[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on The Psychology of Decision Making and Judgment
I have been employed for 17 years with a major aerospace company. Like any corporation, it functions through a multi-tiered managerial hierarchy. In the spring of 2003, several derogatory comments appeared on www.ourwebsite.com about Stella O'Brien (not her real name), an employee of the aerospace company. Website is one in which anyone can post comments about their superiors and co-workers or complaints about their employment environment. The comments posted about Stella were slanderous and sexually explicit, and evidently posted by a co-worker.
The Management Decision
Stella reported these incidents directly to the Manager of Launch Operations, the head of the aerospace program on which she worked. He told her to "just ignore it". Not surprisingly, within a few days, slanderous statements were again posted about Stella on the website. She again complained to the Manager of Launch Operations, who took no steps to report the incidents to upper management. Instead, he reported the incident to the Manager of the Information Systems Department, Mr. Blair (not his real name). Mr. Blair's response was "Don't worry about it, just ignore it".
The website comments continued, becoming more crude and graphic. Stella then contacted the Manager of the Human Resources Department, who advised her that it was a freedom of speech issue and that HR could do nothing about it. He suggested that she contact the company's Ethics Department. As the incidents continued, Stella repeatedly reported them to Mr. Blair and finally, threatened to retain an attorney to force the company to resolve the problem. Mr. Blair, fearing legal action, contacted the company's legal department and several other consultants to advise him on the best course of action. About two weeks after Stella threatened to retain a lawyer, the problem was resolved. The systems administrator denied access to all computers on the company's network to the IP address and internet domain name of website.............
