Giving Voice to Values in Business Ethics: A Case Study

This case study explores a conflict of values in a student club and how to address it with integrity and fairness. It discusses the arguments to counter, what is at stake for the key parties, levers/arguments to influence those who disagree, and the most powerful and persuasive response to the reasons and rationalizations. The subject is business ethics, and the course code and college/university are not mentioned.

BUSINESS ETHICS 1
Nu
m
be
r
Worldview What to say To Whom When How
1 Erica working on the
budget projection but it
does add up.
Erica to Laura
The maths seems not be
balance. I think Matt has
forgotten to deposit
money to the account.
There are no fundraising
revenue in the account.
To Laura 10.00 Erica is
seeking
clarification
on the
missing
money in a
polite
manner.
2
Laura clearly clarification
to Erica.
Laura to Erica
You should investigate
and talk to Matt in
regards to the issue
immediately.
To Erica .10.02 Nonchalant
manner
3 After Erica had
conversation with Laura
is when she explained the
situation to Matt.
Erica to Matt
We should have more
cash than the total cost
of the T-shirts, and the
extra needed to be
deposited into the club
account.
I can also help you to
find how much money
you owe the club.
To Matt 11.44 It was in a
polite
manner
4 Aims to shift Matt aspect
of trustworthiness and
loyalty.
Matt to Erica
I do not want your help,
but I will correct on the
mistake.
To Erica 11.45 In a rude
manner and
assumed
her much.
5
6
7
8
Ques 1. What are the main arguments you are trying to counter? That is, what
are the reasons and rationalizations you need to address?

BUSINESS ETHICS 2
Erica might want to argue that it is only the T-shirt sales and the amount is small, she
knows that Matt has been a senior and has been an officer of the Spirit club for the
two years. She has been the youngest and only sophomore officer of the club.
Moreover, Matt was also a good friend. She thought that the amount is not material,
everyone does the same, and he would cover for her in the future. Erica would need
to be prepared to counter each of those rationalizations. She might want to explain
why she does not intend to go against her values of honesty, integrity,
trustworthiness along with responsibilities (Chell, Spence, Perrini & Harris, 2016).
She needs to explain in fairness to the other club members, Matt need to pay for the
money that is not in the account.
Ques 2. What is at stake for the key parties (including those who disagree with
you)?
Stakeholders What’s at stake for this person or group?
Erica Her reputation, her morals, what she
stands for, her role in the club and its
success.Erica as the treasurer was
responsible to ensuring all the club funds
are in order and ensure the balance
sheet report are balancing (Plump,
2018). Moreover, she was new and when
such things start happening all the eyes
would be pointing at her.
Matt His reputation as a club president was in
line, trust from the other members in the
club was also at stake. As the president
of the club, it is your responsibility to
ensure everything is working well from
the management of the club resources to
how they spend their money. When the
president starts stealing the money, this
becomes a major issue which they are
encountering.
Laura The success to make the club success,
the profit margin from the club and her
reputation as a vice president particularly
leading the other members. The vice
president is second in command and

BUSINESS ETHICS 3
when this fall apart everybody will be
looking at her. She needed to get into the
issue and find ways in which she could
address it.
Club Members Their lives and well being, their abilities
to make money from the club.
Ques 3. What levers/arguments could you use to influence those with whom
you disagree?
An argument to influence those who disagree would be to show them of the mistakes
they have done, and how unfair it is to the other club members. There was a money
issue in which Matt the president had failed to deposit in the club account. This is an
enormous issue particularly when those in power start to embezzle the other
members’ money. This is unethical issue which need to be addressed. As much as
Erica friendship would be in jeopardy with Matt, she need to raise the issue to the
vice president Laura given she has offered to help to correct the mistake and he has
turned it down (Trevino & Nelson, 2016). Another argument would be consulting with
an advisor (Lawrence & Melnyk, 2015). Sometimes when it comes to solving issue is
to get an external advisor so that they could be able to see an issue out of their own
perspective and offer advice (Crane & Matten, 2016). Maybe Matt felt that Erica did
not have authority to question him, knowing that she was the newest officer in the
club and he has been there over two years. In the work setup also it happens where
the senior officers feels degraded when their juniors tries to correct them
(Riemenschneider, Manly & Leonard, 2016). They perceive themselves as know all
and in this case Matt felt intimidated and felt Erica does not deserve to question him
(Plump, 2018). External advisor or perhaps Laura could approach on the issue much
different and considering this alternative would assist to influence his decision to
return the money to the club account.

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Ques 4. What is your most powerful and persuasive response to the reasons
and rationalizations you need to address? To whom should the arguments be
made? When and in what context?
When we encounter value conflict particularly in the workplace, there are barriers
which are encountered in form of the reasons and rationalization to pursue a given
course of action (Lynch, Hart & Costa, 2014). In this case, there was money which
was lost. Erica who is treasurer of the Spirit club has found that Matt who is the club
president, did not deposit some funds in the club account from the sale of the T-
shirts. In this case there was aspect of trust versus loyalty which was lacking in this
club (Davies, Papp & Antoni, 2015). This is a conflict value. In many cases there are
common argument which could be made on the same such that “I know this is not
fair to the club but I do not want to hurt the boss” or “this is not the responsibility I am
just following orders”. In my argument, loss of money is a big crime and i do not
condone such even though some may state it is not their responsibility or do not
want to hurt the boss. Given the responsibility as the treasurer it is important for
Erica to act with the highest integrity and fairness to all. The argument needs to be
made to administrator in the student Activities office, since Matt has already been
told the issue at hand, but he has refused to address on it. The best way would be to
report him regardless of what it would do to your relationship.

BUSINESS ETHICS 5
References
Chell, E., Spence, L. J., Perrini, F., & Harris, J. D. (2016). Social entrepreneurship
and business ethics: Does social equal ethical?. Journal of business ethics,
133(4), 619-625.
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Davies, S., Papp, V. G., & Antoni, C. (2015). Voice and communication change for
gender nonconforming individuals: Giving voice to the person inside.
International Journal of Transgenderism, 16(3), 117-159.
Lawrence, A. T., & Melnyk, J. (2015). What Is a Giving Voice to Values Case?. Case
Research Journal, 35(2).
Lynch, S., Hart, B., & Costa, C. M. (2014). Giving voice to values: An undergraduate
nursing curriculum project. Collegian, 21(4), 367-373.
Plump, C. (2018). Giving Voice to Values in the Legal Profession: Effective
Advocacy with Integrity. Routledge.
Riemenschneider, C. K., Manly, T. S., & Leonard, L. N. (2016). Using Giving Voice to
Values to Improve Student Academic Integrity in Information Technology
Contexts. Journal of Information Systems Education, 27(3).
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about
how to do it right. John Wiley & Sons.