Q Read the case below. Then, complete the task listed on the following page.. "RECOMMENDATION TO TERMINATE AN ERRING SUBORDINATE" (taken from Lesikar's Business Communication, 11th ed.): You do not like to do such things, but you have no choice. You have decided to recommend the termination of employment for Brad C. Trigg. You are the sales manager for an independent company, Caldwell Plumbing Wholesalers, Inc. Three months ago you transferred Mr. Trigg, a fifteen-year Caldwell veteran, from his job as order taker in the Dallas home office to the position of traveling salesperson for the five-state area. His new job involved calling on large contractors in the area with the goal of getting them to buy in quantity from Caldwell. You thought you made a good decision. Brad appeared to have all the qualifications for the job---good people skills, excellent communication abilities, and a strong work ethic. But you didn't know about his dishonesty. For the first two months, his sales were disappointing, but you concluded that he needed time to adjust to the new job. In the third month some improvement occurred, but not enough to cover his expenses and salary. Throughout this time, you noticed his expenses were rather high. In Corpus Christi, for example, there was a $485 charge for fishing boat rental, guide service, and dinners. His expense report form indicated he was entertaining Carlton DeLeon, a major plumbing contractor in the area. Then in Houston there was a claim for $185 with Dennis Hrozek of Hrozek and Son Plumbers as guest. Similar claims were made in other cities---Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Little Rock. All were well supported by receipts and listed major contractors as guests. Yesterday, by chance, you ran into Carlton DeLeon, whom you know well. In your conversation with Carlton, you asked about his success on the fishing trip he made with Trigg. Carlton was surprised. "What fishing trip?" he responded. After returning to the office, you checked the most recent expense claims submitted by Trigg. You found that many of the receipts from the past three months were falsified. Obviously, the man is dishonest. This morning, you confronted Trigg with the evidence and got his side of the story. He admitted that he had submitted falsified claims with the explanation that he had given Caldwell fifteen years of his life "at slave wages" and that he was merely getting back what was due him. He ended the conversation abruptly and walked out. You found his attitude to be intolerable and have decided to recommend his termination. Termination requires the approval of Mr. Amos T. Caldwell, the company president and your boss. Good judgment also indicates it would be cost prohibitive to take legal action against Trigg, although you have a good case. Furthermore, you realize that you have been “rubber stamping” your signature on the expense report submissions of all salespeople in your charge and are quite concerned about the ramifications for you as well as for Mr. Trigg. Your Task: In terms of ethics, with respect to credibility in particular, how will you proceed and why? Will you: 1. Go forward with the report to your boss, Mr. Caldwell, where you will officially recommend termination of employment for Brad C. Trigg for employee theft? 2. Speak again to Mr. Trigg to smooth things over and to get his assurance that these falsified expense report submissions were isolated incidents and will not ever occur again? You will also not pursue the termination of his employment. In addition, you will carefully audit each expense report submission, along with the supporting documentation, from this point forward, for all salespeople in your charge. Of course, you agree to keep this arrangement strictly between you and Trigg. 3. Choose a different course of action? If so, state exactly what you would do and why. You must choose one of the three options above, and explain why (in a single, well organized paragraph) it’s the best option when considering ethics with respect to credibility. • Apply the pre comp document guidelines using the column labeled “Other.” • Use Block style for your paragraph, which may be a maximum of 10 lines of type when completed. • Avoid using verbiage directly from the case or from the numbered options listed above when composing your paragraph. In fact, your topic sentence will read, “I would choose list item number ______.” From there, you will complete your composition. Save your Word document as Ethics first name last name, and submit it by the stated deadline to the respective Western Online Assignments folder.