact English programs and
courses are based on specific needs, objectives, and goals. English Programs Boston Overview – Writing skills programs use a
training participant’s real, or authentic, written communication. A training participant’s authentic business professional writing
defines and develops the method and process for training in business professional writing skills. Business professional writing skills
training is highly specialized and individualized. • Everyone’s writing ability is different. • Everyone has a different purpose in
writing. • Everyone makes different mistakes in writing. • Everyone’s understanding of the English language is different. It is not
practical to try to improve writing by attending I’m Steve Bloomberg, English language consultant. I put together English language
programs to match people’s needs, objectives, and goals for for English language skills development. I will create and deliver an
English program that works with you to get the results you want. Everyone’s purpose in communication is different, and everyone
improves and develops English language skills in different ways. Impact is highly specialized professional language training and
communication coaching for international professionals working in the USA. The way to get started is to contact me so that we can
set up a time for an initial consultation. At an initial consultation, I find out what your specific needs, objectives, and goals are. Next,
we talk about how I can best use and match my skills, knowledge, resources, and talent to meet your specific needs, objectives, and
goals in English language and communication skills development. So let’s set up a time for an initial consultation so that we can
begin putting together an English program that’s just right for you.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Give your comments on English programs and English courses towards improving English communication skills.
Q2. Give your views on the case,
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
David Victor, a professor of management and director of the International Business Program in the Eastern Michigan University
College of Business, has been awarded the Association for Business Communication’s highest honor for recognizing teaching
excellence. The Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher Award encourages and rewards exceptional achievement in teaching business
communication. It goes annually to one recipient from among the entire international membership of the ABC. Victor received the
award recently at this year’s 75th annual conference, held in Chicago. As a recipient, he will also present a paper at the following
year’s conference plenary session. “I am extremely gratified to receive this award,” Victor said. “It underscores my commitment to
teaching, and to developing excellent programs that serve our broad and diverse range of students and convey the complexities of
our rapidly evolving global business environment.” “I am pleased and proud that David has received this award, ” said David
Mielke, Dean of the College of Business. “The honor reflects his creativity, his energy and his distinct scholarship in serving our
students and growing our programs in international business.” The Association for Business Communication (ABC) is an
international, interdisciplinary organization committed to advancing business communication research, education, and practice. Its
membership of 760 draws academics and practitioners from such fields as management, marketing, English, speech communication,
linguistics, and information systems. The membership base extends to 40 countries worldwide.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Discuss the contribution of the Association for Business Communication (ABC) in promoting business
communication.
Q2.
How Mr. David Victor, a professor of management and director of the International Business Program in the
Eastern Michigan University College of Business, received the Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher Award.
Comment.
Business Ethics ISBM EXAM ANSWER SHEET PROVIDED
Case Studies
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
Last year, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Twitter released statistics on their workforce diversity. At these companies, women hold
only 16% of tech jobs. The Ellen Pao discrimination case put Silicon Valley, particularly VC firms, under the microscope. Whether it
will be a watershed moment for gender diversity is still up in the air. At a minimum, a record of more subtle forms of discrimination
exists now in the form of the case’s court record. Major challenges organizations face in achieving gender diversity include hidden
bias, micro-aggressions, and leave policies that make sustained employment difficult for parents. Providing training and workshops
to employees is not enough. Organizations must complement employee support with proper processes and controls. Diversity and
inclusion will soon become a necessity, as both engineering talent becomes scarcer and communication between teams becomes
even more paramount. “The experience of women in her early career is quite different from one on the back end of her career, yet we
tend to clump the female experience into one category.” “As companies continue to shift to being solutions-based, connecting and
giving a voice to their entire workforce will become even more important.” “No one person can solve gender discrimination, but
everyone can do something.”
Answer the following question.
Q1. Give your views on the case.
