At one of the athletic departments I worked at, I found myself in a real pickle. I had orders shirts for one of the annual giving programs that way I could use it as an incentive for giving. The order had finally came in, and I do my normal task of counting all the shirts. To my surprise I found out quickly that number of shirts did not match the purchase order of shirts. Interestingly enough, the number of shirts exceeded the amount that we were charged for. I thought to myself this is obviously an accident and needs to be corrected. I went to my superior at the time during our weekly meeting and explained the situation to them. Shockingly, I realized that this error was not a problem for them and happened to be in their eyes a blessing. I told them that I was going to call the company and notify them about the undercharge. I was then notified that I did not need to do such a thing and that they would handle the matter. It was clear to me that they did not plan to rectify the situation and that they were only going to pay what the company had charged us. I then thought to myself how when I am in a position that has subordinates I will make sure that I let them know that as a company/organization we will pay for what we buy. Now we are not opposed to discounts or favors or freebies but we are opposed to paying companies less than what we owe them because of an error on their part.
I also went through an interesting moment where I witnessed an individual who was in a position to access bank accounts/company cards misuse their authority. This particular individual decided to use the company account to fund the payment for a recreational activity. I was truthfully saddened when I heard the matter. As I continue to work my way up to becoming an Athletic Director, I always take notes of two things when it thinking of future employee's/coworkers. The first is their ability to perform their job responsibilities at a high level. The second is to see if they have character/personality traits that would be suitable for a person in their roles respective position. After what I recently witnessed I can tell you truthfully that this individual would not be a candidate for the position. The good part is I am not in charge of hiring the actually position but if the opportunity arose where the person is in a job interview process, I would immediately be the one to notify them that I would not be in their corner. Shady people do shady things, and if you are willing to play around with organizations capital I have no idea what else you are capable of.
Ethical decisions more times than not live longer than just the moment of your decision. One must think with the end in mind and not with the now in their hand.
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