Fredrick works for Vision, a billboard advertising agency, which hires billboards from owners on behalf of clients. Fredrick routinely accepts pay - offs from billboard owners in exchange for referring their billboards to clients. This behaviour could result in his dismissal from Vision, if found out. Which statement is Fredrick most probably utilizing to rationalize his actions?

a. "It's not really illegal."

b. "It's in everyone's best interests."

c. "No one will ever know about it."

d. "The organization will stand behind me."

e. "I cannot be held responsible."

B. It is in everyone's best interests

Explanation:

Fredrick works for Vision, a billboard advertising agency. This agency specializes in hiring billboards from owners on behalf of clients. Simply put, Vision, an advertising agency, matches the need of its clients with the provision of billboards obtained from owners of such.

Fredrick works for the firm, and the implication is that, he's an agent of the agency firm, and the advertising firm is the Principal. The action of Fredrick routinely accepting pay-offs from the billboards owners contravenes this arrangement. Fredrick is thus acting parallel in line with his Principal.

It is thus worthy of note that Fredrick could only rationalize this action because he believes he is servicing the needs of the advertising agency and also the billboards owners. In his wisdom, everyone's objective is being made, bar the moral implications and obligations.

So, among the options enlisted, option B is the plausible answer.