Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS CASE STUDY ASSIGNMENT 1

Business Ethics Case Study Assignment

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Business Ethics Case Study Assignment

The case study presents the struggles of a salesperson, Jean Maguire, who has been

having trouble with 'close' deals using the techniques suggested to her by the sales director,

Wright Boazman. The technique of ‘closing the deal’ involves putting the mentality of a

consumer in a now or never situation. The technique relies on particular consumer behavior. The

consumer behavior pattern in the discussion will see the person doubt whether to buy or not

during the last time. Wright explained that people are willing to make a purchase but find

themselves contesting during the last minute. In many cases, inexperienced salespersons

interpret this hesitation as a lack of interest. However, Wright suggested a technique to

‘motivate’ customers in this stage.

The technique involved lying to the customer that the lot was in high demand and that the

availability of the product was limited for a short period. The salesperson would then ask the

customer to accompany them ask they ask for the availability of the lot. After making a fake call

to the ‘headquarters,' the sale person will then convince that the product is available but for a

short period. This will give the customer the ‘now or never’ thought. Using such tactics is

unethical since the salesperson lies to the customer on the availability of the product. The

technique puts the customer under unnecessary pressure.

There are several ethical and moral issues surrounding this technique. First, it puts the

customer under unnecessary pressure. Second, making the call to ‘inquire’ on the availability of

the lot is an indirect method of coercing the customer to make an unintended purchase. Third,

this method is not an approved method of sale and marketing. Fourth, making the call to the

‘headquarters’ is directly lying to the customer. Standard ethical protocols require sales to
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engage in honesty while dealing with customers as part of consumer protection measures

(Gonzalez-Pardron, 2017). However, the technique does not oversell the product.

Jean Maguire has been reluctant to follow the technique. As a result, she has not been

completing sales for the company. She is under pressure to make sales because her job is on the

line. Maguire has two customers and contemplates whether or not to apply the technique

suggested to her by Wright. Maguire should not conform to the pressure and applied the

fraudulent technique. There are two contrasting issues on this matter. On the one hand, the

technique takes advantage of consumers' interest and put them under unnecessary pressure. On

the other hand, the technique does not harm since the product is of the same value as explained

in the description, and as such, the salesperson is not lying to the customer about the product.

However, the ethical issues against using the technique outweigh the reasons that support

the use of these techniques. Using the Confucian virtue of ethics, individuals should act out of

sincerity. Confucius discourages an individual from engaging in dishonest acts because they are

likely to cause unintended repercussions (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015). The same thinking should

be applied to business ethics. Good intentions may propel the act to lie to the customers, but the

method may have unseen negative impacts. Again, the business person should apply virtue in

business based on the golden rule of a moral basis (Heath, 2014). These reasons outweigh the

counter-arguments of applying the technique using the prima facie obligation principles. The

principles bind Maguire to an obligatory duty to the business by making sales even if it comes at

the cost of lying to the customers. However, the principles insist on overriding these obligations

by a higher obligation on transparency.

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References

Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson

Education.

Gonzalez-Padron, T. L. (2017). Ethics in the sharing economy: Creating a legitimate marketing

channel. Journal of Marketing Channels, 24(1-2), 84-96.

Heath, J. (2014). Morality, competition, and the firm: The market failures approach to business

ethics. Oxford University Press.