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TEACHING NOTE
CASE 24
Dilemma at Devil’s Den
Overview
Dilemma at Devil’s Den records the observations of unethical behavior and general poor strategy ex-
ecution at a university snack bar by a part-time student employee. At the time of the case, the student
employee was a 21 year old junior with a concentration in finance. She originally started working at the
Den in order to earn some extra spending money and had been working there for one semester when she became
upset with some of the happenings. The Den was managed by contract with an external company, College Food
Services (CFS). What bothered her was that many employees were allowing their friends to take free food, and
the employees themselves were also taking food in large quantities when leaving their shifts. The policy was that
employees could eat whatever they liked free of charge while they were working, but it had become common for
employees to leave with food and not to be charged for their snacks while off duty as well.
The student employee felt these problems were occurring for several reasons. For example, employee wages
were low, there was easy access to the unlocked storage room door, and inventory was poorly controlled. Also,
there was weak supervision by the student managers and no written rules or strict guidelines. It seemed that most
of the employees were enjoying “freebies,” and it had been going on for so long that it was taken for granted. The
problem got so far out of hand that customers who had seen others do it felt free to do it whether they knew the
workers or not. The employees who witnessed this never challenged anyone because, in her opinion, they did not
care and they feared the loss of friendship or being frowned upon by others. Apparently, speaking up was more
costly to the employees than the loss of money to CFS for the unpaid food items. It seemed obvious to her that
the employees felt too secure in their jobs and did not feel that their jobs were in jeopardy.
Suggestions for Using the Case
This 2-1/2 page case is a sure winner that will fit nicely almost anywhere else in your case series on strategy
execution. Almost all students will be able to identify with the first person account of the sloppy management
of the campus snack bar. The case also involves personal ethics issues related to the rampant employee theft
at Devil’s Den, which some students may have experienced in part-time jobs. Also, students may identify with
Susan’s struggle between idealism (a wish to make a better world) and her principles, virtue and conscience on
one hand and pragmatism on the other; cynicism (because of “the way the world is”); or a need to fit in or be
liked. In one way or another almost all students are facing, or have recently faced, peer pressure to do things
that violate their value systems. The Devil’s Den case will help them to understand why they feel so much
ambivalence, sometimes go along, and sometimes draw a line beyond which they will not go.
*Substantial portions of this teaching note were developed by Professor Allan R. Cohen, Babson College. We are most grateful for
his insight, analysis, and contributions to how the case can be taught successfully.
*
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The case also raises questions of a business-level ethics and management’s responsibility for creating or allowing
a climate that tolerates at best, and encourages at worst, illegal, criminal or unethical behavior. It is the view of the
case writer and the authors that organizations which encourage, or tolerate, behavior that is generally considered
illegal or unethical are themselves unethical and such seems to be the case for the College Food Service.
This case is an excellent candidate for a leadoff case for your strategy execution module, following your lectures
and coverage of Chapters 10-12. It is a particularly good first case to assign as a follow-on to the material in
Chapter 12. But, in truth, the Devil’s Den case will fit most anywhere in your case assignment grouping where
strategy execution and corporate culture are highlighted—the short length of the case makes it ideal for use
in the last 45-50 minutes of a class where you have scheduled a mini-lecture or want to cover aspects of an
accompanying simulation.
Your discussion of the case can follow the general outline of strategy execution in Chapters 10-12 and investigate
such components of the strategy execution process as organization building, shaping the culture, instituting
policies and procedures that facilitate strategy execution, installing control systems, tying rewards to the
achievement of strategic and financial targets, and ethical leadership. But the extensive ethical content of the
case also makes it suitable for use as part of your ethics module — this case is definitely suitable for use with
Chapter 9.
What to Tell Students in Preparing the Dilemma at Devil’s Den Case for Class. To give students
guidance in what to do and think about in preparing the Devil’s Den case for class discussion, we strongly
providing class members with one or more of the suggested assignment questions that are presented in the next
section of this TN and urge that they prepare answers to these questions prior to coming to class.
To facilitate your use of assignment questions and making them available to students, we have posted a file of
the Assignment Questions contained in this teaching note in the instructor’s resources section of the Connect
Library (You should be aware that there is a set of assignment questions posted in the student OLC for each of
the 31 cases included in the 21st Edition.)
Videos for Use with the Dilemma at Devil’s Den Case. There are two videos that complement the
teaching points of the case that you can show (or let students view on their own) when having class discussion
of the case:
nA 5:28-minute 2015 CNBC Mad Money video entitled “Chipotle Serves up the American Dream.” It
can be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDn4zFWD4TE
nA 4:44-minute 2015 video entitled “Apple, Starbucks Show How a Winning Culture Leads to a Higher
Stock Price.” It can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eplgBcxk2U
Suggested Assignment Questions for an Oral Team Presentation or Written Case Analysis.
Because of students’ easy identification with the circumstances portrayed in the Devil’s Den case, its simplicity,
and its illustration of multiple strategy implementation and business ethics issues, we’ve found it to be a good
choice for a short written assignment. The short nature of the case also makes it particularly suitable for an in-
class written assignment. Our recommended assignment question is:
Your close friend, Susan, has asked that you help her analyze the various problems at the
Devil’s Den and come to a conclusion about her course of action. She would like for you to use
your business knowledge to examine the snack bar’s strategy execution process and her ethical
dilemma. Please prepare a 3-4 page report that lists examples of poor or superior competency
building, culture elements, policies and procedures, control systems, reward and discipline
systems, and ethical leadership at Devil’s Den. You should also provide specific guidance about
exactly what she should do to resolve her dilemma.
