Business Ethics

What is?

 Background:

Ruth Hatton, a server at our Red Lobster branch is faced with a disgruntled customer who is unsatisfied with the branch’s food and service. In order to express her dissatisfaction, the customer follows the standard procedure by leaving a comment card in the comment box which is meant to be viewed by upper management.  It is brought to the light that the comment card was discretely removed from Ruth with the help of another coworker which is against the policy. Once the manager on duty got involved it was discovered that the customer was given reheated meat due to trouble with the cooking equipment, which is also against the policy.  Upon the discoveries, Ruth is then fired and appeals the decision with a peer review panel.

Ethical Analysis:

Stakeholders:

The main stakeholders in this case are the customers, employees and management. The employees are affected by this because not having the proper knowledge or tools on how to deal with certain situations can cause them to provide poor service which can potentially cost them their jobs .In this case, Ruth lost her job and was not given the opportunity to improve prior to her termination. It is her right to be properly trained and is given the chance to improve her work performance prior to termination. It is in her interest to make upper management aware of the policies within the chain that are constantly violated due to improper training or management. She presents an opportunity of being the prime example of what happens to employees if they violate the policy. This can present itself as a scare tactic to the other employees, forcing them to behave properly. She poses a threat because she was not given the chance to improve and this can be discouraging to the other employees resulting in them leaving the restaurant or taking rebellious action against upper management. The employee is directly affected by the decisions made from the employees. Her food was not up to quality and her comment card was disposed of prior to the viewing from management.  Her rights to heard and to be served quality food were violated. Her interest is to have her complaint taken seriously to be feed properly cooked meat which she is paying for. She is an opportunity because her situation brought a few unethical problems to the light and now the restaurant can fix them to prevent them from happening again. She also poses a threat because her dissatisfaction can cause Red Lobster a bad reputation, scaring other customers away. The management team represents the Red Lobster restaurant chain and the employee’s lack of proper behavior reflects on them.  Management is only as strong as their team is and with such internal company issues arising, a manager may be penalized and lose their job and can in the future, have issues finding another managerial positions due to their failure to manage properly. Their interest is to practice and enforce the behavior they want to see in the restaurant so that their employees can follow and represent great service. They pose an opportunity because if they manage their team better, the restaurants quality of service will improve. They pose a threat because if they don’t improve their management, the restaurant will eventually fail for the simple fact that customers as well as employees will be unhappy and will stop eating and/or working for the company. The restaurant itself has several responsibilities to obtain. The ethical responsibility is that Red Lobsters must ensure their employees are practicing activities and behavior that are fair, just and not prohibited by the law. The economic responsibility is to provide goods and services at a fair price and good quality for the customer and economy. The legal responsibility is that they must give the customer quality food and the right to be heard and acknowledged.  

The ethical issue here is the restaurant’s policies and codes of conduct are not being followed which caused for the customers rights by the implicit contract, such as right to be heard and be served quality food, to be violated. The other issue is Ruth’s right to have the opportunity to improve on her work performance prior to termination to be violated. As soon as she made the mistakes, she was immediately terminated which is unfair and unjust. The problem stems from management and their lack of training their employees to follow such vital procedures and standards.