Semiannual Category Review for Midwest

It is now time for the semiannual review of the electronics department, we will need to gather information and make a review from all vendors that have been selling use our electronics. We have had many different vendors inquiring about selling their products in our stores. We have many different types of vendors, some of the vendors would like to sell there video games and systems that would be good sellers for our company. As I will need to see through this matter for the company it will be my job to determine whether or not we have space for these systems and the other problem is that the vendor selling these games happens to be a relative of mine, so I will need to be very careful in this matter. The other vendor has new LCD TVs that he is selling which is also another good product that is very popular in the market right now. Because the TV is new as a manager I was given the chance to review this new TV for my personal use form the vendor.

It will be up to me as a manager to do the ethical thing and make the right decisions in regards to both vendors, and keeping in mind the company's best interest with also keeping in mind what customers are looking for in today's new electrics world (CTU Online, 2010, p. 1).

We now have the semiannual review coming up and I now have to make space for the new electrics products that are coming to us with the busy holiday season. I have received many recommendations from the vendors about their many different products they want to sell in our stores. So it is now time for me to make decisions on what we will have room for in our stores. The biggest problem I have is what to do because one of vendors is a relative of mine and the other vendor provided me with a LCD TV that I was able to take home and use for my personal use. I will need to do the right thing which is making it hard to decide, I don't want to make either of them mad, but at the same time I must be fair and only choose what will sell in our stores this holiday season.

We know that during the holiday season video games and systems sell very well and could bring in much profit for the company, and the LCD TV will also be a big seller, with flat screen TV 's becoming more and more popular because of the HD viewing capabilities. So the decision will be a hard one to make (CTU Online, 2010, p. 1).

As I know the vendor with the best product could be the vendor that is selling the newest video game system but because he is a relative of mime it will be hard to convince the other managers that it would be in our best interest to take this vendor. If I decide to take this vendor the close relative it will look as if I was playing favoritism, which would not be in my best interest or the company best interest. So to be totally honest about this problem I really need to talk to my supervisor and let him in on the problem and hope that he would understand my position in this matter and have another manager make the decision about this vendor. By keeping me on as the regional manager in this matter would not be ethical, it would get around to other vendors that Midwest plays favorites to relatives and friends giving them first chance to sell their products in their stores and that would not be fair to other vendors, and it could cost us money in the long run, by having vendors with popular video systems for sale that would not be available in any of our stores.

For Midwest to have a conflict in vendor loyalty could make this matter a personal issues and it could create bigger problems in the end.

Having products given to employees to use for their personal use is also unethical and the vendor should have never allowed this to happen, to me this would be a bribe in hopes that the regional manager would then consider him a favorite and that his new LCD TV would be a shoe in for the open space in our stores. So I feel that this matter was not handled correctly.

Many places such as Sears and Wal-Mart all have LCD's on display for customer viewing, allowing the customers to make the right decisions when they are ready to purchase a new TV. It was wrong of the vendor or the manufacture to allow the regional manger to take the TV home for his personal use to evaluate. When the time came for this regional manger to make his decision it could bring about a conflict of interest when other vendors find out about this situation.

When I explain the conflict of interest this is in regards to me excepting the LCD TV it made it look like a bribe and this was wrong. As we have mentioned in other reviews we need to have in place a agreement that is signed with the company for matter such as this one, we stated that it would be unethical to accept gifts that will be used for our personal use. By having an agreement made it could have a limitation on acceptance of gifts; this would help describe what the implications would be for accepting gifts.

Gifts valued at less than $150 that are received as part of a broad-based promotion on the part of the donor and are made to similarly-situated persons at other organizations (MacArthur & MacArthur, 2005-2010, p. 1). By having in place rules to all employees and regional manager that are working for Midwest would be of great value and this would eliminate many problems that could occur when trying to bring in new business to the stores.

By having a code of conduct policy issued this will bring about a better understanding of what is accepted and what is not excepted when receiving gifts from vendors or any other manufacture that is trying to create business with our company.

In conclusion when we are faced with these two different types for problems we must be able to handle them in a very business way. This is where it would be too Midwest advantage to have a good ethical leadership program to help explain why it is important to handle things in an ethical way.

We don't want other vendors looking at us in a bad way, as this was a new learning process for this regional manager it will in the end show him that it was wrong of him to accept the TV and that it should have been brought up to the supervisor before the TV hit his door step. I know that if someone had offered me a new TV to try I would be happy to take it, but now that we know why he wanted me to take the TV it was wrong.
If I am to become a leader I would need to show my other employee that there are ethical ways in which handle these types of situations. I believe that our company needs to have training in these matters in order to show what the ethical implications are if we were to continue to do business in this way.

One way would be to implement an ethical leadership program this would help to empower our employees to integrate ethical ideas into everything we do in our personal and while at work. We would be able to make better decisions that would reflect our values and benefit the common good within us and others. We would be able to focus on empowering all employees, staff, vendors and the community in which our stores are located, being able to trust ourselves by respecting others when we are faced with a difficult decision.

By using these programs will benefit Midwest, it will be demonstrating the integrity within the company during difficult situations, and by having these programs it will bring together employees to ask questions that will have time for Midwest to evaluate them and by asking compelling questions with time for reflection and serving the community and the common good ("The Ethical Leadership Program ", 2010, p. 1).

As we have seen from all of the many experiences we have been faced with, from employees taking home samples to receiving new TV's the bottom line in any business is honesty. Without customer satisfaction and having honest employees many business will fail. We need to have agreements in place with codes of conducts and what the company accepts from its employees.

This is why we need to policies in place for the employees; this will help to explain to all employees what the ethical rules are when working for Midwest Value land. Many companies have a hand book that few employees will read this is why I believe that by having programs that every employee would have to view and answer questions to would give Midwest a better understanding of just what their employees are learning in order to better value there company loyalty.

As the employees will be paid for their time while taking these programs it will not only benefit the employee but the company as well. Offering these programs with incentives will also help the employees and managers to better succeed within the company thus bringing in better customer service and profit for Midwest Value land.

References

CTU Online. (2010). Phase 4 Individual Project. Retrieved from https://campus.ctuonline.edu/pages/MainFrame.aspx?ContentFrame=/Default.aspx

Code of Conduct. Retrieved from http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.938991/

The Ethical Leadership Program . (2010). Retrieved from http://www.ripon.edu/academics/special_programs/ethical_leadership/index.html