You work for Centennial Home Mortgage, Inc. (NYSE: CHM) as a manager where you supervise a diverse unit
of 5 people. You discover that earlier this year, the CHM inadvertently exposed the personal details of up to 14
million U.S. customers. Sensitive information such as social security numbers, credit cards numbers, birthdays,
addresses, and in some instances, driver’s license numbers were all compromised in the hack.
You tell your immediate supervisor, whose spouse is the Human Resources Officer, and she says she will take
care of it. But weeks go by and you hear nothing from corporate leaders.
Unbeknownst to you, some of the company’s top executives sold over $1.8 million worth of shares in the
company just days after the breach was discovered. The public was not aware of the breach until more than six
weeks later. CCU shares fell more than 30% in seven days after breach was discovered.
Your supervisor reports back to you and states in no uncertain terms that you must give three of your five
employees negative, career-damaging appraisals. Your supervisor specifically comments that “certain”
employees you supervise are not well-liked by the regional manager and that is imperative that they receive
blame for this security breech and PR disaster. If you refuse, you could face ramifications that include demotion
and or loss of job.
To complete this essay, answer the following questions:
Why would this be an ethical issue? What ethical theories are implicated or violated here, or perhaps
endorsed? Specifically, how does egoism relate to this situation?
Whose conduct would you deem unethical?
Who are the stakeholders? Who is hurt and who is helped in this situation?
If you blow the whistle, could you lose the job you have?
Name two things you can do to remedy the situation. What are the potential consequences? Ethically, what should you do, according to the ethical theories you’ve considered?
Sample Solution
