1. In this situation there are many ethical issues to consider. First of all the whole story is about Jane, the superior of Ralph who has a problem with alcoholism. The request from the detoxication center is the first ethical issue for Jane. If she urges Ralph to submit this blood test he would probably be known as an alcoholic and eventually saved in an industry wide database.
Due to the fact that it looks like he could get a new job at a competitor, it wouldn’t be good to be known as an alcoholic, because of the fact that new employees with a preexisting condition such as alcoholism are not qualifiable for reimbursement for treatment of that illness. This faces Jane with her first morally problem. The most complex ethical issue is the situation that arises with Michelle’s phone call. First of all it is an issue whether she gives out any kind of information, because internal company data are probably confidential.
So she is in the dilemma whether to help her friend or not and whether to pass those confidential information or not. If she decided to hand on the information, automatically the second issue appears. If she reports Ralph’s actual situation truly to Michelle, he would probably not get the job. But if she would give a good report, he could get the job and COBA wouldn’t have to deal with Ralph and his problems anymore. If Jane inherently decides to give a report, she is faced with some more ethical issues. When reporting well, but dishonest, she would preserve the company from some problems.
The company wouldn’t need to handle Ralph’s alcoholism and reports about Ralph’s negative servicing anymore and furthermore the company wouldn’t get in danger of eventually being sued, as it is obviously just happening, because of an former employee who was supposedly fired because of alcoholism. This could be a danger because before Ralph’s first detoxication they offered him to get treatment or to be dismissed. So as he has a problem again now, they are in the same situation now, again. By giving this good report another ethical issue to think about is, that she would maybe weaken EASEL and hurt their sales.
Economically thought this would be good for her own company, but definitely a morally issue. The next ethical issue appeals through the call of Chuck, the vice-president of sales for COBA on the one hand, and the uncle of Ralph on the other hand. The ethical issue to be considered in this case is the subliminal pressure, which is put onto Jane by Chuck, by affecting her. He says his nephew is a good salesman and shall not to be loosed. So Jane is kind of influenced by Chuck, who is exploiting his high position in the company.
But she also did not tell him that Ralph had an alcohol problem again in the moment he said „It’s not like he is an alcoholic“, which indeed he is. The last issue is the recent incident driving while intoxicated. If she picks him up, he will not be charged definitely. But he may be charged if she doesn’t: So she is confronted with a decision she has to make. 2. Discuss option for Jane and Ralph Jane has the following options. Regarding the blood test, she has to do nothing, because it is voluntary and so she is not neglecting something she should have done. And Ralph doesn’t have to fear anything.
Concerning Michelle, she has the option to report to her or not. If she reports, she could do it honest and fully or she could just report about his current quotas, which according to the recent quarterly sales report have been good. Towards Ralph personally she could maybe offer a second detoxication because he realizes that he is an alcoholic and has to do something against it. Furthermore she has the option to tell Ralph about the blood test and make him aware of the situation that if he wants to change his job he could get problems because of the insurance carrier’s new approach.
Regarding the driving while intoxicated she could pick him up and get occupied with this situation or she could not pick him up. He probably wouldn’t be charged anyway, because of the unlink ability of Ralph’s test. Ralph has the option to offer a voluntarily second detoxication, which probably still would be paid by COBA’s insurance carrier. 3. Discuss any extra information Jane and Ralph need to make their decision. Jane has to consider that Ralph already works in the company since about ten years and mainly did a really good job.
Besides he is the nephew of vice-president of sales, which means some negative incidents regarding Ralph could reflect on her as well. She also has to keep in the back of her mind that the company actually is sued because of a similar case, at which the company fired someone. Regarding the call of the sergeant she would need to know whether the problems that invalidated the equipment on Ralph’s test mean that they cannot charge him for that. Ralph has to know that there have been complaints about his servicing again but also that his quotas are good.
