After reading over the case study, I look back to my childhood when my family was affected by a tornado in our local area. Homes were destroyed and many people were forced to seek housing elsewhere. The hotels/motels in the area jacked prices up considerably, which were too expensive for some of the affected families. Looking at this situation from different perspectives will change which ethical theory, whether Deontological or Utilitarianism, would use.
Viewing things from Brian Johnny’s perspective seems to me that during his thought process he used the Utilitarianism theory while being an “ethical egoist”. Because he considered the fact that he could profit from the people attempting to evacuate their homes, he was only considering the pros and cons to his own benefit. It seems that Brian weighed the idea that he was to be considered to be taking advantage of these people against the profit he could make by raising the cost of the rooms.
From a business sense, I would have to agree with him in wanting to raise the costs; however, I would not have done so at such an obvious rate. The idea of supply and demand comes into play; but there should be a limit to the price gouging. Lily, on the other hand, was considering the greater good of the people affected. She used a combination of the two theories in order to come up with her decision to stand up against Brian for super-inflating the prices of the rooms.
Lily, using the Deontological theory, took into consideration that all f these individuals have the right to seek refuge in the motel, that she and her employer had a duty to provide these rooms, and at a reasonable rate. She then used the Utilitarianism theory to decide that she would rather quit her job than to take part in a more than 350% rate increase for the rooms. She felt that Brian was not taking into consideration that these people needed assistance instead of being taken advantage of. In order to opening his eyes, Lily decided that it was for the greater good that she quit her position.
The result of her decision to quit as that Brian inflated the rates of the rooms to just over twice the normal rate instead of his initial consideration. The decision to hire Lily back to her position is clearly a difficult one. I would use the Utilitarianism theory to weigh the good against the bad of bringing her back as the day manager. Obviously, Brian has some resentment of how she spoke to him and how she would not do as he requested. In the future would she do the same thing in a different scenario?
She was in a position as a manager where Brian gave her the authority to make sections and express her opinion. If she was trustworthy enough to be in that position, and seemed to be looking out for Brian in saying that the price gouging was not right; she was essentially looking out for the good of the future of the business. I believe that Brian should bring Lily back on as his day manager and make her aware that the insubordinate actions were not appreciated but, her opinion is valued. Brian should sit down with Lily and go over the right and wrong way to object to his decisions.
