Answer to Question #197489 in Management for Jessa

Question

Questions:

1. Tom was obviously overconfident in the final stages of the testing process, but was his behavior unethical? Why or Why not?

2. Given Scott's concerns over R&D's credibility, should he have taken Tom's production date as being absolutely firm?

3. In fact, Scott was so skeptical of Tom's production date that he recorded their original conversation without Tom's knowledge and then produced the recording when Tom denied giving a firm production date Tom responded. "You taped my conversation without telling me! That's unethical." Was it?

4. Has Scott's behavior damaged future relations between marketing and R&D? In what way? How could this situation have been avoided?

Answer 1

1.Not necessarily because Tom was under the impression that it was a sure thing for the product to be ready, Tom had every intention of the product being ready by the production date. Also Scott was being rude to him and the production team was pressing on him for a firm date. Therefore, while Tom was wrong to give a sure answer before the final test, he did not have unethical intentions behind his incorrect release date.

2. Scott should have not taken the production date absolutely firm because of all the changes happening with all the testing in the R&D department. However, it was his job to maintain up-to-date reports of the progress of the testings that would have allowed him to keep preparing as the team keeps testing

3.yes it is unethical because it is essentially blindsiding a person. Also it is illegal to tape someone without their permission in the FL. this situation makes both Tom and Scott look bad so it is losing lose situation for everybody.

4. Tom

Gave firm production date

Date was not met

Lied about cautioning Scott about the date

Scott

Asked for production date

Accused of previously not meeting the goal

Exploded on Tom for not meeting the time frame