ETHICAL PROBLEMS OF MANAGERS
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Why is employee engagement important, and what is its relationship to ethics?
- How does employee engagement relate to organizational culture? How do managers contribute to the ethical culture?
- In addition to identifying and training good managers, what else could an organization do to increase levels of employee engagement?
- What specific action could a manager take to help move employees up the employee engagement continuum—for example, from not engaged to actively engaged?
- Why should performance be measured as an ongoing process, and not just as a once-a-year event?
- Should high performers be allowed to work by rules that are different from those that apply to other workers? Why or why not?
- Imagine that you’re the manager of a facility where 200 layoffs are scheduled. Design an action plan for how the layoffs would occur. How would you handle both those being laid off and the survivors?
- Are there ways in which managers can avoid harassment issues among employees who report to them? What would your strategy be?
- Imagine that someone who reports to you is on a prescription medication that
makes his breath smell like alcohol. How would you handle this situation?
- Imagine that one of your employees complained about being harassed by a
coworker. Also imagine that you suspect the motives of the person who is complaining to you. How would you handle this situation? Is there a way you could
discern motivation, or does it matter? When would you involve your company’s
human resources department?
- As a manager, how would you respond when a worker’s performance has declined and you suspect a problem at home is the cause?
- List some ways you can communicate your ethical standards to your employees
and to your peers.
