On-the-Job Learning
Shannon had a great new job assisting the head of Human Resources in a small company where everyone seemed to do everything. Shannon had worked at a retail outlet previously, also in HR, but she had essentially been an administrative assistant. One day, Shannon’s boss, Marian, overwhelmed with things to do, said that she just did not have time to do the interviews and selection of two new retail staff for the firm. “When you worked at your previous firm, did you do any hiring?” asked Marian. Shannon knew this was her chance to prove she could do hiring, but she had not actually done any interviewing or hiring personally. If she said no, she knew her boss would turn to the other young person in the office. Shannon knew he had participated in group interviews in his past job, but she thought he knew less about hiring than she did through careful observation of the process. “Sure,” said Shannon, “I worked on six hires in my time there.” Marian immediately asked her to interview the six candidates for the two positions and recommend the two to be hired.
Questions for Discussion:
1. Did Shannon do wrong? After all, “worked on” covers a lot of different responsibilities. Explain.
2. Was Shannon’s decision unethical? Why or why not?