Ethics @ Work is a topical weekly column elaborating the ethical dimensions of current issues in business and economic life, with a special focus on issues relevant to today's Israel. The column appears each Friday in the business section of the Jerusalem Post, and is written by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir, research director of the Business Ethics Center of Jerusalem.
Asher Meir
MAJOR CROWDING IN IDF LEASING Company cars for top IDF brass an iffy propositionIsrael's biggest company is about to buy its company cars. The IDF isin the middle of a tender meant to obtain about 10,000 fleet vehiclesfor NCOs and for officers of the rank of major and up.The cars are differentiated by rank; while the actual models have notbeen chosen, majors will get subcompacts; lieutenant colonels a smallsedan; colonels will get a compact family sedan, and brigadiergenerals a mid-sized car.The phenomenon of company cars is worthy of study both in general, inthe context of the army, and with regard to the particular classes ofcars chosen by the IDF. My seemingly paradoxical view is that givingofficers and NCO's fleet cars is wasteful, yet the cars they are beinggiven are too small. It's like the old joke Woody Allen told: "Thefood is terrible – and the portions are so small!" Yet there issometimes wisdom in Woody Allen jokes, and this may be one of thosecases.Let's start with Ec 101.
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