Part A

b) A team member hasn’t been participating fully in a project (e.g., she’s missed meetings,
she’s missed deadlines, etc.), but she wants to receive the same credit as her team members
who did the work. As the manager in this department, once you find out about the
underperforming team member, how can you use social contract ethics and virtue ethics to
coach her to perform better?
As the manager of the department, first I must demonstrate ethical leadership myself and abide
by social contract ethics myself. This will encourage the team members to act ethically as well.
This means that I must make the right decision because doing so acknowledges that I have
reciprocal responsibilities for the people I work with – in other words, I must consider the
metaphorical contract I agree to as a member of society. To do this I can make an allowance one
time for the underperforming team member because from social contract ethics I recognize that I
have some reciprocal responsibilities as manager of the same team. If I do not act like this and
decide to criticize instead, I will encourage the team members to do so as well which will lead to
a bad organizational climate that will badly affect productivity.
I must also abide by virtue ethics myself. That is, I must make the right decision because doing
so demonstrates my positive virtues/personality traits, in other words, doing good is a way to be
good. To do this I can make an allowance one time, for the underperforming team member,
recognizing that a virtuous person helps other people as a way of being and demonstrating good.
By acting ethically myself I have already established a path for other team members to act
ethically as well.
Now I can coach the underperforming team member in the following ways:
First, I will explain that we help team members who underperform because we are a team, and
we have mutual responsibilities (social contract ethics). To achieve our goals as a team, we also
expect other team members to act ethically just as we do because that is the only way to ensure
productivity and a good team climate. This will make it evident that missing meetings, deadlines,
etc. shows that she is not acting ethically without criticizing.
Then, I can also use virtue ethics to guide her to perform better by emphasizing that her
effectiveness as a team member will demonstrate positive virtues that she has which will help us
to achieve our goals as a team.
c) The team member from question b) has a meeting with her manager. She knows he’s
going to criticize her recent behavior with her team. Can she use any of the “reasons we
don’t act ethically” from Week 3 to explain her behavior? If yes, which ones? As the
manager, how can you politely counter her arguments (hint: use the top six soft skills from
Week 1).
Yes, she can use “reasons we don’t act ethically” to explain her behavior.
She can say that she had some important family issues to solve, this made her stressed and that is
why she did not act ethically and kept missing meetings and deadlines (in this case egoism that is
you needs are more important than those of others explains why she did not act ethically).
As the manager, to politely counter her argument I can say that I understand that there are
unexpected situations in life that may make us miss work and emphasize that we strongly rely on
our team members to get the work done, and how we need all of them to be productive to meet
our organization’s goals.

Part B
a) A bank employee is regularly unsmiling, unfriendly, and unhelpful with customers. His
manager has recently become aware of this behavior due to some customer complaints.
One day the manager asks to speak to the employee. How can the manager use social
learning theory and moral development theory to coach his employee to demonstrate more
effective soft skills?
The manager should politely address this situation to demonstrate positive behavior. He can
coach the employee in the following way:
First, he can set up a training program, where in this program the employee is shown different
behaviors towards customers and the customers reactions towards these behaviors. In this
program it is emphasized how the behavior the employees demonstrate encourages customers to
act the same way too. That is the customers, witness their behavior and act the same way because
by social learning theory we know that we learn from behaviors we have witnessed.
He can also use moral development theory (our tendency to act ethically that has developed from
the childhood stage where everything is about us to a conventional state of moral reasoning in
which things are about what society and others expect) to explain to the employee that we are
responsible for a polite behavior towards our customers because that is what they expect from us
and if they do not get it they will leave unsatisfied from our bank which will negatively impact
our performance.
b) In your opinion, which of the personality theories and/or social influence/social action
concepts best explains why we do what we do? Why? If an employee isn’t effectively
demonstrating effective soft/human skills, such as positive customer service orientation, can
an employer ask the employee to change these problematic behaviors?
I would say that conformity and groupthink are the social influence and social action respectively
that best explain why we do what we do. I have always noticed that people have a need to be part
of a group whether it is in the neighborhood, school or work. In a lot of cases I have witnessed
classmates act like the group they associated with even though they would not have acted like
that if they were not part of this group. Their need to belong made them conform and think like
the other members of the group. This is the behavior I have mostly witnessed hence, my stand on
the matter.
Yes, an employer can ask the employee to change these problematic behaviors because that is the
role of the manager, to effectively manage the factors of production in the company which
include human resources. It would be the ethical thing to do based on his duty to address these
negative behaviors and ask for improvements. This way he will be demonstrating responsibility
in the company. He also must show ethical leadership, that is why he must politely address
negative behaviors.

