Operations Management and Ethics According to Aquilano, Chase, and Jacobs (2005), "Operations management (OM) is defined as the design, operation, and improvement of systems who create and provide the company's primary products and services" (p.19). Operations management is a dynamic field and presents exciting new issues and challenges for operations managers. For example, Maura Sprenger, director of human resources at Techno Inc., a rapidly growing information technology company, faces a very difficult question between winning a multimillion-dollar business contract with Apex Company or running the risk of suing an employee very knowledgeable and valuable quit.Sprenger faces a dilemma about ethical issues related to diversity in the workplace. And the risk of losing an agreement with the Apex company, a large customer. Furthermore, Techno presents a false expectation to Apex Company to enter into an agreement which would result in the loss of the contractual agreement. Jack Ridge, Techno's vice president of sales and marketing, is looking to sell a major contract to Apex, and on a visit to Apex Ridge's headquarters he was impressed with Apex's diversity program. Ridge feels that Apex leaders are very proactive about the diversity of its workforce and prefers its suppliers to reflect the same commitment. Techno has its own employee diversity committee, staff training and recruiting efforts, however, staff diversity is very limited. Because Ridge doesn't want to send the wrong message to Apex and prevent a lucrative contract, he decided he needed a player from a minority group, so he chose James Tellis, an African American who is the rising Techno star of the research department he knows technology and industry and has already met other customers. Tellis knows he is asking to be present at sales presentations because he is a minority and will not be allowed to participate in the work on the Apex project. However, Tellis and Sprenger feared that since Tellis will not work on Apex's project, it would create false expectations for Apex and Techno would lose the contract. Additionally, Tellis greatly resents having to attend the sales presentation because he doesn't want Techno executives to use him as a sales tool because of his color..