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Sarah Norton and the Wise Research - Case Study
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I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sarah Norton is an MBA student who specializes in market research. She has one semester left until graduation and is working as a graduate assistant. She is a person with very high ethical values and she is very religious. She looks for a job in Hammonsville, where she wants to stay. She starts working for the Wise Research Corporation, a field research services company. They have offices in Dallas, Hammonsville and Tulsa. She travels to Dallas to start her training for the job and finds out that the company’s behavior to the different stakeholders is very unethical. Sarah, a very ethical person with high values, finds herself in a big dilemma – should she stay with the company or better, resign from the job even though she quit her graduate assistantship. In the situation analysis, environmental, cultural and political trends are discussed. The economy in general is not in a growing stage and the ethical behavior in business is not sufficient. Nevertheless, there is a growing trend to increase ethical behavior, and many companies and associations develop a code of ethics for their business or industry. In the second part of the paper, the problems appearing from the situation are discussed. Unethical behavior and it’s impact on the stakeholders of the company lead to Sarah’s decision whether to resign form the job or not. In the third part, a solution is presented which is the resignation from the job. A justification of the chosen solution follows and also an implementation strategy. II. SITUATION ANALYSIS A. Environment 1. Economic conditions and trends The economic conditions are important in this case because they are not favorable to find a job; especially not for lower managers like MBAs just graduating from college. The American industry is in the process of downsizing. In Appendix one, unemployment figures are provided, and show see that unemployment was very high in the years 1994/1995. 2. Cultural and social values and trends Unethical behavior is becoming more and more common in business life. One can observe unethical behavior every day by simply watching the news. This results from the following developments: ü the high value society places on economic success ü profit share being the sole objective ü intense competition between departments, people or companies ü management being concerned with the “letter of law” rather then with “the spirit of law” ü ambiguous corporate policies regarding ethical behavior ü inadequate controls allowing people to get away with behaving unethically ü business leaders failing to comprehend the public’s ethical concern ü the “let the buyer beware” custom prevails (Greenberg J., Baron R. A. (2000) p. 31). Since these trends in industry have created a very unsatisfying condition, business leaders are trying to increase morale values in business life and many companies develop a code of ethics, a mission about ethical behavior or an organizational culture with high ethical standards. 3. Political and legal issues In the field of market research there is a code of professional ethics developed by the Market Research Association (MRA). However there is no nationwide standard for collection and handling of data for market researchers. This Code of Ethics is provided in Appendix II. 4. Summary of environmental opportunities and threats The economy in general is not in a growing stage and the ethical behavior in business is not sufficient. Nevertheless, there a returning trend to move to a more ethical behavior, therefore many companies and associations develop a code of ethics for their business or industry. There is no nationwide standard for ethical matters in market research and no law for ethical behavior. The Code of Ethics of the MRA is the only attempt to set some ethical rules how to operate a marketing research company. B. Industry 1. Classification and definition of industry Opinion and marketing research is a multi-billion-dollar industry dedicated to providing valuable information to companies, which focus on sales and services. Opinion and marketing research: ü helps manufacturers to identify, to understand and to meet consumer needs and wants ü saves the consumer money by providing data to companies to help them reduce the costs associated with new product failures. ü assists manufacturers and service providers to improve the quality and usefulness of the products and services. Consumers make their opinions on products, services and issues by answering questions of market researchers. The consumer can influence manufacturers to incorporate consumer opinion into products, services and procedures. About 72 million Americans are interviewed in an opinion and marketing research study yearly (www.mra-net.org). The case tells us that outside research suppliers are a growing industry. Wise Research is such an industry. 2. The Code of Ethics and the responsibilities of the marketing research industry The Marketing Research Industry Association writes industry the following about ethics in the marketing research industry: “Research knowledge and the value of research are communicated to both the business community and the public at large, while complying with applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and ordinances. MRA (Marketing Research Association) expects members to follow principles of honesty, professionalism, fairness and confidentiality to guard the interests of the public and our clients in order to promote good business practices. MRA's Code of Data Collection Standards consists of the responsibilities of respondents, clients, and data collectors not only to each other, but also to the general public and business community. All MRA members must sign and adhere to the Code of Data Collection Standards. The standards are enforced, and complaints of alleged unethical behavior may be filed against an MRA member who is suspected to have violated the Code” (http://www.mra-net.org/codes/index.cfm). This Code of Ethics is applicable for members of the MRA. It shows how important ethical behavior in marketing research is. The book “Marketing Management” by J. Paul Peter and James H. Donnely Jr. also talks about ethical behavior in the marketing research sector. Peter and Donnely base their ethical Responsibilities on Gilbert A. Churchill Jr. “market research: Methodological Foundations”. They trace the ethical responsibilities to three different groups: respondents, clients and employees. Responsibilities to respondents are: ü Preserving respondent anonymity ü Avoiding mental stress for respondents ü Avoiding questions detrimental to respondents ü Avoiding the use of dangerous equipment or techniques ü Avoiding deception of respondents ü Avoiding coercion of respondents. The responsibilities to clients are: ü Providing confidentiality ü Providing technical integrity ü Providing administrative integrity ü Providing guidance on research usage. And last the responsibilities to the employees are ü Creating an ethical work environment ü Avoiding opportunities of unethical behavior (p. 41). 3. Summary of the industry analysis The market research industry is very unique and provides important information to the different industries selling products and services to consumers. They normally work with a very high standard of ethical behavior; the MRA summarized these ethics in the Code of Ethics. C. Firm 1. Description of the company Wise Research is a market research company. It’s business is field research in shopping malls which categorizes it as a field research company. Field research companies do data collection on research projects. Wise Research has been operating in this business for 25 years and has several subsidiaries. These subsidiaries are all mall research offices. The head office and two other offices are located in Dallas, TX, one is located in Tulsa, OK and one is located in Hammonsville, MI. The office in Hammonsville has exited for 10 years. The company is involved in fieldwork, although they do not generate questionnaires or analyze the collected data. The core competence of Wise Research is to collect data for other marketing research firms, and these firms provide the information to their clients. One can conclude from the descriptions of the company that it does not have a mission statement, a philosophy or a particular strategy concerning organizational culture and ethical behavior.
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