Response to case study scenario 1

I would not ignore the problem; the course of action that I would take would be to escalate the problem to the next level in the management hierarchy above my supervisor.

I would explain my concerns to them in a face to face meeting and also tell them that I had told my supervisor who advised me to ignore the problem, but I felt duty bound not to ignore the quality assurance findings I would also tell them that I think the USB flash memory drives should be recalled and production stopped on them immediately until further testing has been conducted. I feel this is a justified action due to the fact that if one of the faulty units was to fail and cause a fire injuring people then a least I would know that I had done everything possible to highlight the risk and and it would go against my morals to ignore a problem that could potentially injure someone.
If the problem is dealt with immediately only 200 units would have to be recalled and this would be easier to manage as the company know where all of the USB flash memory drives have been delivered and if they act quickly then the client might not have distributed any elsewhere as it is the first working day that they have had the drives. However if the problem does not get acted upon quickly then more faulty units could be manufactured and distributed increasing the financial and legal exposure and making the recall process harder to conduct.

There would obviously be a financial impact on the company for recalling and replacing the USB Drives. But there would be a much larger financial impact and legal implications if the problem was ignored and one failed causing a fire. Not only would the company have to do a mass recall on the product, it would also be potentially liable for legal claims and this would also severely tarnish the reputation of the company and its future in the marketplace.
[An example of a mass recall would be when Dell had to recall 4.1 million laptop batteries in 2006 following concerns that they might overheat and catch fire. However the batteries were actually manufactured by Sony and this recall dented the reputation of both companies as well as incurring major financial costs.]

The company also have a duty of care to their customers and should not be knowingly selling faulty products which could cause injury. In doing so, they would be potentially liable to repay any damages incurred by the customer and could also be invalidating their insurance cover.
Another possible consequence to the customer could be that if a USB drive fails this could result in loss of data to the customer which in turn could have a financial impact.

The decision that I have come to would not be without its downside as from my past experience in industry I have found that managers really do not take kindly to members of staff going over their heads and question their decisions.
However in this situation I feel it is justified as by ignoring the test results, health and safety is being compromised and I feel I have a professional and moral obligation to uphold.


Dell example reference