A New Work Ethic?

"A New Work Ethic?"

Barbara Murphy-Lee

Dr. Anthony Grady

Business Ethics - BUS 309

April 26, 2011

1. Describe how typical the attitudes that Sheehy reports appear to be in work environments you

have experienced.

In a fast food environment this attitude is indeed very typical. Customers appeared to be more of a bother to the employees because they were always looking for ways to goof off. Employees were all about themselves and how much free stuff they could take home. Free food items passed along to friends and family, cash was pocketed at the drive-thru window, items were tossed out with the trash—ask any quick-serve operator and almost everyone will have a tale of a different tactic taken by an employee regarding theft. One manager noticed something astray on his bank statements. An employee was ‘floating cash’ and sending the franchise reports that he had deposited the day’s sales, but he actually was taking the money and paying it back later with sales from future sales. After a careful analysis of the banking records, the manager found out that a scam had been going on.

2. Explain the implications of the work ethic Sheehy describes for the future of American business.

According to research, employees dishonesty and theft costs businesses over $50 billion dollars annually in a single country each year. Also, according to the text, a recent survey shows that employee theft accounts for 50 percent more revenue loss for retailers than shoplifting. As hard as it is to believe that someone you hire to fill a trusted position in your company would actually take from you, it happens every day in all kinds of businesses and in a variety of ways. It is estimated that up to 75 percent of all employee theft goes unnoticed. Some security experts predict that up to 30 percent of the nation's workers will steal at some time in their career so the implication of the future work ethic described by Sheehy for American...