Reference no: EM133344785

Case: Too good to be true. Jeff McDonald worked as a construction projects manager for St. Elmo's hospital. St. Elmo's was one of the oldest and most prestigious not-for-profit healthcare groups in Cleveland, Ohio. The hospital had been founded by Jesuit missionaries in the 1840s in a simple log cabin to provide relief for local women, with a clean place to give birth. St. Elmo's had grown over the centuries to become a sprawling 800-acre medical campus that provided care to residents of Cuyahoga County. True to its roots, St. Elmo's had just announced an $80 million addition to its Women's Center. The addition would provide state-of-the-art cancer care for women of all ethnicities and socioeconomic standards. McDonald was the project manager in charge of collecting and evaluating bids from a number of local and national general contractors.

McDonald had received dual degrees in construction management and business finance from Case Western University about a decade ago. One October evening, Jeff received a call from Max Cook, an old friend and confidant from his days in the Delta Epsilon fraternity at Case. Cook, who McDonald had lunch with about every year, told Jeff that he had an extra seat to the upcoming Cleveland Browns-Pittsburgh Steelers game and asked Jeff if he would attend. Jeff, a lifelong Browns fan, accepted the invitation almost before Cook had finished speaking. The day of the game, Max picked up Jeff and they took an Uber to the stadium.

Jeff soon found himself in one of the stadium's luxury boxes, one owned by Jacob's Brothers construction, an Akron, Ohio-based general contractor with a large healthcare business. Max explained that he had received the tickets from a work colleague who knew Peter Jacobs, a principal owner of Jacob's Brothers. Jeff soon found himself in conversation with Peter and about a dozen other Jacob's Brothers executives. He began to feel very uncomfortable.

Discussion Questions
What are the ethical risks in this situation?
What would you advise Jeff to do now?
What should Jeff do later?

1) The ethical risks in this situation could be that Jeff will find himself in a position where the offering of the VIP tickets can be seemed as receiving a gift. By receiving and accepting this gift, without thinking about the consequences of it at first, Jeff may ask himself if this gift may be perceived as bribery. Since Jeff quickly found himself in uncomfortable situations with Jacob's Brothers executives, he can also feel the pressure of giving something back. This can again turn into a conflict of interests.

2) I would advise Jeff to communicate to the others at the game that he will not discuss business with them, because he can end up in situations with ethical risks and conflict of interest. Because the VIP tickets can be perceived as receiving a gift, Jeff has to remember the thin line between receiving gifts and bribery. To communicate clearly that Jeff is only there as a guest, can therefore be a good advice in this situation.

3) After this incident, Jeff should inform and explain the situation to his employers. If he does not, the incident can become a problem for him in the future. To be honest and clear about the situation is therefore, in my opinion the next step for Jeff in this situation. To make sure the incident will not be a problem for Jeff and the company in the future, he should therefore communicate what happened sooner than later.