Question

The A-Team: Truthfully Representing Your Company Eric Madsen was elated. He had just been chosen to be part of a select team of employees at Choi & Barrow Advertising to participate in the company’s biggest new business pitch of the year for Find-It, a leading search engine. Find-It had been a leader in the online industry for years; however, with innovative new capabilities, a fresh directive from the CEO and strong competition, it was imperative that the company differentiate itself in the marketplace. The current advertising campaign for Find-It was nothing better than lackluster. Thus, Find-It had begun its search for a new advertising agency, and Choi & Barrow was up for the bid. While Madsen had superb presentation skills and a knack for closing the deal (in fact, he had won three new business projects during his first month on the job), he was not sure why he should be on the pitch team. With no previous technology experience, Madsen knew that he could not bring much to the table in that regard. In addition, there was already a team of technology experts in the office. Why weren’t these experts tapped for the pitch? Further, he was certain he would not be part of the team if the company won it. Even though he was happy to be chosen, Madsen questioned the ethics behind the decision. If he weren’t going to be involved in working on the actual account, was it ethical for him to pitch the business? In general, clients assumed that the people on the advertising pitch team would be working on the account. He had clearly been chosen to be on the pitch team because of his highly successful presentation skills. Did it really matter?

answer the questions provided within the cases, and decide which ethical rule or rules led you to your conclusion.

Answer 1

It is the duty of every employee to keep the objectives of the business on priority and align his performance with the business goals. Here Eric was roped in for the Find It business pitch with the objective that he will crack it for the company. This should be the objective of Eric rather than thinking of his personal role in the project. The ethical rule of Organization Integrity will be applicable in this case which requires the employees of an organization to keep the business priorities of the company on priority.