Scenarios and Challenges of Business Ethics - Essay Example

? Table of Contents Introduction 3 Case Scenario 3 Case Study Questions 4 Three Responses 4 Response 4 Response 2 6 Response 3 7 My Response 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction The 21st century workplace is a dynamic one and throws new scenarios and challenges every day. Business ethics has become an important aspect of the functioning of the organizations and had attracted a lot of attention. There are numerous ethical problems that arise and the decision making needs to be supported by strong ethical principles for everyone involved to be benefited. There are various ethical principles ad theories that have been discussed in great detail in theory and these needs to be applied in every day decision making. Moral and ethics is not always about being right/wrong or true/false but has numerous other considerations and factors such as feelings, preferences, resolutions, demand and many more (SAGE, 2001). Case Scenario The following is a case study of a business ethics scenario. Following are the details of the case: I have been working as housing officer with a housing department for two years. During this time I have developed a close friendship with John who is a manager of a local hostel. There had been an opening in my department and John had told me that he would apply for the position. He fears that his current job is at risk as his organization has financial difficulties. As the current opening in my department needed a degree qualification, I had figured that John would not get the position as he did not have a degree. But I found out yesterday that John has got the job and one of the main reasons for it is his claim that he has Business administration degree from a top British University. I believe John has lied in his application and interview. Case Study Questions 1. Identify three ways in which I might respond to this situation, and discuss the ethics of each. 2. Select the response I would adopt and explain why, with reference to relevant individual and situational factors. Three Responses Following are the three ways in which I can respond to the situation: Response 1 One way of responding to the situation would be to report to the management and bring to its notice that John’s claim of holding a business administration degree is not true. Employee loyalty, moral obligation/duty, obedience, honesty, legal responsibility, etc are the various ethics involved in this response. This response is in accordance to the moral theory of obligation. One of the most basic elements of the moral fabric of our society is not to lie. It is very clear that John has lied in order to get the job. This is not just a lie but also a fraud and deception. Fraud and deception of any form violate ethical custom and law (SAGE, 2011). Any responsible citizen of a society, irrespective of being an employee of the organization or not, has a moral obligation to the society to stop or act such incidents that affect the value system of the society. Such incidents if not acted upon set a bad example in the society. So even if I was not an employee of the company, it would be my responsibility to bring the issue to the notice of the concerned. As mentioned above it is the moral duty, not just in an organization but in our society, to tell the truth. Most ordinary rule of “ethical custom” is telling the truth (Snoeyenbos & Humber, 2001). If an employee is aware of a lie that is been told to his employer, then the rule of ethical custom imposes a moral duty on the employee to tell the truth. Knowing about the lie and not reporting would question my honesty. Even though I am not directly involved, I would still be dishonest if I don’t act on this issue. Also I owe my loyalty to my employer. As every employee expects his employer to be loyal to him and take care of his needs and necessities so do the employer. Employee loyalty is a legitimate and coherent concept. Organizations expect employees to be loyal to the organization and vice versa. Simple obligations of loyalty that come with a job are to act in such a way that the organization’s legitimate interests are protected, to warn the management of any danger and to work towards achieving the organization’s corporate goals (Fernando, 2010). In this case, John’s lie has put the company’s interests at risk and endangered the achievement of the organizational goals. If John cannot fulfil his responsibilities on the job, he would not just be affecting the management but all stakeholders of the housing department. Therefore, I believe that there would be a moral obligation on me to bring the lie to the notice of the management. This response is also in accordance with Kantianism. According to this an action is of any moral worth if it is acted from duty. Any action that is acted out of self interest, inclination, or feelings has no moral worth and cannot be considered ethically right. A decision must be based on reason and reason only. An action based on human nature can never be ethically justified. Kantianism is most supported by organizations as it sets out specific rules to be followed while decision making and is very beneficial in organizational decision making (Shaw, 2010). Therefore, according to Kantianism the ethical response to this situation would be act on obligations of duty and the obligation of duty is report to the manager regarding the issue. Response 2 The second response would be to confront John and ask/convince him to come clean with the management and request them to consider his application based on his experience and abilities. The ethics involved in this response are trust, confidence, feelings, honesty, etc. John trusts me and believes that I would not tell about it to the management. As a friend it is my responsibility to make my friend realise his mistake and the negative effects it can have on the rest of his professional career. If the lie is caught anytime in the future, then it would not just the job at housing department but would threaten his entire career. Therefore, it is in his best interest either to come clean with the management or withdraw his application. Also, it is not just the current employees of a company but also potential employees of a company have moral obligations to their potential employer. John in lying has not broken his moral obligation and makes him dishonest. As a friend, I believe I must let him do this. This response is accordance to utilitarianism. According to