Informed Consent in the Workplace - Literature review Example

Running Head: Informed Consent in the Workplace Informed Consent in the Workplace Insert InsertGrade Course Insert Instructor’s Name April 14, 2011 Outline Introduction The need for “informed consent” Ethical issues and informed consent in medicine Ethical issues and the Informed Consent at workplaces Conclusion Informed Consent in the Workplace 1. Introduction The issue of ethics is fundamental in all the profit and not-for-profit organizations. It is applicable in medical practice, business, social institutions, and at the various other workplaces. Attempts have been made to develop codes of conduct that protect the rights of workers in various organizations (Egels-Zanden &Hyllman, 2007, p.2). Different participants at these establishments have different views and beliefs on what is ethical and what is not ethical. An important concept to be derived from the study of ethics is that its applications in the different fields are interrelated and one application can be used to explain the other in a different field (Hardwig, 2010, p.1). Nevertheless, a lesson learned from ethical issues arising in business could be used to solve analogous issues in medicine or any other field. 2. The need for “informed consents” The controversial issues arising in ethics are due to the diverse human nature and the difference in cultural values. What an individual values most may be of very little value to the other person. In medical ethics, it would be considered that main aim of providing healthcare services is to promote good health and ensure a longer life for the patients. However, there are other factors that affect human desires and that will limit our access to the health services (Hardwig, 2010, p.1). It would be argued that the health providers should make all the attempts to satisfy the needs of the patients by avoiding issues like the cost consideration. This becomes controversial as a point may be reached when the operations at the health center cannot continue due to lack of resources thereby endangering other people’s lives. Besides, it is worth mentioning the fact that a patient went to the hospital to seek medical services does not mean that the medical officer has a full say on what to be carried out, neither does it mean that the patient needs all that the doctor wants to provide or perform (Hardwig, 2010, p.1). Similarly, the view a shareholder would be that his profit in an investment be maximized. However, there will be other factors that influence the desires and that will determine if the profit maximization is the supposed interest. The effects of this profit maximization on the conditions imposed on the employees of an organization will provide an evidence to evaluate such procedures. In most causes, it would turn out to be unjustifiable for an investor to be only interested in the profit maximization (Hardwig, 2010, p.1). These controversial issues call for what is referred to as “informed consent.” It involves informing the participants to a given decision making activity the probable risks and the conditions associated with the actions to be carried out (Ilgen & Bell, 2001, p.1). It is aimed at ensuring that ethical standards are observed in handling individuals with different interests. It has been found to be applicable in various fields of social sciences that entail research with human participants. The participants in a research need to be informed of the risks involved in participating in the research. However, the American Psychologist Association asserts that there are certain instances when the use of “informed consents” can be ignored, though it may not be very clear the circumstances under which this may be true. Various legislations have been enacted in the US that protects the rights of the participants in a given research (White, Parascandola & Bero, 2007, p.1). 3. Ethical issues and informed consent in medicine The basic guiding principles that most people value like profit maximization in business or good health and prolonged life in the healthcare sector are not universal to every individual. Apparently, most people have other goals to achieve in life and can risk all these that are perceived to be the primary goals to achieve these secondary goals (Hardwig, 2010, p.2). There are those who can give value more to the immediate satisfaction derived from an action than the implication that action has on the health and the life span of the individual (Hardwig, 2010, p.2). An individual would be suffering from a lung problem caused by excessive smoking. A directive from the medical practitioner is that the victim stops smoking in order to improve the health status. This individual could have given more value to the stimulation from cigarette than the supposed good health. The medication that requires the individual to stop smoking would certainly call for the consent of the individual. The doctor should explain to the patient the possible consequences of continued smoking and those that will follow the medication. In either case, the medical practitioners need to find out what the victims value most before giving a diagnosis (Hardwig, 2010, p.2). The concept of informed consent might be misunderstood especially in its application in medicine. It does not imply that the medical practitioner has to follow all that the patient requires to be done and neither does it stop the practitioner from counseling the patient (Hardwig, 2010, p.2). Instead, it implies that the decision to be made by the doctor should consider the values and goals of the patients who should also have made an informed decision. It is then hoped that the goals and values comply with the corrective procedures that were to be adopted by the doctor. 