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“Jessica’s dilemma: honesty or loyalty” is the true story of a Staff Accountant, Jessica, who discovered embezzlement by the controller, Michael. Jessica worked at a US subsidiary of a multinational organization. One of the company’s vendors contacted Jessica regarding unpaid invoices. Following up on the inquiry, Jessica found suspicious manual journal entries in the general ledger. When she questioned her boss, Michael, about her findings, he first denied the situation, then blamed another employee, and ultimately tried to intimidate Jessica so that she would not press the issue. Jessica’s investigation led to the discovery that Michael had been embezzling money from the company. To complicate matters, Jessica and her husband had a close relationship with Michael and his wife outside the office. Jessica had to make a choice between being loyal to a family friend and being honest and loyal toward her employer.

The authors obtained the information for this case from the staff accountant and her husband via a series of interviews. The information was verified via publicly available news articles on the presented case. Additionally, legal documents, which were publicly available, were also used for information. The name of the company and the names of the individuals in the case were changed to protect the identities and privacy of the involved parties.

An instructor can use this case in business ethics, introductory management, human resource law or accounting courses targeting undergraduate or introductory MBA students. This case is best used in the beginning of the suggested courses, as the instructor introduces ethical dilemmas, ethical frameworks, and stakeholder theory. The case is designed so that students do not need a background in business or business ethics to be able to successfully complete the case analysis. Additionally, the case provides a platform to discuss the differences in an ethical vs an unethical manager and how to respond to such a situation.

Many employees are afraid to report ethical wrongdoing to upper management, or to engage in ethical dissent. When upper management is receptive to reports of wrongdoing, ethical dissent within the organization to upper-level management has more organizational benefits than when the issue is shared with coworkers or external agencies. This is because upper management has the power to make a difference in the situation and may be able to keep the situation within the organization to eliminate possible reputation problems for the organization. The presented case can be utilized to discuss the importance of feeling safe in an organization as it pertains to reporting wrongdoing within the organization and how organizational culture and leadership can enhance or diminish that feeling.

The case study will help to learn about the importance of pre-sanction precautionary measures before lending to self-help groups (SHGs), to learn about the potential lapses and errors while sanctioning SHG finance and to learn about the importance of bank’s guidelines and compliance before sanctioning loans.

This case study details the tenure of Seema in a rural branch of Safe Bank of India located in Haryana which she joined as a manager in the year 2016. She overachieved the target given by the district collector office, and going by the tide, she kept her reliance on the references provided by non-government organization (NGO) without complying the bank’s instructions. She committed errors while sanctioning the loans, which led towards the upsurge of non-performing assets of the branch. Later on, after investigation it was discovered that she did not follow fundamental bank’s instructions. In wake of those lapses and errors, how she could have avoided those lapses and secure the public money? What were the most important documents while granting agriculture finance and what due diligence she should have taken? How did she treat calls from the government departments? Was she right in trusting the suggestions of the NGO?

This case study caters to students of various streams, namely, management, business administration and law, and can be targeted at both undergraduate and postgraduate students. It could be suitable for several types of courses and students. Furthermore, this case study can also be targeted for various training programmes for bank employees and employees of various lending institutions engaged in agriculture finance and credit linkage programmes.

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CSS 1: Accounting and finance.

In the 1990s, Mike Flanagan foresaw video moving from analog to digital and developed an equipment rental business to meet the needs of the entertainment/media production industry. By 1996 he established a second company to offer training in the use of Avid, a digital video-editing program. Flanagan sold the rental business in 1998 and by 2002 expanded the training away from a business model to a full-fledged college business model. By 2014 what started as a successful training program developed into a negative interaction with the US Department of Education and Flanagan found himself being forced out of business.

This case was originally a client-based project conducted real time in an MBA-level marketing course at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University.

The case is well suited for a variety of business and law courses that integrate ethical decision making in their curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The case allows for a greater understanding of the implications of managerial behavior tied to ethical beliefs and the possible outcomes that may result. It also allows for a stronger grasp of the integral nature of management, staff, consumers and outside organizations on the pervasive impact of non-ethical behavior. Last, this case creates a framework for students to assess how ethics influence managerial behavior that will affect an organization’s success.

What ethical duties and obligations does a business owe to its customers and other stakeholders? Is ignorance an excuse for failing to meet those ethical obligations?

The contribution of the present case lies in the critical view that every business actor should exercise – be it general manager, middle management, supervisor or executive – when building a strong organizational culture in corrupt political environments.

The purpose of this case study is to explore the dilemma in which Marcelo Odebrecht, once CEO of Odebrecht, found/determined whether to continue with the business model established by the founders of Odebrecht or take a new path for the organization. After exploring the corrupt acts of Odebrecht and the scope of Operation Lava Jato, the reader can reflect on the importance of organizational culture (according to the three levels proposed by Schein) in the face of the emergence of corruption. By generating discussions about organizational culture, business ethics, political culture and corruption, the organizational culture of Odebrecht is problematized in relation to its real behavior.

