Does This Milkshake Taste Funny Case
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Problem Statement:
There are two major issues that I see in this case:
The first major issue is the exhibition and encouragement of unethical and irresponsible behavior by Paul. This is evident from his actions where he authorized George to remove the filters so that the batch of milkshake could be completed without any obstruction letting the maggots get mixed in the milkshake. He also exhibited bad work ethics, non-compliance to quality and lackadaisical attitude where he expressed no concern and took no action over the maggots getting into the bag of certain ingredients in the warehouse. He also set a wrong example with his peers and shows no concern for company’s property where he and his peers throw the five-gallon heavy mix on to each other for their entertainment.
The second issue is the way the Eastern Dairy Company’s operations are managed. There are no checks and balances and the company has not set clear policies and working procedures. The company is only concerned to produce the desired output at any cost and keep the health inspectors happy. They don’t have a set and auditable quality control process and don’t have a system where everyone is held accountable for their actions. This would lead to non-compliance and unethical/illegal behavior that will tarnish the reputation of the company.
Major Players in the case:
George Stein:
George is a typical college going guy with a middle-class family background. He is pretty interested in hot rod cars, dining in drive-in restaurants and has a girlfriend. He does not have high aspirations regarding his career and is not very interested in college. He was persuaded to attend college by his parents which he reluctantly agreed to attend for the 1st year. He has got some experience working during last four summers that also helped him to satisfy his immediate needs but he has not saved anything that he could utilize for this upcoming life.
George agrees to continue his college education based on the assurance from his parents to get him married with his girlfriend following his sophomore years. This shows that he is a family oriented person, values, and respects his parents.
The family obligations that George foresees makes him pursue a better paying career which lands him at Eastern Dairy. He is pretty satisfied with the work and pay and hopes to accumulate decent sum before he returns back to school. He learned the job quickly and became aware of the expectations from his job which he was duly fulfilling.
After encountering a challenging situation at work George exhibited honesty and ethics by expressing concern about the state of the filters and also tried fixing the issue as instructed. As the problem kept on repeating, he was told by Paul to run the mix without the filters which disturbed him due to the fact that the kids will be drinking the maggot laden milkshake. His ethical upbringing made him stop and think twice before he removed the filters.
Paul Burnham:
Paul who was an old employee of Eastern Dairy has taken a self-assumed position of a team leader for the night shift and the team followed his directions even though he was of the same level as his peers. We can infer that he has some leadership qualities that led his peers to follow him. His only motive was to complete the required production numbers and make sure that the equipment are spotlessly clean by the end of the shift and this objective was disseminated to everyone.
In between work, Paul would decide to have fun which is fine to some extent, but the instance where they used to throw the five-gallon bags at each other leading to loss of 10-40 gallons of mix every shift showed his attitude towards company’s property and his work ethics. He is setting a bad example for the