A company’s sales team has been told that all planned salary increases and bonuses will be stopped if any member of the team fails to achieve his or her sales target. The team achieves targets but management is surprised by the number of customers who contact the company to complain about aggressive or misleading sales practices.
Is this an ethical issue and why?
A . Yes – the sales team are entirely at fault and should be dismissed
B . Yes – management has put the sales team under a lot of pressure and members of the team appear to have engaged in unethical sales practices
C . No – meeting sales targets is a business, not an ethical issue
D . No – the management has behaved unfairly so the way that the sales team has responded is justified
Answer: B