Q2. Discuss the reasons of gender diversity and discrimination in silicon valley
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
Frank is a college junior at a small private university. Before coming to college he had a girlfriend for two years, ending abruptly
because they were going separate ways. His attitude coming to college was to remain single, grow academically and professionally,
and enjoy youthful experiences. In his freshman year, Frank found that the culture at his college largely matched what he was
looking for. Hooking up was very common, and long-term relationships were rare. During his first year at school, Frank saw a lot of
different women and had sex with several of them, rarely more than once or twice. He had some good experiences with women who
he would have liked to pursue longer, but he just didn’t think the culture allowed for it. All the students seemed to be focused on
bettering their future. They were academically and professionally driven, not driven by relationships and finding love. Some of
Frank’s peers explicitly said they didn’t have time for a romantic relationship, and had no interest since they didn’t know what state
they would be living in after graduation. At the beginning of his junior year, Frank got involved in an uncommitted sexual
relationship with Susan, a girl he always had been interested in getting to know better. After hooking up once, they both discussed
how they weren’t looking for a relationship but enjoyed each other’s company. Frank and Susan continued this exclusive, hook-up
relationship for the first half of the semester. While they both enjoyed time with one another, the uncommitted relationship ended
unexpectedly when Susan wanted more and Frank was still unsure he was ready to fully commit. Frank went back to his routine
random hook-ups, but he soon realized that he wasn’t enjoying them anymore. There was no long-term fulfillment and growth that
he had started to feel with Susan. Frank stopped hooking up with girls randomly, and instead started searching for something deeper.
He spent the rest of the quarter not hooking up with anyone and realizing how difficult it was to find a relationship in college,
especially after he had built a negative reputation after hooking up with so many women around his small college campus. Frank’s
7/11/2017 Aeren Foundation
2/3
friends approached him one day in an “intervention.” They were genuinely concerned about him because he was acting so different
than usual and seemed depressed. They told him that he was in a funk after his time with Susan. He needed to get back out and hookup
with girls again, so that all would be normal again.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What should Frank do? Comment.
Q2. Is Frank just heart-broken from Susan? Explain.
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
By beginning their deliberations about compensation from the perspective of trying to create a non-arbitrary relationship between
contributions and rewards, not only would directors serve the cause of relative justice, they might even begin to create a more
virtuous and productive sense of community among workers, managers, and owners. Here are three examples of contemporary
Aristotelian business leadership to illustrate how this can happen: In 2000, Massachusetts businessman Charlie Butcher shared the
proceeds of the sale of his company, to the tune of $18 million, with all 325 of his employees. He cut them into the deal
proportionate to the length of their employment, giving a $55,000 check, on average, to each worker. (In contrast, and at about the
same time, when Chrysler was acquired by Daimler Benz, Chrysler shareholders and executives got fat checks, but hourly workers
got nothing, except reduced job security.) Over the length of his long stewardship of the company it appears Butcher had aimed to
create a model work environment for employees, offering them high starting salaries, flexible workweeks, and the opportunity to
switch jobs to find a personally fulfilling one. Finally, Butcher sold the company to S.C. Johnson & Co., even though he had higher
offers from other companies, because the family-owned Johnson organization promised to continue the employee-friendly culture
and job security he had created. In late 1996, two Taiwan-born, high-tech entrepreneurs, David Sun and John Tu, sold the Silicon
Valley business they founded, Kingston Technology, to a Japanese bank for $1.5 billion. Part of the deal was that Sun and Tu would
continue to run the business, and reinvest a half-billion from the sale in the company to fund future growth. That was unusual, but
what truly was surprising about the deal was that Sun and Tu divided $100 million of the remaining windfall, ten percent of the sale,
among their 523 employees. Significantly, Sun and Tu had been sharing ten percent of the company’s profits with employees all
along. They also practiced a highly egalitarian and participative form of management in which all employees had a chance to
contribute their full talents to the company. Why did they behave in such an unusually virtuous manner? “The issue is really not
money,” Tu told the New York Times, “it’s how you respect people and how you treat them. It’s all about trust, isn’t it?” The story
didn’t end there. In 1998, just when the Japanese bank was due to make its last $333 million payment to Sun and Tu, there was more
surprising news: The two asked the bank to forgo the payment because Kingston Technology had under-performed during the
previous year. The deal was then restructured, and the postponed final payment was linked to performance measures. Why this
Aristotelian display of fairness toward all stakeholders? Tu explained that profits follow in the long term when a company behaves
ethically towards its partners, vendors, customers, and employees. Besides, he added, “how much money do you need?” Hourly
workers spend nearly every cent they earn to pay for food, clothing, to cover their rent or mortgage, and to send their kids to college.
