Stacey Schmidgall Is an Administrative Assistant for Marcellus Williams, Who

Stacey Schmidgall is an administrative assistant for Marcellus Williams, who is brand manager for a consumer products company. Marcellus works with a variety of suppliers and customers and is very busy. Part of Stacey's job is to help Marcellus manage his time, and he has asked her to screen his calls to make sure that only those people with whom he is working are able to speak with him. Marcellus has been coaching Stacey on how to handle these calls and has told her to say things like "I'm sorry, he's in a meeting" or "He just stepped out of the office and won't return until tomorrow." Stacey is growing increasingly concerned about these practices and dislikes lying to people who call. She feels that Marcellus is being dishonest, and she'd rather be more transparent and honest with people when they call rather than making up a story that isn't true. Stacey doesn't want to compromise her own personal values to be an effective administrative assistant. Stacey's dilemma represents the ________ factor that influences the ethical decision-making process.

A) individual
B) organizational relationships
C) opportunity
D) competitive