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World Class Bull

In: Business and Management

Submitted By kanderson1
Words 742
Pages 3
Introduction:
An ethical dilemma happens in the workplace more often then we expect. World Class Bull, written by John Humphreys, Zafar U. Ahmed and Mildred Pryor, is a prime example of how sales personnel can manipulate a potential client into a contract. Christopher Knox, a stellar sales employee at Specialty Fleet Services (SFS), just landed the Armadillo Gas & Power account. Samantha Williams, Human Resources Vice President of SFS, was now filing a breach of the company code of ethics against Christopher and the Vice President of Sales, Jeremy Silva for “deceptive business practices” used to make the sale (Humphreys, Ahmed & Pryor, 2009). Disrupting personal space of the client, starting a dishonorable relationship, and providing the mass email to the entire sales staff about the client make both Christopher and Jeremy unethical in the case study, World Class Bull.
Key Problems: World Class Bull definitely had some unethical business practices while attempting to acquire the Armadillo Gas & Power account. First, Christopher Knox was being highly manipulative towards the CFO, Dale Landry. It is understandable that sales personnel try to create relationships with their potential clients, but Christopher crossed the line. After he did some extensive research on his potential client, Christopher knew Dale Landry and his wife were exceptionally proud of their prized possession “Big Buddy” (Humphreys, Ahmed & Pryor, 2009), and Christopher definitely took advantage of it. It seemed that the Landry’s were very vulnerable towards the subject of their bull, and Mrs. Landry was very pleased with Christopher taking pictures of “Big Buddy”(Humphreys, Ahmed & Pryor, 2009). Once getting approval of “being a nice and generous man” (Humphreys, Ahmed & Pryor, 2009) from Mrs. Landry, he already had his path set out to Mr. Landry. This is where the

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