Students of administration, business and international business undergraduates and graduates, as well as members of senior management in companies in the infrastructure sector. Also, given the plurality of possible readings, it is recommended that the case also be used in courses or specializations in organizational psychology, organizational sociology or organizational anthropology.

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CSS 5: International Business.

The Neenan Company is a construction firm based in Fort Collins, Colorado, known for their efforts in pioneering the advancement of the design/build approach to construction. With a history of industry leadership, innovative contracting methods, and ethical business practices, the company now faces management, customer relations, and financial challenges. Serious structural problems were discovered in a number of public schools and other buildings built by the company. Thrown into a whirlwind of shock, Randy Myers, President of the company, must consider how to respond to the crisis, and how to prevent these issues in the future. Written from his perspective, this case provides a platform for considering the challenges that can result from industry innovation, ethical decision-making, and crisis management.

For the development of this case, the authors interviewed the top management at the Neenan Company: Founder David Neenan, President Randy Myers, and Donna Smith, Vice President of Business Development. The authors also interviewed current employees, previous employees of Neenan, representatives of school buildings built by Neenan, stakeholders, other experts in the construction field and existing customers of the company. The company made internal documents available to the authors, including financial statements and quality control and assessment tools, which were provided by Ryan Dellos, Chief Financial Officer. The authors surveyed financial documents and business documents to analyze pertinent information and data relevant to the case. All the interviews were recorded, coded, and analyzed to include multiple perspectives. Extensive online research was conducted on the construction industry and The Neenan Company which included several news articles and interviews on David and Randy. Additionally, the authors carefully studied the news reports by The Denver Post and other related press materials. Experts from the construction field and financial field provided assistance with data analysis and interpretation. The authors used a variety of academic resources to draw connections between the issues faced by Neenan and concepts discussed in business courses.

This case has applications in entrepreneurship, small business management, business ethics, leadership, organizational structure/design, and new venture management courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. It also contains critical areas of decision-making relevant to an advanced strategic management course. The case can be introduced at any stage of the term, and is specifically relevant to discussions focussing on innovation and growth, corporate social responsibility, ethical decision-making, stakeholder theory, entrepreneurial crisis management, and long-term venture success.

This case will help students to improve their understanding of several important aspects of an organization’s culture and the importance of ethics in developing an organization’s culture. Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of the concept of values and their importance in business and learn what organizations should do to make their culture more value-driven. Students will be able to identify the impact an organization’s blurred culture causes and understand the concept of “value congruence” and its need to get higher employee performance. Students will be able to understand the importance of Holland’s person-job fit theory, in an organizational context, along with the impact of Hofstede’s national culture on the organizations’ culture of a country. Students will realize how a result-driven performance management system impacts an employee’s morale negatively, and discover why an organization should balance on giving equal importance to both result and behavior-based performance appraisal system. Students will develop sensitivity to the application of the “triple bottom line” and deontological approach in ethics, and determine how to formulate policies for sustainable and ethical process-driven organizations.

There are two aspects to this case. On the one hand, it talks about the ethical dilemma faced by the protagonist Mr. Vijay Shekhar while working with Smartschool.com, with its head office in Bangalore, India. On the other hand, the case focuses on the performance management system at Smartschool.com, its existing framework and the impact it has on employees and other stakeholders. It also emphasizes the importance of establishing a value-driven culture in an organization for its long term sustenance.

Graduate and under-graduate business students/MBA level.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

This teaching case covers aspects of leadership development, strategy, change management, organisational behaviour, and people management. The case explores the following themes:

• Workplace transformation and culture: the challenges and opportunities of remote/hybrid work in large government enterprises and maintaining the culture when moving remote

• Leadership and change: the different perspectives that a leader can take into consideration when leading the business during turbulent and uncertain times and managing the change process in large organisations

• Strategic decision-making: the application of analytical skills by senior management when making strategic decisions in a business

Workplace transformation and culture: the challenges and opportunities of remote/hybrid work in large government enterprises and maintaining the culture when moving remote

Leadership and change: the different perspectives that a leader can take into consideration when leading the business during turbulent and uncertain times and managing the change process in large organisations

Strategic decision-making: the application of analytical skills by senior management when making strategic decisions in a business

The primary audience for this teaching case is management education programmes including: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip), specialist Masters in Management, and certain Executive Education programmes.

This case deals with a public-sector entity that collects taxation revenue for the South African government. In 2020, the operations of this public entity are severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The mandatory shift of the workforce from in-office to a remote work-from-home set-up, results in the entity switching to a hybrid work model in order to achieve its goals as an essential service. Protagonist Dr Zanele Twazi, executive head of the public entity's research department, is tasked by the commissioner to conduct a review on the hybrid work model. As the commissioner is also in the process of reviving the organisational culture to regain public trust following multiple corruption scandals, the pandemic adds to this pressure. Dr Twazi must share employee feedback on the remote work option. Meanwhile, the leadership team has to decide if the work model will serve this public entity in achieving its strategy, and from an organisational culture viewpoint, if it is the best fit for the future.

The key learnings from this case include the following:

• Organisational work model: A suitable work model is dependent on the organisational mandate as well as its culture.

