Case Study-Better Boston Beans

   

Better Boston Beans is a coffee shop located in the Faneuil Hall Marketplace near the waterfront and Government Center in Boston. The coffee shop specializes in exotic blends of coffee including Sumatra Dark Roast Black, India Mysore “Gold Nuggets,” and Guatemala Antigua. It also serves blended coffees including Reggae Blend, Jamaican Blue Mountain Blend, and Marrakesh Blend. For those with more pedestrian tastes, the shop serves French Vanilla, Hazelnut, and Hawaiian Macadamia Nut. The coffee of the day varies, but the most popular is Colombia Supremo. The coffee shop also serves a variety of cold-blended coffees.

  

   Cindie Rosen has worked for Better Boston Beans for six months. She took the job right out of college because she wasn't sure whether she wanted to go to graduate school before beginning a career in financial services. Cindie hoped that by taking a year off before starting her career or going on to graduate school, she would experience “the real world” and find out firsthand what it is like to work a 40-hour week. She did not have a full-time job during college because her parents helped pay for the tuition.

   Since Cindie is the “new kid on the block,” she is often asked to work the late shift from 4:00 p.m. to midnight. She works with one other person—Jeffrey Lyndell—who is the assistant shift supervisor. Lyndell has been with Boston Beans for three years but recently was demoted from shift supervisor.

For the past two weeks, Lyndell has been leaving before 11 p.m., after most of the stores in the Marketplace close down, and he has asked Cindie to close up by herself. Cindie felt this was wrong and it was starting to concern her, but she hasn't spoken to Lyndell and has not informed the store manager. However, something happened one night that caused Cindie to consider taking the next step.

    At 11:00 p.m., 10 Japanese tourists came into the store for coffee. Cindie was alone and had to rush around and make five different cold-blended drinks and five different hot-blended coffees. While she was working, one of the Japanese tourists who spoke English very well approached her and said that he was shocked such a famous American coffee shop would only have one worker in the store at any time during the working day. Cindie didn't want to ignore the man's comments so she answered that her coworker had to go home early because he was sick. That seemed to satisfy the tourist.

    It took Cindie almost 20 minutes to make all the drinks and field two phone calls that came in during that time. After she closed for the night, Cindie reflected on the experience. She realized it could get worse before it gets better because Jeffrey Lyndell was now making it a habit to leave work early. She had to either approach him about it or speak with the store manager. She felt much more comfortable talking to the store manager. In fact, in Cindie's own words, “Lyndell gives me the creeps.”

 1. Consider Kohlberg’s six stages of moral development. What would Cindie do and why if she reasoned at each of the six stages?

•       Stage 1- Obedience to rules; Avoidance of punishment

o    Cindie would not tell because it would keep either Lyndell or the store manager from being mad at her.

•       Stage 2- Satisfying one’s own needs

o   Egoism: Jeffery Lyndell (colleague) recently going back early from work and let Cindie to do the work alone.

o   Cindie would tell the store manager and would probably be rewarded with his job.

•       Stage 3- Fairness to others

                       o  Cindie would warn Lyndell and, out of loyalty, give him a chance to change. 

·         Stage 4- Law and Order

o   Cindie would tell the store manager – rules have been broken.

o   As an employee,it is Lnydell responsibility and duty to follow the rules and regulation that set by the shop.

•       Stage 5-  Social contract

o   Cindie would weigh the harms and benefits of alternative actions and look for a compromise that maximizes net benefits to all while minimizing overall harms.

•       Stage 6-  Universal ethical  principles

o   Cindie would consider all options from her personal ethical system to do the right thing; the rights of the store manager and interests of customers outweigh any loyalty concerns to Lyndell.

o   If Cindie doesn't do any action,it will give harm towards herself and the shop.