Those needs are unremitting and constant. That’s why Aaron Feuerstein, C.E.O. of Malden Mills, kept paying weekly checks to his
workers, out of his pocket, when his factory burned down in 1995 and there was no work to do for months while it was being rebuilt.
Feuerstein saw the ethical difference between meeting needs and wants, and between the wealth he had in excess of what he needed
and the much smaller margin between his employees’ savings and their bankruptcy. So Feuerstein paid ’til it hurt, transferring most
of his accumulated wealth to his employees until they could start to earn their own keep again. Sadly, for unrelated reasons, the
company ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2001. As Aristotle said, even virtuous people need good luck. Aristotle doesn’t provide a
single, clear principle for the just distribution of enterprise-created wealth, nor would it be possible for anyone to formulate such a
monolithic rule. He admits it’s harder to distribute wealth than it is to make it. Nonetheless, here are some Aristotelian guidelines in
the form of questions virtuous leaders need to ask themselves: Am I taking more in my share of rewards than my contributions
warrant? Does the distribution of goods in the organization preserve the happiness of the community; does it have a negative effect
on morale, or the ability of others to achieve the good? Would everyone in the organization enter into the employment contract under
the current terms if they truly had other choices? Would we come to a different principle of allocation if all of the parties concerned
were represented at the table? Again, the only hard and fast principle of distributive justice is that fairness is most likely to arise out
of a process of rational and moral deliberation among participating parties. Prescriptively, all Aristotle says is that virtue and wisdom
will certainly elude leaders who fail to engage in rigorous ethical analysis of their actions. The bottom line is that ethics depends on
asking tough questions.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Comment on the statement “profits follow in the long term when a company behaves ethically towards its partners,
vendors, customers, and employees”
Q2. State the Aristotelian guidelines for the distribution of enterprise-created wealth.
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
When lakhs of people of the quake-hit region in a certain state in India were braving the biting cold under open skies, some 100-odd
resident doctors of a certain hospital went on a flash strike ignoring more than 70 critically injured quake victims for almost six hour.
The hospital didn’t supply blankets or given medical treatment to the quake-injured and other seriously ill patients as the angry
doctors assembled in the hospital compound and chanted slogans, announcing a flash strike that lasted for about six hours.
7/11/2017 Aeren Foundation
3/3
Apparently, a nurse, after locking the room where blankets for doctors were stored, had forgotten to deposit the keys with the
hospital matron. On discovering that there might be no blankets for the night to ward off the chill in the special rooms where the
doctors had been put up, the latter reportedly gheraoed the matron and the assistant matron and heaped on them the choicest of
abuses for the mistake committed by the nurse. When the nurse protested against the abuses, the doctors reportedly demanded that
the matron tender an unconditional apology, or else they would remain on strike. Nevertheless late in the night, on the day of the
strike, the dispute was amicably resolved and the doctors resumed duty. The issue was too minor for the doctors to lay aside all their
responsibilities and go on a strike. Misbehavior of the doctors by striking just when they are most needed is indeed regrettable. A
senior physician associated with the hospital has condemned the irresponsible behavior of the doctors.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Discuss the above case with respect to ethics.
Q2. Give an overview of the case
Answer the following question.
