Scaffold Plank Incident

Case: The Scaffold Plan Incident

Bob Hopkins is a relatively new employee of White Lumber Company (WLC), graduated college around 5 years ago. Right now he is facing an ethical issue connected to the situation with an order for regular planks which probably will be used as scaffold ones.

Consulting the sales process with Mike was good idea, as he has much more experience than Bob. Unfortunately, Bob did not follow the advice of older friend and called Stan, the customer and it occurred that indeed the material will be used as scaffold plank. The good thing is that he has no written confirmation of that, so Bob (and WLC) is clear (however that has to be checked with company’s lawyers and of course Bob should talk again with White and tell him what he told by Stan).

An additional option that increases Bob’s security is to ask White for acceptance (written on via e-mail) of that particular offer. That document may release Bob of any liability. Last but not least, Bob may consider adding an information to the offer that requested material is not designed for use as scaffold planks.

The other issue is, whether Bob should obey John White’s order to pursue the contract or not from ethical point of view. In my opinion (which actually is similar to one made by White), WLC is not selling drugs or any illegal goods and should have no limits in selling any of its products to anyone, unless there is a serious legal risk. Of course Bob as fresh diligent man may have some doubts, however that situation might be a good example for him that ethics he was taught at college is not always in line with ethics used in real business world.