• Culture and organisational goals: An organisational work model additionally impacts the future sustainability of the organisation and its ability to achieve its short- and long-term goals.

• Change management framework: For teams to effectively adapt to a hybrid work model, managers have to be empowered to lead and be able to facilitate the change.

Organisational work model: A suitable work model is dependent on the organisational mandate as well as its culture.

Culture and organisational goals: An organisational work model additionally impacts the future sustainability of the organisation and its ability to achieve its short- and long-term goals.

Change management framework: For teams to effectively adapt to a hybrid work model, managers have to be empowered to lead and be able to facilitate the change.

The learning outcomes are as follows: what tasks are to be done by medical representatives in pharmaceutical industry? This study also highlights various competencies required to do effective selling in this industry; analyzes and discusses different unethical practices going on in the market; explains why ethical norms are necessary in sales context when sales targets are already achievable with unethical means; and develops and comments on strategies Flori Pharmaceutical can make to overcome on these unethical issues. What should be the response of Dahar to the email of Naveed khan? What course of action should be taken by Dahar in the deceitful reporting case of Mohsin Ali?

Flori is considered a leading and growing multinational organization in the highly competitive environment of Pakistan pharmaceutical industry with over 40 years of experience. The company aims to command a leading position in developing new health-care products as it offers a wide range of diabetic, cardiovascular, respiratory and vitamin products based on quality as a result of high research and examination. Recently, an email to Bilal Dahar on March 2017 from Flori’s star sales person Naveed Khan has forced management to take some strong decisions regarding ethical norms and values to be adopted by medical representatives of Flori pharmaceuticals. The email highlighted the issues related to sales pressure which are leading toward unethical sales practices. Dahar just not have to maintain Flori’s ethical code of conduct but he and his team also has to work hard to achieve more than 26% growth rate in sales revenue as compared to last year. Dahar knew that the highly competitive environment of pharmaceutical industry has led most of the stake holders to indulge in unethical behavior to achieve their individual targets. He knew that this is dangerous in long term for the multinational organizations such as Flori pharmaceuticals as if the similar behavior continues, the sales culture and values of the organization would be on stake. He also has to decide what decision to be taken against deceitful reporting issue of one of the top-performer territory managers, who was key person in helping Flori to close the sales year 2016 with the revenue of Rs. 6.4bn, a 26% growth over the last year. The case is rich enough to provide a platform regarding management of several ethical challenges in pharmaceutical selling and developing strategies based on them.

BBA, MBA final year.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

Management and leadership.

Undergraduate and graduate.

Mr Lionel Thibaud, the General Manager, was highlighting the achievements and challenges faced at Impression et Enregistrement des Résultats (IER) within the Middle East region over the past four years in relation to the various cross-cultures and multi-nationalities. IER is a world-leading supplier of printing terminals and IT solutions for the air transportation industry. The problem facing the decision-maker is how to do business with the Middle Eastern countries and handling and striking a balance with all the varying cultures and customs. In addition, to meet the needs of the customers, a long-term mission is to establish long-term relationships and collaborations.

On completion of utilizing the case study as an exercise, students should be able to: case-specific skills – critically examine the importance of the cross-cultural management, decision-making, managing in multinational companies and leadership and management in the Middle East and demonstrate this by analysing real regional/world examples using complex theoretical frameworks; identify examples of best practice (including ethical “best practice”) and explain the dynamics towards cross-cultural management, decision-making, managing in multinational companies and leadership and management with reference to a range of theoretical models and apply these in a meaningful way to the MENA region; discipline-specific skills – synthesize and critically evaluate a corpus of academic literature and government reports on cross-cultural management, decision-making, managing in multinational companies and leadership and management; link cross-cultural management, decision-making, managing in multinational companies and leadership and management concepts and theories to real regional/world examples; personal and key skills – reflect on the process of learning and undertake independent/self-directed learning (including time management) to achieve consistent, proficient and sustained attainment; work as a participant or leader of a group and contribute effectively to the achievement of objectives in the field of cross-cultural management, decision-making, managing in multinational companies and leadership and management.

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Aramex PJSC: carving a competitive advantage in the global logistics and express transportation service industry.

Entrepreneurship, International Business, Strategy.

Post-graduates, Practitioners.

This case chronicles the Aramex PJSC story of entrepreneur Fadi Gandhour. The case looks at the new start-up, its growth and financing plans for expansion and how it got a competitive advantage in an industry dominated by big players. Aramex, as of 2012, was the only Arab company to have successfully listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. After 30 years at the helm of the company, Fadi Ghandour, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), was stepping down and was being succeeded by regional head, Hussein Hachem, the CEO of Middle East and Africa. Aramex had a competitive edge in emerging markets, and Fadi and Hussein knew that the route to sustainable growth was to capitalize on this opportunity using organic growth, acquisitions and strategic alliances.

Strategy included looking at gaining a competitive advantage in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and other emerging markets. Lessons are provided on capitalization of opportunity, funding and creating an organization culture that is sustainable and reflects the Founder's ideal.

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