Utilitarian Test-Business Ethics

Group Exercise 2

Chapter 4 Question 25

This situation clearly represents a poorly run firm. The CPA firm has management staff that are very hard are on their employees, and as a result the employees frequently leave for jobs with other firms. This creates a slippery slope because the more employees continue to leave, the more work and stress there is for the employees that remain, causing the employees to fall further behind, get treated even more poorly by management, and thus have even more incentive to leave.

Stacy, along with all other hiring staff, has been asked to ensure that the employees potentially being hired are assured this is a good firm to work for. From a utilitarian standpoint however, it appears very evident that this is not the best course of action.

For an act to be ethical according to the utilitarian criteria, the act must be the one that maximizes utility in considering all stakeholders involved. Instead of selling the firm after reading the negative report, the partners asked all interviewers to present deceptive information. It seems that the utility is maximized in the short run, as the firm will hire great interviewees without exposing their problems. In the long run however, it is not going to work. If Stacy lies for his firm and continues to get more employees to join the firm with expectations of a great work experience, they will be thoroughly disappointed when they learn of what goes on at this firm. The low employee morale, the poor treatment by management, and the amount of stress placed on them will give them a bad experience of the business world, and will eventually likely cause them to leave the organization, and potentially the industry entirely. This option overall has very low utility.

Stacy’s best option, in order to maximize utility, would be to be completely honest with the interviewees. If he were to do this, the interviewees would get a sense that this opportunity is most likely not worth their while, and would...