Question:Ang Lee owns and operates a well-respected online tutoring firm, Tutoring University (TU). The firm was started in 1996 by a group of Johns Hopkins University college students who wanted to make extra money to help defray their school costs. Originally, students offered their services to only Hopkins students. Lee sought out the best students in every field at the University and created a team of students that encompassed every major offered by the school. The tutors charged hourly fees. The service proved to be very successful. The student tutors who started with the company were able to pay most of their college expenses by offering tutoring.
From the outset TU established a code of conduct for its employees. The code’s underlying principle was that all employees were expected to live up to the traditions of a tutor, namely;
Upon graduation in 2000, Lee decided to partner with one of the student tutors, Josh Jenkins. Jenkins was a business school graduate. The partners initially expanded the business by setting up tutoring services at other universities across the country. TU became well known and its tutoring services were recommended by the NCAA for teams in the association. The business had $10 million in gross sales by 2004. Riding high on success, and recognizing the growth of online education, Lee and Jenkins decided it was time to expand the business by offering services to students taking online courses.
Once the partners established services for students taking online courses, in 2005, the partners once again sought to expand the business by looking into tutoring students for the standard testing programs used by college and university admission boards. By 2010, the company had increased its gross sales to $20 million and by 2013, the company boasted $35 million in gross sales.
Although TU’s online tutoring market experienced significant growth, the industry saw many new entrants into the marketplace. other Companies began to offer tutoring services. The business model of these companies include several features that TU did not offer. First, students have access to a document and quiz repository and secondly, students are able to purchase or exchange quizzes or papers from the repository for a fee. Lastly, students could solicit the assistance of tutor by paying them to enter an online classroom to complete the required discussions and assessments.
Lee and Jenkins recognized the potential growth for TU, especially since the popularity of these organizations were growing exponentially. In an effort to compete with the market trend, Lee and Jenkins decided to move the company forward by adding the following services to its model:
Shortly after the new model was rolled out, the Marketing Department came out with a promotion of the new services called “Let Us Help withYour Homework for you.” Television and radio commercials entice students to purchase the papers, videos, etc. by telling customers that the product would be customized to the assignment requirements.
Further, some of the services are advertised as being less costly since many of the papers are written by students submitting his or her work into the repository. Tutoring services are marketed as top quality individuals knowledgeable in many disciplines. One commercial features a tutor seated at a computer working while the student is at home watching the TV.
Spencer Tracy, a former tutor and Director of Tutors is worried about the promotion and finds the content unethical. Further, he is concerned that this promotion will place the tutors in a compromising position with respect to the expectations of the customer – the student!
Identify and discuss the two common ethical issue categories to which each of the business dilemmas belong.
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