Moral and Ethical Principles of Self and of Company - Literature review Example

? Should integrity be compromised for productivity? One of the toughest situations a manager could ever experience is to make a choice between sacrificing our own integrity and principles just to get our sales up. This is a question whether I should choose my job over the principles and integrity that I believe in. This poses a problem because of the need to pick one over the other. Should I choose integrity over productivity? Or should I choose the other way around? According to Badaracco (1997), this situation is called “dirty hands”. It is not a matter of choosing right versus wrong but decision between right and right (Badaracco, 1997). The dilemma of the situation is that you cannot choose both alternatives but you have to pick between the two alternatives (Badaracco, 1997). As a department manager, I have to choose between my integrity as a person and as a manager committed to do responsibilities and duties or choose to keep our productivity up and allow the bribes, dishonesties and lies that my employees do just to make close a sale. Both options are right, but there is no way that I can choose both. Badaracco (1997) stated that managers who are caught in “dirty hands” problems have very high risks. Remaining successful and decent despite being in moral and ethical dilemmas becomes a huge challenge to manager. Given the dilemma that I am into, there is a high risk of getting fired if our sales continue to decline overtime. The possible worst scenario is that my team will also get fired. Three types of right vs. right problems of “dirty hands” situations were discussed by Badaracco (1997). The first problem is the crises of moral identity on which a person has responsibilities to himself and to others. The second problem is the conflict of moral identity and personal integrity which a person has responsibilities for others. This type of problem is usually faced by middle managers wherein they have responsibilities for their subordinates and their superiors. The third is considered to be the most complex on which the first two problems are present. The person facing this problem has responsibilities to himself, to others and for others. I should say that the situation I am facing is an example of the third type of problem. This is because I have responsibilities and commitment to myself to become a decent and honest manager. I always wanted to be on top of everything but with principles and standards governing myself. I cannot tolerate dishonesty, bribery, and lies. I also swore that I will uphold the vision and mission of the company which includes honesty and integrity as well as to follow company policies to make sales. Besides these responsibilities, I also have accountability for my team and my department. I have a duty to my subordinates to manage our performances and keep the sales up. This means keeping our job at the same time. It is also my job to provide good sales to my superiors, to my department and to my company. In Barry Schwartz’ s TED talk (2009), he quoted Aristotle saying that practical wisdom “is the combination of moral will and moral skill.” He stated that a wise person knows how and when to make the exception to every in the service of the right objectives such as to serve people and not to manipulate them (Schwartz, 2009). According to Schwartz, our world is always changing and the context we’re living differs and thus it is important that we adjust and become wise. These wise people are made through their experiences and not born. Thinking like Schwartz, there is no problem bending rules if the intention is good. The question in my situation is the motive or intention of my decision. If ever I will allow lying and bribing to make sales, it is not because I wanted to fool the customers and trick them, instead I wanted to help myself and everyone in my team keep our jobs and get incentives. With good sales, our team can help our company grow and expand. But is the intention enough reason to allow lying and bribing in making sales? Running a business requires a lot of complex tasks. There will be a lot of times that an employee regardless of the position in company will experience being caught in a dilemma of choosing one decision over the other. It is just easy to decide between what is right and what is wrong. But it is very burdensome to choose between two choices both considered right. The dilemma that I have has to be addressed and or decided. But what will I choose? Should I allow dishonesty, lies and bribery in my department to improve our sales performance? Or should I consent these things to happen in my department to keep our sales up? These are very few questions yet answers are very difficult to find. There may be answers, but are we willing to take the risks? Still, at the end of the day, I still have to decide and choose between the two options. There are a lot of at stakes here. I have to consider which is better of the two options. But I have to consider the word “better” as to for whom? Deciding in “dirty hands” situation is very crucial. In Badaracco’s (1997) discussion about the three right versus right problems, a certain manager took a lot of time to decide. He organized and listed the pros and cons of each option. Thus if I choose integrity over productivity, the pros will include: keep moral and ethical principles of self and of company teach and encourage abiding policies and standards to the team preserve the integrity of self and of company to customers and supporters The cons however include losing incentives, and eventually losing job if the department cannot sustain the targets. If the department’s sales continue to diminish, eventually the company won’t be able to sustain the expenses with the low sales and profits. If I choose productivity over integrity, the company will grow. Our team will continue to receive performance incentives. But what will happen to being decent and committed manager? Me and my team will lose our principles of good selling as well as our morals and ethics of doing good business. I, myself, will never be able to say that I am a good, responsible and decent manager. According to Schwartz (2009), he emphasized that we must decide by doing the “right thing in the right way for the right reasons”. Taking this into consideration, it is thus important that we have to consider our objectives and reasons before we decide on something. What is the right thing? It is right that we follow rules. What is the right way? The right way is to have practical wisdom. What are the right reasons? These can be achieved by weighing our pros and cons. Therefore, the decision can never be perfect when choosing between the two options on this “dirty hand” situation. We have to lose something to gain something. We cannot gain everything; we have to choose one over the other. The dilemma that I have must end. As a manager, it is my responsibility to decide and manage my team and my department. The decision is not easy, but I have to do it. But what is the answer to my question? I choose integrity over productivity. The decision is based on the following points: first, the question on bribing, lying, and bluffing to customers to close a sale is not only unethical to myself but also considered as unacceptable to society and violation of law. These sales tactics should not be tolerated at all. Secondly, there are other ways to cope up and improve sales aside from these tactics. One way to improve sales performance is to double the effort in marketing. It is very important to acquire new customers. The greatest challenge is to keep them. We cannot keep them if we lie to them. Another important way to boost sales performance is to motivate the team to improve their sales and their drive to sell. There are ways to motivate the employees without the need to increase incentives if we don’t want more expenses. One way is commending them every time they top on sales. Every one of us wants to be recognized for our hard work and efforts, even myself. Thus I will be proud to be recognized based on good reasons, my efforts and my integrity. To make it short, I cannot sacrifice my integrity for productivity. References: Badaracco, Joseph L. Jr., Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right, Harvard Business School Press, 1997. Print. Schwartz, Barry. Our Loss of Wisdom-Transcript TED Talk. February 2009. Web. 3 May 2012 Read More