Personal Dilemma at Work - Essay Example

People began to talk to each other at the office but no one seemed to be willing to talk to her about the situation. The environment became very toxic. I had a loyalty to the company but I also had a loyalty with her since she was not doing anything wrong according to the company policy. In fact, I sometimes found myself in agreement with her because there were times when the culture became too relaxed. However, other individuals within the company started talking about leaving and two people put in their notices mentioning that they were leaving because of their friction and incompatibility with the supervisor.

The company executives took notice of the situation and called in a few people from our department to discuss what was happening. My supervisor had some inkling that this could happen and she had told all individually to not say anything which might cause trouble within the department. Essentially, I had to pick between being ethical by telling the truth or by going against her and putting her job at risk. I considered letting others take the lead when talking to the executives but I realized they might go too far in putting her down. Despite the situation I had been placed in, I told the executives about the real situation as honestly as I could. The result of our meeting with the company executives was that our supervisor was transferred to another section while we got a new boss.

On a personal level, this incident made me realize that honesty is the best policy and it would be unethical to help our friends or even our superiors if it comes at the expense of others. Sometimes we have to make difficult decisions in order to make sure that the effect of the decision will have a net positive impact on the collective rather than a negative impact on the workings of the company. If that means that one individual has to suffer the consequences of their actions, then it is simply collateral damage that has to be taken in stride when it comes to dealing with people. I feel that this is particularly true when it comes to dealing with groups of people as we have to look at what would be the best result for the entire group rather than the best result for one person who may or may not be an authority figure within the group.