Flora was a production supervisor of a Hong Kong handbag manufacturer at its Mainland production plant.  Expansion programmes were being drawn up and much of the firm’s production in the Mainland would move to Vietnam where rent and wages were relatively lower.  But reducing the factory size in the Mainland involved a large amount of severance pay.  Flora’s boss told Flora to make it easier by cutting off the central air-conditioning so that the workers would find it intolerable to continue working in the heat, thereby resigning on their own.  Flora found it difficult to carry out the orders without qualms.  But her boss emphasized that the most important thing was to meet targeted rates of return.

Should Flora follow the instruction?  Should she at least let the workers know the company’s plan?  Would it be detrimental to her own career development by so doing?

Jonathan was a very task-oriented young computer programmer employed by the Galaxy Electronics Ltd for two years.

One day, his supervisor asked him to design a programme for a digital answering machine.   Jonathan turned it down and explained that he was extremely busy at that time.  The job was then contracted out to an outside software house named Leo Systems Company.

It so happened that Leo, the proprietor of Leo Systems, was an old friend of Jonathan.  He rang Jonathan and told him of the job offer.  Actually, Leo and his staff had their hands full at that time but would not like to turn down Galaxy when they made the offer.  What Leo wanted was to maintain a good relationship with Galaxy all through so that in future when their jobs again had to be contracted out, they would come to Leo Systems again.

Leo asked if Jonathan would consider lending a hand in designing the programme in his own spare time.  The contract money could be split, with Jonathan taking a share for the part that he did and Leo taking the share his men worked on.

Jonathan thought hard.  He could certainly sacrifice a few nights' sleep to get a part of the programme written up.  He knew what the requirements were.

Should he say ‘yes’ to Leo?  He would be earning extra money at the expenses of his boss.  Would this weigh heavily on his conscience? Or was it a stone that could be lifted easily?

Edmond introduced his friend Anthony to work under his wing in a small I.T. company.  Felix, the company boss, had complained to Edmond for several months about Anthony’s work performance.  Anthony’s procrastination and being unnecessarily thorough was well-known in the company.  Felix just managed to tolerate the situation because he did not want to upset Edmond who brought large profits to the company.  Felix also told Edmond in confidence that Anthony was not the person whom the company needed and could be replaced by someone who was more efficient and yet cheaper.

As a friend, Edmond wondered if he should personally warn Anthony in advance so that Anthony could get prepared.  If Felix was right, terminating Anthony might be for the best interest of the company as well as for Edmond to maintain a good relationship with Felix.  On the other hand, leaking out the news in advance might also damage Felix’s trust and affect staff morale.

To tell Anthony or not to tell Anthony? That was the question worrying Edmond!

Tom and Jerry were mechanical engineers of the Clark Gable Company Ltd (CG Co).  The two were the same batch and had been with the company for only a short time.  Recently, due to the re-organisation of the firm, some people would be laid off.   Mechanical engineering work would then be vested with a larger company, the Rock Hudson  Ltd.  The first ones to go would be those who came last and thus Tom and Jerry's jobs would be in jeopardy.

Tom tried to find a way out for the two of them.   They persuaded two friends, Sam and Tim who had similar training and background, to set up an engineering company called the Catch All Engineering Ltd (CAE).  This would serve as a fallback in case they were really sacked.

Shortly after CAE was set up, the bad news released.   Tom and Jerry were given notice to leave CG Co but, to their great surprise, Rock Hudson Ltd., which had taken over CG Co, offered to employ them to undertake their old duties.

Both of them were overjoyed.  But then they had another problem.  The two would have no more time to take care of matters related to CAE.

So one evening Tom and Jerry treated Sam and Tim to a sumptuous meal and told them that they could no longer share the business with them. Sam and Tim were outraged.  They reprimanded Tom and Jerry for making use of them in the first place and then leaving them in the lurch.  Trying to find a way out, Tim then made a proposal to Tom and Jerry.

Rock Hudson, as a major company, could provide many work opportunities.  The only thing that had to be done was to get CAE on their approved list of contractors.  Tom and Jerry could try to arrange that in whatever way possible.  After all, CAE provided quality service and it had to survive.

Tom and Jerry were in a quandary. They counted themselves most fortunate to be still in employment and with an even larger company. And they wished they could help their friends out.  Should they agree to add CAE to the approved list no matter what and no matter how?  It would do Rock Hudson no harm anyway.

What would happen if they refused?  Would they be indebted to Sam and Tim for the rest of their lives?  How should they handle that?

Eva was a clever and efficient staff member working on a fixed-term contract in a large firm.  She could easily complete her assignments before the deadlines; but she preferred not letting other colleagues know about that because she did not want extra workload given to her and making other colleagues look less capable.  Being a fixed-term contract staff member, she understood that she would leave the firm at the end of the contract.  Hoping to make her mark one day and to secure future income, she was thinking the possibility of developing her side-business during the office hours by using the firm’s resources while pretending working on certain projects in the office. 

Eva thought to herself: it was not her fault that she was more efficient and capable than other colleagues.  She was only a fixed-term contract staff member and would leave the firm one day.  She needed to prepare herself for the future.

Was that justified for Eva’s secret plan?  What about the interest of the firm?  What factors does Eva need to consider before taking her course of action?

