An ethical dilemma that I have observed included my District Manager and my employee. My District Manager has very little tack when talking to people, which I find a little off putting since we are in customer service.
One day my District Manager was in the store going over some things with me and while we were out on the sales floor he turned to my employee DJ and said what do you think fat boy.
DJ is a heavy set person but perfectly capable of doing his job. I was so thrown by what my District Manager said I just stood there with my mouth open. DJ was also thrown by this and then you could see the anger build in him.
After getting my bearings back, I pulled my District Manager into the office and asked him what he was thinking by saying that to an employee. His response was just as bad as his original comment. He said well he is fat!
After my District Manager left the store I approached DJ to make sure he was doing ok and to give him the opportunity to discuss what had happened. He was understandably still angry. I had to try to smooth over what my District Manager had done by telling DJ that it was very wrong and inexcusable. I offered to call human resources for him, but he declined.
I felt I could not let this go and called my Human Resource Manager myself. I did not give names but just asked for advice on how to deal with the situation. I felt if my District Manager was that callous with an employee then he would have no problem firing me for reporting him to human resources. This went against my morals so after a week I did report him.
I would have to say that my District Manager has no virtue or chooses not to adhere to them. Whatever values the District Manager has been taught they were not enough to teach him compassion to others.
When deciding to call human resources this became a moral issue for me. I felt if I did not call I was no better than my District Manager. If I did call human resources I was putting myself and my family at a risk of losing an income we could not afford to lose. In the end I knew I could not stand by and not say something. It is just not right for someone to get away with treating others so poorly and get away with it. But in the end my District Manager did not get into trouble for what he had done. The Human Resource manager and the Regional Manager decided it was not worth approaching. This I find very hard to swallow. I know this is not the way the company as a whole would deal with this type of behavior. But I am just one manager, and I do not see how my voice is going to make a difference.
I do know if this situation occurs again I will report it again. I think I will report it to the corporate office instead of our regional office. I would hope at that point something would be done to stop this sort of behavior. Since for one it is demoralizing and poor customer service. The customers are not in our stores to hear the mistreatment of the employees. I have had customers call in about my District Manager and the way he talks to me, but again nothing ever happens. I have never worked for someone that has such little ethical thinking. He does get results but I think that is out of fear. I can guarantee I have learned many things from my District Manager but the most important thing I have learned is how to treat my employees. I just do the opposite of what he does. Of course he says I am not assertive enough. I think he means I am not mean enough like him! If I can get results without treating people badly and having them fear me I think I am doing my job well.

Child Physical Abuse