Q1. Describe how the golden rule does or does not influence each of the six concepts of TQM? (10 marks)
Q2. Describe two ways to determine a superior process? (10 marks)
Q3. Why are the product evaluation standards in the development stage? (10 marks)
Q4. What is the best way to improve market share for a product or service? (10 marks)
Q5. Why has e-Commerce grown so quickly? (10 marks)
Q6. Discuss the advantages of an empowered team? (10 marks)
Q7. Briefly describe the purpose of an ISO 9000 quality system? (10 marks)
Q8. What is the overall aim of the EMS Standard? (10 marks)
Business Communication ISBM EXAM CASE STUDY ANSWERS PROVIDED
Case Studies
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
Virgin Mobile UK is a mobile phone service provider operating in the United Kingdom (UK) and part of Virgin Media, the first
provider of all four broadband, TV, mobile phone and home phone services in the UK. It operates 80 stores, employing 550 staff in
retail outlets and a further 200 in “Lite” pop-up locations. Sarah Arthur is the Retail Communications Manager at Virgin Mobile UK.
The Retail Communications team is responsible for employee communications across all Virgin Mobile retail outlets. The team
needs to ensure that key internal messages are delivered to retail staff in a timely manner and that they can access operational
information — new packages and special offers, company news, IT notifications, internal campaigns and requests for feedback —
regardless of location or desktop environment. Virgin Mobile was relying on email and its intranet for communicating with retail
staff. They needed to continue to work with their existing employee communication channels and systems but they also wanted to
explore ways of delivering push communications which their core systems couldn’t do. Virgin Mobile implemented the SnapComms
internal communications software in 2008 and is using Desktop Alerts, Desktop Tickers, Staff Surveys and Internal Newsletters.
Arthur confirms that “SnapComms is a key tool for sending information to stores.” It is now their main retail communication
channel and vital to operations, as the information it conveys to staff enables Virgin Mobile to trade very day. Arthur explains that
“store staff on the shop floor needed something that popped up in whatever tool they were using and SnapComms gave us that
ability.It is the tool we use to push information to store staff.” The desktop alerts have been used in a wide variety of situations such
as to notify staff when support centers are closed, advise the time and nature of IT systems changes, provide updates about tariffs
and exclusions and communicate sales incentive campaigns. While each of the SnapComms’ employee communication channels that
Virgin Mobile is using can be used in isolation, they do integrate seamlessly. For example the staff survey is used to get feedback
and views from stores and can be distributed in combination with a desktop alert, directing employees to further information and the
link to the survey. Store managers are very supportive of the staff surveys and understand their importance in getting information
back from the stores to head office, and it’s not unusual to achieve 100% response rates from these. Stores have reacted well to the
tools and it’s simple and easy for them to receive information. This has been achieved through the Retail Communications team
controlling the level of communication so that staffs are not bombarded. They have ensured that the tools are not over-used and that
they do not step outside users’ expectations.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What are the main functions of Virgin Mobile UK.
Q2. What are the functions of retail communication team? Explain
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
This company is a voice and data company, providing innovative market leading products, services and customer focus to the
business, government, wholesale and residential sectors. They have the backing of and are wholly owned by one of Australia’s
largest telecommunications company. They wanted to: Ensure staff had the information they needed when and where they needed it.
• Cut through email clutter as well as reduce email traffic. • Remind staff of corporate messages, our business strategy and staff
benefits. • Be able to alert staff immediately a situation arose. • Let staff know about our current marketing campaigns and customer
7/11/2017 Aeren Foundation
2/2
offers. How a leading telecommunications company used the SnapComms tools to meet its objectives The company adopted the
Snapmag tool to circulate a digital newsletter “Info line”. In addition, a desktop pop-up message was designed to have the same look
and feel as the magazine and is used to notify staff when editions are published. Hence staff working in any location and at any time
of the day or night know it’s there.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What the company needed for their staff? How they fulfilled it?
Q2. Give an overview of the case.
