Does This Milkshake Taste Funny?

Does This Milkshake Taste Funny?



Does This Milkshake Taste Funny?

Introduction

The purpose of the case “Does This Milkshake Taste Funny?” is to provide students with the opportunity to make a decision involving an ethical dilemma. A student can compare his or her own decision-making process with others in the class and discuss how differences in individual values and perceptions can affect this process. Additionally, depending on the objectives of the instructor, the case can be used to teach concepts often presented in business ethics, including Kohlberg's stages of moral development and different moral philosophies. The influence of other factors on ethical decision making such as the influence of co-workers and corporate culture can also be explored.

Overview

George Stein, a college student employed for the summer by Eastern Dairy, must decide if he is going to remove the filters from the plant's piping and, thus, allow the current production run of milkshake mix to be contaminated with maggots. This course of action will save the company money, at least in the short run, and allow George's shift to go home on time. George is disturbed, however, by the thought of children drinking those milkshakes. The workforce is unionized, and no members of management work the night shift with George.

Problem statement

There are three major corporate problems that I can see on this situation (Cousins, R. & Benitz, L. 1998):

Eastern Dairy is lacking in contemporary quality control, quality management, and quality assurance systems that would ensure compliance to quality standards like ISO 9000, HACCP & ISO 2200.

Eastern Dairy is lacking in modern health, safety and environment (HSE) policies, procedures, and controls that would ensure compliance to environmental standards like ISO 14001 and ISO 14004.

Eastern Dairy has a poor inventory management & control system.

Analysis

George is familiar with change because he had lived in various suburbs of a major city. He understands the need for change and he is comfortable in managing the change in his environment. It is possible that his 'change quotient' (Clawson, 2001:10) has been developed at an early age by the constant need to adapt to a new neighborhood. As a teen, he is able to work on different types of menial jobs probably in different companies, which can confirm his adaptability (Clawson, J. 2001).

George is a social person. This is supported by one of his major interest, which is hanging out at the local teenage gathering place, a drive-in restaurant. He also likes the camaraderie of the night-shift operators and even joined the union at Eastern Dairy. These explain his needs for 'friendship and belongingness' (Robbins & Judge, 2009:176).

His great interest in hot rods gives the impression that he likes excitement and challenge. He probably takes so much pleasure in it that it was his main motivation to take up mechanical engineering in college hoping it has some relation with being a mechanic. Liking “old-school” cars also says a lot about his values system. Indirectly, it could be deducted that he respects ...