Question:
Think of yourself as Jane Lennox - what would you do? There are many routes available - you need to decide on 1 and come ready to defend it.
There are many alternative routes for Jane Lennox to take and overcome the problem that is being faced by her. The current issue is yet another example of the questionable behavior of Martha. She has requested for the purchase of the shares of a firm whose securities are restricted for the residents of Alberta. The purchase form for the shares of that firm clearly mentions the address and the province of the client as Alberta. Therefore, this act can be considered as illegal, unethical, against the law and its gives rise to a conflict of interest.
Martha is giving priority to her personal interests as compared to working for her own firm. Jane has gone through such questionable acts of Martha previously a lot of times where she felt uncomfortable by Martha’s style of dealing with the clients. The clients also felt uncomfortable and were at times forces to accept the decision which Martha had made for them. Jane Lennox is working as the administrative assistant at Vandelay Securities since the last year.
Previous events have also shown that Martha had been taking the advantage of her superior position and worked for her own interests who conflicted with the interests of the firm such as the case of the purchase of Tri-Star debentures whose documents were signed by their secretary treasures who appeared to be Martha’s boyfriend. Jane Lennox should have taken an action at that time.
However, it’s still not late and in order to deal with the current situation the most recommended route that she needs to take is to talk to the senior management or the board of Vandelay Securities. Jane Lennox needs to tell all the unethical and questionable acts of Martha to the senior management or the board of the firm. She also needs to tell that how her style was causing tension among the clients and how her acts were unethical for the firm, its board and to herself. She needs to tell the board that the case of Mrs. Monmore was an example of conflict of interest and high pressure sales tactics.
The case of the promotion of the debentures was a case of insider trading and misrepresentation to a regulator. Similarly, the current issue is an issue of misrepresentation to a regulator, conflict of interest and insider trading. Jane Lennox needs to also tell the board that after joining Martha for her training, she has been regretting her assignment due to her high pressure advising style and her unethical acts. It is high time now for Jane Lennox to blow the whistle and tell the senior management or the board of the firm that how the actions and decisions of Martha might damage the image of the firm in future.
Counter Questions
- Why is this best route for Jane Lennox?
- What would be the possible outcome after taking this action?
- What would be the pros and cons for Jane after taking this action?
- Is the current issue the right time to blow the whistle?
- How does a conflict of interest arise?
- Why should Jane not talk to Martha directly?
- Why Jane did not blow the whistle at the previous issues?
- Will the senior management or the board take an action?
- How might the outcome of blowing the whistle impact upon the job of Jane?
- Was the high pressure style of Martha a wrong way of dealing with the clients?
- Martha had 15 years of experience in this industry, was she really doing wrong?
- Jane had joined Vandelay Securities just last year, was she in a position to question the behavior of Martha?
- How should have Martha dealt with the clients?
- Was losing the client’s due to Martha’s style good for the firm?
What future recommendations you would suggest..................................
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