Business and Society 9th Edition by Archie Carroll,Ann Buchholtz

Exercise 2

A Little Green Lie
I work for a telecommunications company as a sales consultant. The environment is very competitive and as "salespeople," we are always required to surpass our quotas and "make money." Lately the company has decided to "go green," which is good for the environment. However, the true motive behind the company's initiative is to save money on paper bills, as the managers have confessed to us. As a way of making us convert customers to paperless billing, they have factored paperless billing conversion into our metrics, which means that if we do not perform we can be reprimanded or fired. One of the area managers suggested we tell customers that the company is no longer sending paper bills and that if they wish to still receive a paper bill they will be charged a fee (which is completely false, paper bills are free to customers). I usually see customers fall for it and go paperless in order to save money, and the sales consultants who have applied this method are usually our top rankers. The manager said it is not really lying, especially if you are helping selfish customers to help the environment.
1. Global warming and environmental issues have become serious problems. Keeping this in mind, is it right to lie to customers if your main motive is to save the environment and help save trees?
2. Is it okay for the area manager to demand that sales representatives lie?
3. Would it be okay for the sales representative to follow the directions of the manager?
4. What would you do if you were in this position and what would be your motive behind it?