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
The solution to improving English communication skills for international professionals is an English program that is highly
specialized for specific needs, objectives, and goals. Developing and creating an English program for specific needs, objectives, and
goals begins with an initial consultation. Contact Impact English Language Training and Consulting to make an appointment for an
initial consultation. Contact Impact provides English programs and English courses for professionals in the Boston area. English
programs are for one-to-one individualized training and coaching. English courses are for groups. Impact English programs and
courses are based on specific needs, objectives, and goals. English Programs Boston Overview – Writing skills programs use a
training participant’s real, or authentic, written communication. A training participant’s authentic business professional writing
defines and develops the method and process for training in business professional writing skills. Business professional writing skills
training is highly specialized and individualized. • Everyone’s writing ability is different. • Everyone has a different purpose in
writing. • Everyone makes different mistakes in writing. • Everyone’s understanding of the English language is different. It is not
practical to try to improve writing by attending I’m Steve Bloomberg, English language consultant. I put together English language
programs to match people’s needs, objectives, and goals for for English language skills development. I will create and deliver an
English program that works with you to get the results you want. Everyone’s purpose in communication is different, and everyone
improves and develops English language skills in different ways. Impact is highly specialized professional language training and
communication coaching for international professionals working in the USA. The way to get started is to contact me so that we can
set up a time for an initial consultation. At an initial consultation, I find out what your specific needs, objectives, and goals are. Next,
we talk about how I can best use and match my skills, knowledge, resources, and talent to meet your specific needs, objectives, and
goals in English language and communication skills development. So let’s set up a time for an initial consultation so that we can
begin putting together an English program that’s just right for you.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Give your comments on English programs and English courses towards improving English communication skills.
Q2. Give your views on the case,
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
David Victor, a professor of management and director of the International Business Program in the Eastern Michigan University
College of Business, has been awarded the Association for Business Communication’s highest honor for recognizing teaching
excellence. The Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher Award encourages and rewards exceptional achievement in teaching business
communication. It goes annually to one recipient from among the entire international membership of the ABC. Victor received the
award recently at this year’s 75th annual conference, held in Chicago. As a recipient, he will also present a paper at the following
year’s conference plenary session. “I am extremely gratified to receive this award,” Victor said. “It underscores my commitment to
teaching, and to developing excellent programs that serve our broad and diverse range of students and convey the complexities of
our rapidly evolving global business environment.” “I am pleased and proud that David has received this award, ” said David
Mielke, Dean of the College of Business. “The honor reflects his creativity, his energy and his distinct scholarship in serving our
students and growing our programs in international business.” The Association for Business Communication (ABC) is an
international, interdisciplinary organization committed to advancing business communication research, education, and practice. Its
membership of 760 draws academics and practitioners from such fields as management, marketing, English, speech communication,
linguistics, and information systems. The membership base extends to 40 countries worldwide.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Discuss the contribution of the Association for Business Communication (ABC) in promoting business
communication.
Q2.
How Mr. David Victor, a professor of management and director of the International Business Program in the
Eastern Michigan University College of Business, received the Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher Award.
Comment.
Business Ethics ISBM EXAM ANSWER SHEET PROVIDED
Case Studies
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
Last year, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Twitter released statistics on their workforce diversity. At these companies, women hold
only 16% of tech jobs. The Ellen Pao discrimination case put Silicon Valley, particularly VC firms, under the microscope. Whether it
will be a watershed moment for gender diversity is still up in the air. At a minimum, a record of more subtle forms of discrimination
exists now in the form of the case’s court record. Major challenges organizations face in achieving gender diversity include hidden
bias, micro-aggressions, and leave policies that make sustained employment difficult for parents. Providing training and workshops
to employees is not enough. Organizations must complement employee support with proper processes and controls. Diversity and
inclusion will soon become a necessity, as both engineering talent becomes scarcer and communication between teams becomes
even more paramount. “The experience of women in her early career is quite different from one on the back end of her career, yet we
tend to clump the female experience into one category.” “As companies continue to shift to being solutions-based, connecting and
giving a voice to their entire workforce will become even more important.” “No one person can solve gender discrimination, but
everyone can do something.”
Answer the following question.
Q1. Give your views on the case.
