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

Exercise 2

Matters of Good Intentions
high-level finance computer programmer is sitting at his cubicle working on an upgrade that his manager assigned to him. As he works on his project, he hears one of his peers talking to his wife, who has a major role at a well-known charity organization. The peer tells his wife that he created an account dedicated to funding the charity because the company does not make any contributions at all. He hears his peer say that he did this without getting approval from senior-level management and that the program works by taking very small fractions of cents that have been rounded off and over multiple transactions dumps the fractions of cents into this account made for charity. As he hears his peer explain this to his wife, he wonders to himself, "what should I do? Should I tell management? He is my friend and technically it is for a good cause…right?"
1. Who are the stakeholders in this situation and what are their stakes?
2. Should the listener report the conversation he overheard to management?
3. Is your answer affected by the fact that the money is going to a good cause?
4. Is your answer affected by the fact that the company gives no money to charity?