Faulty Lettuce...

The universal rule of goodwill to all dictates that we take only those actions that we would be willing to see others take. The short answer to any unethical question would be to ask “what if someone did that to me”? The explanation would help us make better decisions concerning ethics. The profit factor in most all types of business dealings clouds all decisions and acts as a final measurement of performance. Recouping losses is a part of sound managerial tactics. Focusing on short term profit margins and ignoring the longer term damage of unethical behavior is bad for business. In the final analysis, businesses owe to each other a willingness to act ethically, this is part of the foundation that forms trust and formulates contracts. If we cannot trust each other, contracts drawn up in good faith would be useless. If for example faulty lettuce was shipped to a hotel, the correct course of action would be to inform the manufacturer of the problem, have them assess their packaging methods to see where the damaged goods came (damage occurred) into the supply chain. This, along with an inspection of the storage facilities in-house can rectify the problem without further damage to anyone. Simply passing on the damaged good to diners can have far-reaching consequences.