Q2. Discuss the reasons of gender diversity and discrimination in silicon valley
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
Frank is a college junior at a small private university. Before coming to college he had a girlfriend for two years, ending abruptly
because they were going separate ways. His attitude coming to college was to remain single, grow academically and professionally,
and enjoy youthful experiences. In his freshman year, Frank found that the culture at his college largely matched what he was
looking for. Hooking up was very common, and long-term relationships were rare. During his first year at school, Frank saw a lot of
different women and had sex with several of them, rarely more than once or twice. He had some good experiences with women who
he would have liked to pursue longer, but he just didn’t think the culture allowed for it. All the students seemed to be focused on
bettering their future. They were academically and professionally driven, not driven by relationships and finding love. Some of
Frank’s peers explicitly said they didn’t have time for a romantic relationship, and had no interest since they didn’t know what state
they would be living in after graduation. At the beginning of his junior year, Frank got involved in an uncommitted sexual
relationship with Susan, a girl he always had been interested in getting to know better. After hooking up once, they both discussed
how they weren’t looking for a relationship but enjoyed each other’s company. Frank and Susan continued this exclusive, hook-up
relationship for the first half of the semester. While they both enjoyed time with one another, the uncommitted relationship ended
unexpectedly when Susan wanted more and Frank was still unsure he was ready to fully commit. Frank went back to his routine
random hook-ups, but he soon realized that he wasn’t enjoying them anymore. There was no long-term fulfillment and growth that
he had started to feel with Susan. Frank stopped hooking up with girls randomly, and instead started searching for something deeper.
He spent the rest of the quarter not hooking up with anyone and realizing how difficult it was to find a relationship in college,
especially after he had built a negative reputation after hooking up with so many women around his small college campus. Frank’s
7/11/2017 Aeren Foundation
2/3
friends approached him one day in an “intervention.” They were genuinely concerned about him because he was acting so different
than usual and seemed depressed. They told him that he was in a funk after his time with Susan. He needed to get back out and hookup
with girls again, so that all would be normal again.
Answer the following question.
Q1. What should Frank do? Comment.
Q2. Is Frank just heart-broken from Susan? Explain.
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
By beginning their deliberations about compensation from the perspective of trying to create a non-arbitrary relationship between
contributions and rewards, not only would directors serve the cause of relative justice, they might even begin to create a more
virtuous and productive sense of community among workers, managers, and owners. Here are three examples of contemporary
Aristotelian business leadership to illustrate how this can happen: In 2000, Massachusetts businessman Charlie Butcher shared the
proceeds of the sale of his company, to the tune of $18 million, with all 325 of his employees. He cut them into the deal
proportionate to the length of their employment, giving a $55,000 check, on average, to each worker. (In contrast, and at about the
same time, when Chrysler was acquired by Daimler Benz, Chrysler shareholders and executives got fat checks, but hourly workers
got nothing, except reduced job security.) Over the length of his long stewardship of the company it appears Butcher had aimed to
create a model work environment for employees, offering them high starting salaries, flexible workweeks, and the opportunity to
switch jobs to find a personally fulfilling one. Finally, Butcher sold the company to S.C. Johnson & Co., even though he had higher
offers from other companies, because the family-owned Johnson organization promised to continue the employee-friendly culture
and job security he had created. In late 1996, two Taiwan-born, high-tech entrepreneurs, David Sun and John Tu, sold the Silicon
Valley business they founded, Kingston Technology, to a Japanese bank for $1.5 billion. Part of the deal was that Sun and Tu would
continue to run the business, and reinvest a half-billion from the sale in the company to fund future growth. That was unusual, but
what truly was surprising about the deal was that Sun and Tu divided $100 million of the remaining windfall, ten percent of the sale,
among their 523 employees. Significantly, Sun and Tu had been sharing ten percent of the company’s profits with employees all
along. They also practiced a highly egalitarian and participative form of management in which all employees had a chance to
contribute their full talents to the company. Why did they behave in such an unusually virtuous manner? “The issue is really not
money,” Tu told the New York Times, “it’s how you respect people and how you treat them. It’s all about trust, isn’t it?” The story
didn’t end there. In 1998, just when the Japanese bank was due to make its last $333 million payment to Sun and Tu, there was more
surprising news: The two asked the bank to forgo the payment because Kingston Technology had under-performed during the
previous year. The deal was then restructured, and the postponed final payment was linked to performance measures. Why this
Aristotelian display of fairness toward all stakeholders? Tu explained that profits follow in the long term when a company behaves
ethically towards its partners, vendors, customers, and employees. Besides, he added, “how much money do you need?” Hourly
workers spend nearly every cent they earn to pay for food, clothing, to cover their rent or mortgage, and to send their kids to college.
