Reference no: EM133292112

Assignment:

Imagine that you have recently been appointed manager of a shopping mall. Your job is to manage 16 acres of commercial space, a mall. in the heart of a decaying area of your city. Local merchants were up in arms because the crime rate was rising and the number of people visiting the mall was dropping As a result, the mall had acquired a bad reputation in the minds of local shoppers who hand no shortage of shopping options. The quality of merchandise was declining because, increasingly, local retailers were writing off the area, paying less attention to appearances and upkeep, and stocking their shelves with cheap goods. A troubling picture was emerging.

The demographics of the area had begun to change several years before. The neighbourhood, at the centre of a large urban area, had started seeing an infux of refugees, low-income housing, apartments, increasing numbers of homeless people, and a growing mix of cultures and races. With those changes had come drug dealers, youth gangs, poverty, racial conflict, and violent crime, including a headline-grabbing brawl that had left two local high school students beaten and stabbed and four other students arrested on weapons charges.

These changes had left their mark on the mall, which many regarded as "the centre of it all" The mall had always been the local hangout for students at the six surrounding schools. But, gradually, the loitering students were almost out numbering shoppers. Increasingly, irritated mall retailers were pointing at "hoodlums' as the source of their problems. But the students had little else to do. The mall was a place to socialize, fill the lunch hour, and put in time after school. Many students were from single-parent families or came from homes where both parents worked to make ends meet. So heading home after school was not an attractive alternative.

On the other hand, drugs were becoming a problem and the mall was becoming a place for drug dealing. Clashes with mall security were becoming more common and merchants were beginning to ask for security guard escorts when they dropped off their deposits at the bank in the mall after stores closed.

But the picture was not all bleak. The schools were working hard to find solutions. There was still a good mix of income groups, education levels, and housing in the neighbourhood. A number of community organizations had formed to address local problems. A recent study by the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics had found that social and economic factors correlated with reported crime in the 26 largest municipalities across the country.

In other words, the communities most at risk were those whose members were the most disadvantaged item in The Globe and Mail also attracted your attention. The blurb described a crime prevention conference in the United States using "target hardening and hartivare? You attended and learned about upgraded security systems, surveillance cameras, eviction techniques, legal services, highly trained security personnel, and related options. This was clearly an attractive alternative. It was what the merchants in the mall seemed to want. The prevailing attitude revolved around getting the teenagers of mall property and restoring "law and order."

You now have to make some tough decisions. The direction the local merchants wanted to take was clear. But were they right?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. As mall manager in the case described above, you are unable to put off decisions much longer. What should you do in this situation? Discuss or write down your possible options, and then list the ethical pros and cons for each.

2. Several local citizens' groups and a school principal are asking for appointments. And a delegation of mall merchants has arranged a meeting for the next afternoon. It appears that for these stakeholders, a drug bust at closing time the night before was the final straw. How will you deal with these groups? What actions or strategies will you suggest, and how will you justify them?

3. What are the trade-offs between strategic and ethical concerns?