Tara and her friend Jeremy work for Bonnano's Grill, a busy restaurant. Tara recently found out that Jeremy has been underreporting his cash sales, reducing the amount he has to tip out the hosts and server assistants. Jeremy would lose his job if the management found out. Using this example, briefly explain the relationships among trust, justice, and ethics.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Student answers will vary but should demonstrate understanding of the relationships among trust, justice, and ethics and how they relate to the given scenario. A sample answer follows. Trust is defined as the willingness to be vulnerable to an authority based on positive expectations about the authority's actions and intentions. Issues of trust are intertwined with two related concepts. Justice reflects the perceived fairness of an authority's decision making. Ethics reflects the degree to which the behaviors of an authority are in accordance with generally accepted moral norms. For Bonnano's employees to display ethical behavior, the company should ensure that it is meeting the employee's expectations regarding trust, justice, and ethics. It must also ensure that employees like Jeremy develop trust in the organization so as to elicit their long-term commitment to the company. This would also stop them from taking any steps that harm the company, such as Jeremy is doing by underreporting his cash sales.