Page 124 -

ethiCS GUiDe Yikes! Bikes

You are, understandably, shocked and surprised . . . not pregnant with your first child. You need medical insurance 123
only at the speed with which the transition has occurred, for her at least until the baby is born. But what miserable
but also because you don't think the founder would do this tasks are you going to be asked to do before then? And you
to the employees. You call him at home and tell him what is suspect that if you balk at any task, Parks won’t hesitate to
going on. fire you, too.
“Look,” he explains, “when I sold the company, I asked As you leave that night, you run into Lori, the most
them to be sure to take care of the employees. They said they popular customer support representative and one of your
would. I’ll call Andrea, but there’s really nothing I can do at favorite employees. “Hey,” Lori asks you, “what did you
this point; they own the show.” think of that meeting? Do you believe Andrea? Do you
In a black mood of depression, you realize you don’t think they’ll let us continue to make great bikes?”
want to work for Yikes! anymore, but your wife is 6 months

DiSCUSSion QUeStionS

1. In your opinion, did the new owners take any illegal ac- 5. How do you respond to Lori? What are the consequences
tion? Is there evidence of a crime in this scenario? if you tell her what you know? What are the consequenc-
2. Consider the ethics of the statement that Parks made to es of lying to her? What are the consequences of saying
all of the employees. Using both the categorical impera- something noncommittal? Consider both the categori-
tive (pages 56–57) and utilitarianism (pages 92–93), as- cal imperative and utilitarianism perspectives in your
sess the ethics of that statement. Were you to question response.
her about the ethics of her statement, how do you think 6. If you actually were in this situation, would you leave the
she would justify herself? company? Why or why not?
3. What do you think Parks will tell the founder if he calls 7. In business school, we talk of principles like competitive
as a result of your conversation with him? Does he have strategy as interesting academic topics. But, as you can
any legal recourse? Is Major Capital’s behavior toward see from the Yikes! case, competitive strategy decisions
him unethical? Why or why not? have human consequences. How do you plan to resolve
4. Parks is going to use data to perform staff cuts. What do conflicts between human needs and tough business
you think about her criteria? Ethically, should she con- decisions?
sider other factors, such as number of years of service, 8. How do you define job security?
past employee reviews, or other criteria?