4. Ethical issues and the Informed Consent at workplaces The above illustrations apply in the current workplaces. The stockholder theory illuminating profit maximization provides a debate on issues that arise at workplaces in the for-profit organizations. It has been observed that no individual in the business industry will struggle to maximize profits in a given organization if the profits will not benefit them in any way (Hardwig, 2010, p.3). This raises the issue of right to ownership to businesses. Those that have given the equity capital for the business tend to have a greater ownership as compared to the stakeholders like the managers and employees. The attempts to adopt strategies that maximize the profits of the organization will not yield fruits if the workers are not represented in the process (Egels-Zanden & Hyllman, 2007, p.4). Analogous to the guidelines provided by the Human Research Review Committee on human participants in research, the effects of the decisions made in an organization on the employees and other stakeholders should be observed from an ethical point of view to protect their rights (White, Parascandola & Bero, 2007, p.3). Their needs as the key implementers of organizational strategies should be considered but not to the extent that it interferes with the overall organizational objectives. It should be guided by the fact that there are other costs and associated risks that are born by the stockholders in the business. The cost of ownership of a given business organization will greatly be reduced if the ownership is diversified (Hardwig, 2010, p.3). Besides, the stockholders can also have other goals, which they value more than the presumed profit maximization. They could be using the profit maximization to attain these goals (Hardwig, 2010, p.4). Thus, a manager that seeks only to maximize the profits of the shareholders may not avoid making poor decisions that eventually leads to losses to the organization. The differences in the interests of various stakeholders of an organization have always led to conflicts in the organization with the employees offering a resistance to what they believe is oppression by the managers (Karreman & Alvesson, 2009, p.7). The interests of the stockholders, as well, as what they value are as different as they are for the workers, customers, the suppliers, and the community surrounding the organization. In fact, most stockholders are also stakeholders in their organization. The goals of the stockholders might be different from the goals of the other stakeholders. However, the generalization that their main objective is profit maximization is unjustified (Hardwig, 2010, p.5). They have their moral values and religious beliefs that influence their goals and objectives. There is a need to balance these several forces in the organization (Karreman & Alvesson, 2009, p.8). Proper establishment of organizational policies will then consider “informed consent” of these stockholders and the stakeholders. This will ‘enable them to weigh the costs and benefits of an investment choice against their various goals and values, just as informed consent of patients enables them to judge which treatment option best accords with their goals and values’ (Hardwig, 2010, p.8). The same approach needs to be applied in the not-for-profit organization. Decision in the organizations should not be made with the interest of a single constituency (Egels-Zanden & Hyllman, 2007, p.4). The stakeholders of an organization should be informed of the anticipated effects of a course of action to be taken so that an informed consent or refusal is obtained. The consent will include a statement of the possible risks that will be accommodated (White, Parascandola, & Bero, 2007, p.5). 5. Conclusion The proper management at any given organization will take care of the interests of every individual. The stakeholders of a given organization should be informed of the consequences of a given course of action so that they contribute to the decision making process when knowing the anticipated risks and benefits. Unethical behaviors, like putting much pressure on the employees to attain the goals that had been set in line with the interest of the stockholders, are likely to reduce the production of the organization. These often arise because a corporate decision was made with the consent of very few authoritative powers. The consent of every member of the organization needs to be sought before any decision is made that takes care of the interests of all the parties concerned. References Egels-Zanden, N. and Hyllman, P. (2007). Evaluating Strategies for Negotiating Workers’ Rights in Transnational Corporations: The Effects of Codes of Conduct and Global Agreements on Workplace Democracy. Journal of Business Ethics, 76, 207–223. Hardwig, J. (2010). The Stockholder – A Lesson for Business Ethics from Bioethics? Journal of Business Ethics, 91, 329–341. Ilgen, D. and Bell, B. (2001). Conducting Industrial and Organizational Psychological Research: Institutional Review of Research in Work Organizations. Ethics & Behavior, 11(4), 395–412. Karreman, D and Alvesson, M. (2009). Resisting resistance: Counter-resistance, consent and compliance in a consultancy firm. Human Relations, 62(8), 1115-1144. White, J., Parascandola, M. and Bero, L. (2007). Tobacco industry research and protection of human subjects: A case study of R. J. Reynolds. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 9(11), 1213–1225. Read More