Liz O'Sullivan, an employee at a fast-growing technology company called Clarifi, had a moral dilemma: She disagreed with Clarifi's decision to sell its image-recognition technology to the U.S. Department of Defense for possible use in weaponized drones. This case examines her career to this point and the potential ways in which she can address her concerns. The CEO has been receptive to her ideas, but there is little chance he will cancel the contract. She can either continue to advocate internally, or she can quit. If she quits, she wonders whether she should leak the details of the contract-and her decision to quit-to the media. The case contrasts her dilemma-in the voice-loyalty-exit framework-with that of Jack Poulson, a senior Google employee who quit the company in protest over Google's decision to build a censored search engine for the Chinese market.
This research note provides an understanding of income inequity, which is a component of broader income inequality. It begins by describing the difference between inequality and inequity before examining inequity within the workplace. Using the firm as the unit of analysis, the note discusses possible causes of inequity and the challenges of identifying and measuring inequity. It concludes by focusing on attempts to address inequity and discussing academic research that examines the impact of addressing inequity.
TJX Companies reported a CEO pay ratio of 1,596-to-1 in 2019, leaving board chair Carol Meyrowitz with a host of questions about whether, and how, she could take action to address concerns raised by having one of the highest pay ratios in the S&P 500. As a retail company, TJX had 270,000 employees, many making about $10 an hour. On the other hand, CEO Ernie Hermann made $19 million in 2019 as he successfully steered the company through the tumultuous retail environment. Meant to be read in tandem with the research note "Income Inequity and Income Inequality," this case examines the current disclosures companies make related to income inequality and asks whether they are sufficient or how they can be improved. This discussion around disclosure also provides opportunities to examine the role of the firm in creating income inequality and how the firm should balance its obligations to shareholders and employees when those obligations may be in conflict. Lastly, the case and note address the CEO pay setting process to give students an understanding of how pay is determined.