In response to Elizabeth's Question

"What if you were the customer and you were asked if it was okay if they give your name and number to another company, would you be alright with it?

I would have to say I would not be alright with a company giving out my name and number. I would appreciate them asking me rather than just giving the information out but I wouldn't say it was okay. If it was a company like John Smith's then I would more than likely have trust in his company. By him inquiring with me before giving out my personal information, I would be able to keep my trust in his company. My trust may even grow because he would be showing me that he cares enough about his customers to personally confront them about our own information. It also proves to me that he strongly believes in being ethical.

There are many reasons I would not allow them to give my information out. Although I may trust the company who has initially has my personal information, I do not know or trust the company they are providing it to. I have not been a customer of the company and in turn have not had any time to develop a relationship with them. With this being said, they have no obligation to me or my trust in them. I suppose that if they want to recruit me as a customer, they may keep my information private, but I can't be certain of that. If I were to allow my personal information to be given to another company I would want an agreement stating that the new company will not disclose my information to other companies without my consent. Unless standards are written or provided I would not be in accordance to allowing a company with my personal information, to give it out.

What is a situation where someone allowed for their personal information to be passed on to one company, and that the new company ended up passing it on to more and more organizations because they didn't have any personal connection to the initial customer?

John Smith's Dilema

John Smith seems to be caught in a large predicament. He knows that his company is not doing well and will probably have to end up laying people off if business does not improve. He also is aware that his employees consist of people who for the most part bring in the highest amount of income for their households. Being offered this opportunity to sell his customers could help him keep his employees and avoid bankruptcy, but it does not comply with the AMA standards of Ethics.

I do not think John Smith should give these names to the Ohio Department of Economic Development. In the AMA statement of ethics under the section that deals with fairness it does not approve of giving out customer information. The entire body of the Statement of Ethics talks about how an organization needs to keep the trust of their employees. That is the one part of their customer relationship that should be valued the most. By giving away their customers names and phone numbers these people will no longer have trust in John Smiths organization.

The AMA statement of ethics also talks about how they need to protect any private information of their customers. If they release the names of their customers than they aren't trying to protect this information. They are looking to benefit the company entirely and not looking at how the customers will be affected. This could cause the customers to lose all trust in John Smith's company and may look else where for similar services.

In the end it is not worth is for John Smith to give out these names. Although he would be able to make $8000.00 and wouldn't have to lay off his employees, he may lose a large amount of customers. Which would result in losing even more money and it may cause his company to declare bankruptcy even quicker. He should find some other way to work with the Ohio Department of Economic Development to help them with their research while at the same time letting the customers know who will be getting their information and what information these companies will be receiving. It will help John Smith make money and will also allow them to still be known as a trustworthy company.

Do you think that the Ohio Department of Economic Development would be willing to work something out with John Smith or they would just take back their offer and go to another company who would just take the money and give them customer names?