Case study: house rules

Abstract

This is a case about rules, what they mean, and when to follow them. The case consists of two stories, one set in the halls of a major university and the other, a considerable time ago, in a Midwestern barber shop. In the first instance the Dean of a major Business Administration faculty must choose between following the rules concerning paying a faculty member for additional work, therefore forgoing an opportunity to secure a great deal of money for the faculty, or pay the faculty member therefore possibly violating the faculty's Collective Agreement but, in so doing, securing the large financial contribution. The Dean asks one of his advisors to recommend a course of action. The advisor recounts a story where a barber faced a similar situation, having to choose between breaking a law prohibiting gambling in the back room of his barbershop, or forgo the additional business the recreational, but illegal, poker game generated. The similarities between the stories are used to discuss issues of ethics, the meaning of rules, and "Pro-Social Rule Breaking".