utilitarianism, an action is ethically right if it leads to most utility to everyone involved than any other action. That is an action can be considered ethically right if it leads to best outcome for everyone involved than any other action that could have been taken. The action is morally right or not is of little importance according to utilitarianism but it is the quality of consequences that makes it ethical right or wrong. If the consequences of an action lead to the best possible good to everyone involved, then that action can be considered as being ethically right (Frederick, 2002). This response would lead to the best good to everyone involved. If John comes clean with the management, then there would be no risk the organization or its stakeholders. Therefore, I would not be wrong in not bringing the lie to the notice of the management. Also, it would be best to John as there would not be any black marks on his resume/career. And if the management is kind enough and if John’s abilities and experience are good enough, he could be still be offered the job as he was honest. If not he would still be able to find a job elsewhere. Therefore, it would be the best possible result for everyone involved. This response also goes with the ethical principle of “respect for autonomy” and ethical theory of virtues. According to this, an individual must be allowed to make his own decisions. Everybody is responsible for their own lives and must be allowed to make decisions and face its subsequent consequences (Icheku, 2011). This response will give John the freedom over his life and make the best decision according to him. Virtue ethics emphasises on moral character rather than duty, obligations or consequences (Weiss, 2008). I have known John for quite some time now and he might have committed this mistake out of desperation as he fears the security of his current job. Therefore, instead of directly reporting it to company’s management, it would be best to discuss with John and convince him to rethink his decision. Response 3 Third response would be not to act on the issue and ignore it. The ethics involved here is self interest. This issue has got nothing to do with me directly. There will be no direct consequences if the lie is never brought to the notice of the management and John does his job efficiently. This response can be justified by egoism ethical theory. According to egoism the foundation of morality is egoism. Self interest must always be the measuring rod for judging an action’s morality. Obligation to oneself is the only moral obligation that an individual has according to psychological egoism (Hinman, 2007). Therefore, if I don’t act my friendship with John will still be intact and the chances of my manager blaming are remote. With respect to my self-interest, this would be the best response. My Response Considering the various individual and situational factors the response that I will choose is the second one wherein I confront and request John to come clean with the management or withdraw his application. There is no way that the third option can be considered. Every employee in all circumstances must act in the best possible way to maximise the organization’s profits, at the same time obeying all laws and rules of ethical custom (Snoeyenbos & Humber, 2001). If I do not act on the issue, then it will lead to a conflict of interest. I would be acting with self interest and concern towards a friend and risking the company’s welfare. Rationally the main moral duty of an employee is to work towards achieving the organizational goals and to avoid or report any activities that would affect the achieving of these goals (Brenkert & Beauchamp, 2009). It would be unethical on my part not to report this issue to management. But in this case, if I convince John to accept his mistake I would still be acting with the best interest of the company even though I do not report the lie directly to the management. If John comes clean with the management then it is up to the management to make the decision regarding his appointment. With respect to me, I have done what I had to do achieve the corporate goals of the organization. If John withdraws there will no issue of risking the organization’s welfare. Therefore, I believe that second response would be the best response. I would not only be acting in the best interest of the company but also with the best interest of my friend. This response will lead to best good to everyone involved. If John can analyse the magnitude of the issue he will understand that I am acting with his interest in mind and our friendship will intact. Therefore, on the personal front I will still have my friend wherein if I had chosen the first response I would risk my friendship with John as my actions would be threatening his entire career. So in my opinion this would be a win-win situation for everyone involved. A problem arises with this response if John fails to understand the intentions behind my actions and refuses to come clean with the management. In this case I will have to pursue him to act on the issue or else I will have to choose the first option. I believe that John would definitely act on the issue when I threaten him to report the issue to the management. Therefore, there would be no need to adopt the first response but only bring it John’s notice that I am ready to adopt it. With this my friendship with John will definitely be ruined but I will have acted ethically and obliged to my moral duties and responsibilities to my employer. Conclusion This paper has successfully answered the case questions. References Brenkert, G.G. & Beauchamp, T.L. (2009). The Oxford handbook of business ethics. NY: Oxford University Press. Fernando, A.C. (2010). Business Ethics and Corporate Governance. Noida: Pearson Education India. Frederick, R. (2002). A companion to business ethics. MA: Blackwell Publishing Company. Hinman, L.M. (2007). Ethics: A Pluralistic Approach to Moral Theory. CA: Thomson Higher Eductaion. Icheku, V. (2011). Understanding Ethics and Ethical Decision-Making. IN: Xlibris Corporation. LaFollette, H. (2000). The Blackwell guide to ethical theory. MA: Blackwell Publishing. SAGE (2001). SAGE Brief Guide to Business Ethics. CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Shaw, W.H. (2010). Business Ethics: A Textbook with Cases. MA: Wadsworth. Snoeyenbos, M. & Humber, J.M. (2001). Business ethics. NY: Prometheus Books. Weiss, J.W. (2008). Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. Read More