Ethics of Motivation Strategies

Question 1

I think that what they did to the actress was also unethical. The company used dishonest means to get the waitresses to increase its bear sales and allow the company to make huge profits. The girl felt humiliated as this was a slap on her dignity as an adult. After working so hard, knowing that she would receive a car, she ended up getting a toy. I believe that this was dishonest and most importantly, a breach of contract that should be condemned with the harshest words possible.

Question 2

The waitresses were lied to. Lying to employees can be looked from various ethical standpoints. The first ethical angle is referred to as the utilitarian ethics where action is regarded moral depending on its end product. In this case, the end product was an increased beer sale for the company. Therefore, based on the utilitarian model, it was morally justifiable to lie. However, based on justice ethics, lying is unethical because it denies the employees accurate information. It also goes against the essence of truthfulness and disclosure. Lying to employees is also tantamount to the abuse of power. Unethical behaviors emerge where individuals tend to use the easier path towards a particular goal. Hirsh, Lu, & Galinsky, (2018) say, “Unethical behavior emerges when the expected utilities of behaving unethically are greater than the expected utilities of behaving ethically” (p. 50). The expected utilities of lying to employees pose greater liabilities compared to telling them the truth.

Question 3

Allowing employees to rip off the shirts of their counterparts is also an inappropriate motivational strategy within an organization. It neither qualifies as a reward for the winners or retribution for the losers. This is an example of a humiliating tactic that risks jeopardizing their dignity as humans and individuals with a free will in the organization. Companies have a moral obligation of treating their employees with the decency required whether or not they meet the required standards of the organization. Also, for a sane human being, ripping off a piece of cloth would not be an option especially if the said employees are females. Other than humiliating, it goes against the ethical principles of autonomy where employees should be in a position to speak their minds regarding what they like and what they don’t. Any action that is likely to cause embarrassment, disrepute, and humiliation to a person, irrespective of the intention, should be condemned. The motivational strategy also causes disunity and discrimination among the employees. It is immoral for a manager to come up with a strategy that will likely cause antagonism and cause a rift among team members.

Question 4

It is unethical to promise monetary compensation for students to study hard. The ethical framework utilized in this discussion would be the subjective expected utility maximization. Hirsh et al., (2018) say, “As a key substrate of modern decision theory, this principle asserts that people select behaviors that are expected to result in the greatest subjective utility” (p. 45). Therefore, students are likely to choose to study harder because this guarantees that they will receive the money. However, motivation to study should be intrinsic. It should not be reduced to a matter of choice or decision. Also, it does not necessarily mean that the best student studied the hardest because other variables also come into play, such as the student’s level of intelligence. Therefore, the monetary reward system might likely promote discriminatory tendencies.

Question 5

A negative factor associated with the motivator stems from the fact that the employee might not work as hard as possible without the input of the motivators. The use of incentives can erode intrinsic motivation. Therefore, without the motivators, individuals will not do their work as required.

Reference

Hirsh, J. B., Lu, J. G., & Galinsky, A. D. (2018). Moral Utility Theory: Understanding the motivation to behave (un) ethically. Research in Organizational Behavior.