The Issues of Office Gossip - Case Study Example

The Issues of Office Gossip Main ethical issue The issue involves a salesperson named Lilly Kropov mixing up professional life with her personal life. Lilly has overlooked on ethics through cheating with a married man named Keith Laski who also happens to be a customer. Lilly is messing ethically by first, cheating on her marriage and second, being unprofessional. Additionally, she is not embarrassed with her situation as she clearly states that her personal life is nobody’s business. This is because most of her co-workers do not approve her behavior as they deem it unethical. After being confronted, Lilly is defensive terming her actions as her own personal life. On the other hand, all this issue was brought to the limelight through rumors in the office, and in actual fact, rumors in the office is an element of unethical behavior. Lilly’s co-workers have been active in expressing their disgust concerning Lilly’s action by spreading rumors among each other. Essentially, Lilly is on the wrong side because she is unprofessional and she cheats on her husband. The conflict arises from the fact that her behavior overlooks on the principles of marriage and qualities of a professional salesperson. Firstly, it is unprofessional for a salesperson to initiate a romantic relationship with a customer. Secondly, it is inappropriate for a woman especially a married woman with children to cheat openly on her husband. In this case, conflict arises when Lilly has to compromise her sales position and her role as a wife in order to engage in unjustified relation. Moreover, in this scenario, Lilly will not be able to focus on her task as a salesperson or as a wife and a mother, and ultimately, this is a huge risk to both the company and her family. Likewise, spreading of rumors in the office is equally wrong since they cannot be confirmed to be true. Therefore, another form of conflict rekindles through being in a situation, which calls for taking an action that is based on rumors that are difficult to authenticate (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2012). Many people are affected in this case. This starts with her family, co-workers and the company as a whole. In fact, two families are affected; Lilly’s family and Laski’s family. Since they are having a romantic relationship, they are not committed fully to their spouses. Secondly, Lilly’s co-workers are affected by this situation, and it is clear that they have not been impressed by Lilly’s action at all. The co-workers have publicly expressed their resentment for Lilly. Ultimately, the company is affected in that productivity of the workers must have gone down because of Lilly’s action. On one side, Lilly is distracted since she has shifted her focus towards her affair while on the other side; the co-workers are also distracted because of Lilly’s actions. Nevertheless, Lilly and Laski can also be affected in this situation if it happens that the allegations pertain to their affair are just rumors that are purely lies. Resolving Problem Consequentialist point When solving this particular case, it will be very crucial to take into consideration the moral good that will come out of the decision. Firstly, Lilly’s action, as much as it is her personal life has negative impacts of many people. Lilly’s action negatively affects her; children, husband and co-workers. It is also imperative to note that her actions also negatively affect Laski’s wife and children. The right decision to take in accordance to a Consequentialist point of view is to put Lilly under suspension or probation, and eliminate the chances of her family’s or the company’s reputation being messed up (Bredeson & Keith, 2011). When embarking on a solution, executing utilitarianism will be apt given that the reputations of her family and the company will be salvaged. Secondly, solving the issue of office rumors through utilitarianism Deontologist point of view When resolving this problem from a deontologist point of view, it will be imperative to make a decision that has put into consideration duty and obligation. For instance, the decision will involve assessing whether Lilly is committed to her duties and obligation in the sense that her affair does not affect her duties and obligations. If the affair has indeed affect her performance, then drastic actions should be taken against Lilly (Bredeson & Keith, 2011). Furthermore, in accordance with this theory, then it would be agreed that, if Lilly fulfills her duties completely regardless of being in unethical relationship then, there is no cause for alarm. Overall, through the deontologist theory, it does not matter whether Lilly actions are good or ban, what matters is whether she fulfills her duties. Virtue ethics In this category, it is clear that Lilly’s action is not virtuous or ethical, and thus, it should not be tolerated in anyway. Moral character is imperative when solving a problem from virtue and ethics point of view. However, in this case, it will also be imperative to put into scrutiny the action of the other co-workers of spreading rumors. For that reason, the co-workers should first face disciplinary actions for spreading rumors, and thereafter, Lilly should face disciplinary actions for her unethical and unprofessional acts (Gardiner, 2005). Solution to the problem After analyzing the whole situation, a certain fact, comes out; a lot of things are at stake. Consequently, the solution to this problem is somehow tricky. For instance, if an action is taken against Lilly, Laski one of the company’s respected buyers might retaliate by seizing to do business with the company. Additionally, if no action is taken against Lilly, some of the co-workers whom are resentful of Lilly’s actions will may take various actions against the management and the company. A critical look on both sides of the actions is crucial (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2012). The best solution to the problem will involve talking to Lilly as a person and as a professional. This will ensure that the matter is addressed on both personal and professional levels. In essence, the solution should take the form of making Lilly understand that what she is doing is not right and that too many people are getting hurt because of her action. It will be also appropriate to specify to Lilly the people who are getting hurt, and in this case, they are; her children, husband and co-workers. Moreover, it is worth mentioning to her that she is putting the company’s reputation in jeopardy. After doing the above, it is crucial to punish Lilly for her actions. The punishment will be through; giving suspension or probation. However, in an extreme case, the punishment should even involve firing Lilly. This will set as an example to other co-workers (Privitera, 2010). The solution should also include talking to Laski in his capacity as a family man and as a distinguished buyer in the company. This will be done with the objective of letting Laski know that, his affair with Lilly is putting many people, his family and the company at stake. Challenging aspect of the case Personally, the challenging aspect of this case is the way in which the whole situation was brought to the limelight; through rumors. I rarely believe rumors to be true, for your information, it is difficult to find me wasting my time on listening to rumors. Hence, the exponential nature of this rumor astonished me, and thus, it made me feel that it must have some degree of truthfulness. As much as the rumor was true, in the opinion of the co-workers, proving it from the words of the primary victim was challenging because Lilly refused to shed light on this issue (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2012). Similar situation in work-life experience I cannot say that I have faced a similar situation before, but I have seen and heard of situations that are partly similar to this case. For example, I have heard of situations in which co-workers commit infidelity with their fellow co-workers and an employee offering sexual favors in order to be given a promotion. To add on, there is a time in which a rumor regarding a boss’s infidelity spread out in a whole organization and resulted in his wife divorcing him; however, it turned out that the rumor was actually a lie. Current event similar to the case Numerous events that relate to the above case occur, although, the events take various forms. In workplaces, rumors can arise from jealousy experienced by some disgruntled employees on their counterparts whom might have been promoted or excelled in a project. However, at times, some rumors are usually true. On the other hand, the percentage of employees that are having affairs with business associates is also high. It is discouraging to note that, these events do not have a positive ending as they end in; some employees being put in probation, demoted or suspended. In extreme cases, the events end in broken marriages; divorce or even loss of jobs. Reference Bredeson, Dean. & Goree, Keith. (2011). Ethics in the Workplace. Sydney: Cengage Learning. Ferrell , C. & Fraedrich, John. (2012). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases. Sydney: Cengage Learning. Gardiner, Stephen. (2005). Virtue Ethics, Old And New. New York: Cornell University Press. Privitera, Michael. (2010). Workplace Violence in Mental and General Healthcare Settings. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. 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