Felix, a production manager of a large toy factory, had two assistants, Gigi and Gordon.  Gigi was the favourite because she was a young charming lady and also a cousin of the General Manager while Gordon was not because he was brash and sometimes outright insolent.  They were both responsible for handling the overtime claims for workers on the toy production.  The Finance Department had complained to Felix a few times about Gigi and raised queries over some overtime claims forwarded by Gigi.  There were widespread rumours that Gigi might have overstated the overtime hours and even forged claims by using ghost workers.  Yet, Felix could not bring himself to ask Gigi for explanations but went easy on her by telling her to be more ‘prudent’ when handling the overtime claims in the future.  On the other hand, the Finance Department contacted Felix again but this time was about Gordon.  They had questions about some discrepancies on the hours of the overtime claims forwarded by Gordon.  However, Felix treated Gordon more strictly and was much firmer on the occasion.

Was Felix being equally fair to his assistants when handling the queries from the Finance Department?  Would it upset the General Manager if Felix was not kind to Gigi at work, which in return affected Felix’s work prospect?  How would it affect his professional image in the eyes of other colleagues?

Daphne, a purchasing officer in a watch manufacturing company, was responsible for recommending spare parts suppliers.  One day, a supplier, Simon, invited her for a lunch and made a business suggestion.  If Daphne recommended her company continuing to use Simon’s company as a supplier, Simon would mark up the quotation price by 4% from the next purchase order and they could equally split the profit by having 2% each.

Daphne was scandalized when hearing the suggestion.  Although Simon’s suggested mark-up price was still by far the lowest among the lot, the quality of his products was not as good as the others and only just met the company’s required standard.  On a second thought, she needed an extra income at the moment because she had just made the down-payment for her new flat.  After all, her company would still get a good bargain price.

Would Daphne commit an offence if she accepted Simon’s suggestion?  What factors does she need to consider when making a decision?

Alexander was Manager of Planning in a real estate development firm and was responsible for recommending a contractor to conduct an environmental study.  He was considering Gamble, a small firm which had done outstanding work for the firm in the past.  Roy, a friend and representative of another larger environmental research firm, approached Alexander on the matter over a lunch appointment.  Alexander clearly stated that Gamble would possibly get the contract because of its satisfactory past performance, whereas Roy’s firm had a dozen other contracts to keep them busy.

Roy seemed disappointed but Alexander was glad when conversation turned to other topics.  Roy asked Alexander about the progress of his emigration plan.  In fact, Alexander’s wife, Zoe, had already gone to Canada with two sons to settle down first while Alexander would work a few more years in Hong Kong before joining them.  Roy mentioned casually that he had connections in Toronto and could help Alexander place his sons into the best local school though it might take some doing.  The school enjoyed a reputation for good results and easy access to the University of Toronto.  Alexander understood what Roy really meant.  He desperately wanted to make a head-start for his children and pave a smooth path for them.

Would Alexander commit any offence if he recommended Roy’s company in return for Roy’s help for his sons? What factors should Alexander consider when making the decision?

Holly was a real estate agent.  She was amazed to find that her Sales Director and other colleagues used various “deal-closing techniques” on prospective clients.  The most effective technique was what they called “the other party”.

Pushing the potential buyer for a decision, Holly’s colleagues would create a “buy-now-or-never” atmosphere by all means.  The colleagues would misinterpret the availability of the property concerned by saying that it was also viewed by many interested buyers of other colleagues.  In front of the potential buyer, they also either pretended to make lots of enquiries or engaged in a heated debates with other colleagues about the availability of the property.  The purpose was to increase the purchase desire as well as to impose pressure on the potential buyer.

According to Holly’s boss Mark, it was a real estate agent’s job to "help the potential buyer with a purchase decision".  Holly had her scruples and disagreed with such psychological manipulation.  However, after six months, she found herself lagging behind in terms of sales figures.  Mark remarked that Holly lacked ‘sales techniques’.

Should Holly also adopt the psychological manipulation that her colleagues had found so successful?   Or should she try to close deals in her own way, and be upfront and honest with her clients?

Clara worked for Maria, the buyer of a gourmet food department. They received a shipment of thin little wafers from a foreign country that had cream filling with fruits. The wafers were packed in foil-covered boxes, but somehow some wafers were infested with insects. Clara and Maria assumed that the news was not widely spread out yet because not all of the customers brought back the contaminated product.  But some customers did return the product.  Obviously, Clara and Maria could not continue to sell them. They couldn’t inspect all the boxes and keep the uninfected ones because there were too many boxes.  Also, the inspection would involve damaging the foil-covered boxes which would lead to a loss of products worth $900,000.

Maria said that the manufacturer would not refund them because the infestation occurred very possibly during the shipment or even during the storage at the food department’s warehouse.   Maria told Clara to get rid of the product by all means.  Clara thought that Maria meant a disposal of the product; but Maria then clearly said, “Absolutely not disposal. Call YY and KK. They operate retail stores in the new towns and sell almost anything. We’ve got to get some of our money back.” Clara was shocked when hearing the instructions.

Should Clara follow Maria’s instructions? Would it be better if she told YY and KK the truth?   What if the product brought in thousands of complaints?  Clara found herself in the middle of a nightmare.