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Assignment Questions
1. What problems has Susan identified with the night shift operations of the Devil’s Den? How well does the
management team perform such strategy execution processes as competency building, shaping the culture,
instituting policies and procedures, establishing control systems, developing reward and discipline systems,
and exhibiting ethical leadership?
2. What is Susan’s dilemma? What seems to influence her perceptions and behavior? What seems to influence
the perceptions and behaviors of other Devil’s Den employees?
3. What should Susan do about her dilemma? Please be very specific about what actions you recommend.
Teaching Outline and Analysis
1. What problems has Susan identified with the night shift operations of the Devil’s Den? How
well does the management team perform such strategy execution processes as competency
building, shaping the culture, instituting policies and procedures, establishing control
systems, developing reward and discipline systems, and exhibiting ethical leadership?
You may wish to categorize the problems Susan has observed under the headings used in Chapter 10’s
introduction of the components of the strategy execution process. We have categorized the problems using
the following categories.
Organization building
n The work that is to be done in the cafeteria is low skilled, tedious and not challenging.
n The persons who tend to get hired are either freshmen or sophomores who want to earn some spending
money.
Organizational culture
n The employees have regularly taken food off the premises, both for their own purposes and to give to
friends. They continue to do so.
Policies and procedures
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Installing control systems
n Food in the storage area, as elsewhere, is easily accessible to everybody since the storage area is not
locked.
Rewards and discipline
n The Devil’s Den requires night work and weekend work.
n Pay at the Devil’s Den for student workers and student managers is low.
Exercising strong leadership
n Supervision on all shifts is inattentive although there is no evidence of food being taken off the premises
without payment for it either by student employees, student managers, customers or friends on the day
shift, when the CFS manager is present.
2. What is Susan’s dilemma? What seems to influence her perceptions and behavior? What
seems to influence the perceptions and behaviors of other Devil’s Den employees?
What is Susan’s dilemma?
Susan is caught between a wish to do what she thinks is right, that is, take some steps to stop food being
taken off the premises without payment for it, and the fear of negative consequences if she takes some action
to prevent it. There are corollaries to Susan’s dilemma; namely that she would also like to see students work
harder, and finish what is assigned to them on the night shift, and be punished for stealing from the cash
register.
Students should see that Susan does not fit the culture at Devil’s Den—and she really is not in a position
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What influences Susan’s perceptions and behavior?
Susan’s values are that it is wrong to take food off the premises without paying for it when this is not stated
company policy, or to allow friends and customers to do so. Her value is that stealing money from a cash
register also deserves some clear punishment rather than a minimal instruction of staying away from the cash
register. Her values also are that you should work hard and finish what is assigned to you.
Her beliefs are that other employees do not share her values, that a clearer outline of the limits, enforced
What influences the perceptions and behavior of the others in the case?
The practices have apparently been going on for some time. Why do they persist? They persist because:
there is easy access to the food stuffs, there is poor inventory control, the practice is widely known because
people see others doing it, and they see that it is allowed even to the extent of the failure to punish stealing
3. What should Susan do about her dilemma?
Of course Susan may not be alone in the dilemma that she has. Others may feel the same way. One way
of looking at it is to examine Susan’s belief that tattling will indeed have negative consequences. Some
research on whistleblowers supports this belief. For instance, in the New York Times (February 22, 1987)
Donald R. Soeken, a psychiatric social worker, and his wife, Karen L. Soeken, a statistician, “found that
whistleblowers win little more than increased self-respect.” The Soekens’ study of 100 whistleblowers, with
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Here, you might ask the class if Susan should go above the head of the manager of Devil’s Den and report
the goings on to higher-ups at College Food Services (CFS).
n Should Susan write a letter? Send an e-mail? Make an anonymous phone call?
On the other hand, this is not simply a question of ethics; it is also a matter of doing something illegal. In our
system of private property, taking food off the premises without paying for it is at the least a misdemeanor
and possibly a felony. It is a crime and punishable accordingly. Almost all students recognize that stealing
is frowned upon in our culture. Therefore, even if accepted as a practice, they are likely to face a conflict of
conscience. Failure to enforce ordinary expectations about such legal conventions can only erode respect
for the law.
Under these circumstances, what is it that a person can do who is as bothered as Susan seems to be by what
she sees is going on? Talking with one’s fellow employees, even if they feel the same way, is not likely
expectations if she made an effort to exercise influence that was not conferred upon her by the required
system. Even as a manager she might find that the practice is so well entrenched that she would jeopardize
her future, and relationships with other students, if she did not go along with the practice.
There is no easy way out for Susan and certainly no way to both avoid risk and assuage her conscience.
An anonymous phone call or letter might do it. If that didn’t, she would really have to decide how much of
a price she was willing to pay to be true to herself. Susan’s best option might be to find employment in an
organization where the culture more closely matches her values.
Epilogue
We have nothing to report about the outcome of Susan’s decision regarding her dilemma or an update on the
management practices at the Devil’s Den.