Part C
a) Describe a specific workplace situation and some language and behaviors you can use to
demonstrate a positive customer service orientation. Feel free to use a dialogue/script
format as part of your answer.
A customer walks into the store and asks where to make a return. However, the store doesn’t
allow returns in the three days after Christmas.
Customer: Hello!
Me: Hello, how can I help you?
Customer: I would like to return this coat I bought.
Me: I understand you request but unfortunately, we have this policy that does not allow us to
accept any returns in three days after Christmas. You can also check our website to verify that.
Customer: That sucks.
Me: Yes, I understand but unfortunately there is this policy. Is there anything else that I can help
you with. Do you have any other questions regarding our return policies.
Customer: No, I do not.
Me: Thank you than, have a nice day!
Customer: Have a nice day!
b) Describe a specific workplace situation and some language and behaviors you can use to
demonstrate a positive problem-solving orientation. Feel free to use a dialogue/script
format as part of your answer.
A retail manager of a clothing store in a suburban mall has just been told that her location is
closing at the end of the month. She knows sales have been declining for the past six months, but
she also knows she has a dedicated group of regular customers who will be upset about the store
closure. The head office asks the manager to work with her senior staff to figure out the best way
to plan the closure so that loyal clients aren’t lost forever.
During a meeting with the senior staff:
Manager: Unfortunately, I must give you the bad news that our store is closing.
Staff member 1: Oh no, we had a lot of regular customers that will be very upset about this.
Staff member 2: Yes, we will probably lose these customers forever.
Manager: Can you please take a deep breath. Relax, only one of our stores is closing. I am sure
we can come up with a great strategy to attract the customers in this area to one of the stores
locate in another area.
Staff member 3: Yes, that is a great idea. On our next meeting we can discuss some ideas that
will help us keep these customers.
Manager: That is the attitude I want to see. We got this.

As a manager, you are in charge of creating an environment that is conducive to teamwork

and communication. If you have a team member who is not participating fully in a project, it
can be detrimental to the team's success. One way to address this is to use social contract ethics
and/or virtue ethics to coach the team member to perform better.
Social contract ethics are based on the idea that individuals are bound by a social contract to act
in ways that are mutually beneficial. This means that individuals have certain rights and
obligations that are defined by society. In the context of a team project, this means that team
members have an obligation to work together and to do their fair share of the work. If one team
member is not fulfilling their obligation, then it is up to the manager to remind them of their
responsibility. Virtue ethics, on the other hand, are based on the idea that individuals should
strive to embody certain virtues, such as honesty, integrity, and fairness.
In the context of a team project, this means that team members should be honest about their
contributions and should work to ensure that the work is distributed fairly. If a team member is
not fulfilling this obligation, then it is up to the manager to remind them of their responsibility.
To coach the underperforming team member, you can start by reminding them of their obligation
to the team and to the social contract that they have agreed to. You can also encourage them to
embody the virtues of honesty, integrity, and fairness, and to work to ensure that the work is
distributed fairly. By using social contract ethics and virtue ethics to coach the team member, you
can help to create a more productive and cohesive team. This can also lead to a more positive
work environment and increased job satisfaction for all team members.