Those needs are unremitting and constant. That’s why Aaron Feuerstein, C.E.O. of Malden Mills, kept paying weekly checks to his
workers, out of his pocket, when his factory burned down in 1995 and there was no work to do for months while it was being rebuilt.
Feuerstein saw the ethical difference between meeting needs and wants, and between the wealth he had in excess of what he needed
and the much smaller margin between his employees’ savings and their bankruptcy. So Feuerstein paid ’til it hurt, transferring most
of his accumulated wealth to his employees until they could start to earn their own keep again. Sadly, for unrelated reasons, the
company ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2001. As Aristotle said, even virtuous people need good luck. Aristotle doesn’t provide a
single, clear principle for the just distribution of enterprise-created wealth, nor would it be possible for anyone to formulate such a
monolithic rule. He admits it’s harder to distribute wealth than it is to make it. Nonetheless, here are some Aristotelian guidelines in
the form of questions virtuous leaders need to ask themselves: Am I taking more in my share of rewards than my contributions
warrant? Does the distribution of goods in the organization preserve the happiness of the community; does it have a negative effect
on morale, or the ability of others to achieve the good? Would everyone in the organization enter into the employment contract under
the current terms if they truly had other choices? Would we come to a different principle of allocation if all of the parties concerned
were represented at the table? Again, the only hard and fast principle of distributive justice is that fairness is most likely to arise out
of a process of rational and moral deliberation among participating parties. Prescriptively, all Aristotle says is that virtue and wisdom
will certainly elude leaders who fail to engage in rigorous ethical analysis of their actions. The bottom line is that ethics depends on
asking tough questions.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Comment on the statement “profits follow in the long term when a company behaves ethically towards its partners,
vendors, customers, and employees”
Q2. State the Aristotelian guidelines for the distribution of enterprise-created wealth.
CASE STUDY (20
Marks)
When lakhs of people of the quake-hit region in a certain state in India were braving the biting cold under open skies, some 100-odd
resident doctors of a certain hospital went on a flash strike ignoring more than 70 critically injured quake victims for almost six hour.
The hospital didn’t supply blankets or given medical treatment to the quake-injured and other seriously ill patients as the angry
doctors assembled in the hospital compound and chanted slogans, announcing a flash strike that lasted for about six hours.
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Apparently, a nurse, after locking the room where blankets for doctors were stored, had forgotten to deposit the keys with the
hospital matron. On discovering that there might be no blankets for the night to ward off the chill in the special rooms where the
doctors had been put up, the latter reportedly gheraoed the matron and the assistant matron and heaped on them the choicest of
abuses for the mistake committed by the nurse. When the nurse protested against the abuses, the doctors reportedly demanded that
the matron tender an unconditional apology, or else they would remain on strike. Nevertheless late in the night, on the day of the
strike, the dispute was amicably resolved and the doctors resumed duty. The issue was too minor for the doctors to lay aside all their
responsibilities and go on a strike. Misbehavior of the doctors by striking just when they are most needed is indeed regrettable. A
senior physician associated with the hospital has condemned the irresponsible behavior of the doctors.
Answer the following question.
Q1. Discuss the above case with respect to ethics.
Q2. Give an overview of the case
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