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Ethical Dilemmas in Workplace
Prologue
Many large organizations set out their
purposes and values as a part of the job
of managing stakeholder relationships.
Such guidelines, or ethical codes, set out
desirable conduct and best practices,
provide framework to help employees
resolve ethical dilemmas they may
encounter in their work.
The individual at work
• We all have rights, duties, responsibilities, powers,
interests etc which accrue to us as people within a
society.
• We do not lose these moral responsibilities as we enter
the work place; instead we gain new ones that are
contingent to holding the post within the organization.
• These new powers, responsibilities, duties, interests,
concerns etc be different from the ones we had before,
they may even be in conflict with them
• Many of the moral dilemmas faced at the workplace are
raised by issues that are not peculiar to work but are to
do with interpersonal relationships with the people you
are dealing with.
Power, Authority & Trust
• We owe special degree of consideration who are closest
to us. What is laudable as a private person becomes
suspect once we are acting in trust of a third party
(organization). It is even more suspect if what makes it
possible for that person to act in that way is that the
power and authority lent by the organization itself
• Though it is clear in principle, drawing a line between
private and public is not easy.
Cases:
• A purchasing manager giving purchase orders to a
cousin (otherwise well qualified) who could be in
financial straits?
• Show special consideration to friends and relatives who
apply for jobs within the organization. Using your
influence to get a relative / friend a job though he is
adequately qualified.
• Using organization’s stationery or reprographic facilities
for work of a charitable organization with which he / she
is associated.
• A financial journalist use the knowledge gained from
doing the job to tip off friends about risky investments
All these cases show, at least, a potential for
an abuse of power which can arise from a
failure to distinguish what is appropriate
behavior in one role as opposed to another
Secrecy, Confidentiality and Loyalty
• The problem of protection of confidential information and
the circumstances under which it is to be disclosed
arises both in public and private capacities. The duty to
tell the truth need to be qualified whether the person you
are telling the truth is entitled to know it.
• Gossip has some value in organizational cohesion, but
those who engage in this walk a thin line between
passing on what is justifiable in the public domain (the
weather, last night’s episode in the disco, new policy for
space allocation), or what one may know but not
casually and promiscuously disclose (X’s marital
problem, Y’s alcoholism, Z’s state of health)
Contd:
• It also matters how one came to be in possession of
such information. Many social positions and occupations
require one to entrusted with information which one may
not deal with as if one has learned it in a private
capacity.
• The confidentiality of medical report is near absolute;
can be made available to other medical person who may
need this for further treatment or to the court of law.
• Contractual, professional and moral obligations not to
disclose specific information. Clearly, the organizations
have the right to protect the information whose
disclosure to the competitors may threaten its prosperity
or survival (client list, industrial processes, management
structures – things coming under IPR)
The two scenarios -- 1
• Someone using skills and knowledge gained in one
employment to be used to get a new job (AIS officers
switching jobs during mid career, BBC / National
Geographic ? CNN trained technicians go to a
competitor). The law is very clear and distinguishes
between confidential information, which is the property of
the organization and can not be passed on to the new
employer and the employee’s skills and knowledge
which form a part of the employee’s ability which he or
she is entitled to use for the furtherance of their careers.
Scenario # 2 – Whistle Blowing
• The law is very clear in this; the duty to respect
confidentiality does not extend to cover the breaches of
law or other wrongful actions, loss of nor does it release
an employee from a legal obligation to disclose
information to the appropriate authority.
• Though the law can protect the employee from
immediate dismissal for whistle blowing, it can not
protect him against loss of promotion, non renewal of
contract or other forms of victimization
Resolving Dilemmas
• The ethical dilemmas at work place are supposed to be
product of the different roles that a manager is expected
play simultaneously. However, should the ethical
standards differ for the different role play? Most argue
that the ethical standards should not be changed or
ignores because the context has changed
• Managers sometimes, try to rationalize their unethical
behavior. In doing so they make a reflection on their own
character than that of the organization
• When the unemployment is high, people are more willing
to bend the rules to keep their jobs. Social and
organizational influences, therefore have significant
impact on the ethical behavior.
Advising Managers
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2.
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4.
5.
Why the normal value of private life tend to break down
or become ineffectual in business context, Nash offers
five reasons:
The analytical framework the managers use
The goals they set
The organizational structure they adopt
The language they use to motivate others
Their personal assumptions about the intrinsic worth of
other people
If ethical issues and concerns do not figure in any of
the areas, then it is unlikely that the organization will
be fostering a climate in which the ethical behavior
becomes the norm.
The dozen issues to encourage managers to be
ethical
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2.
3.
4.
5.
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12.
Have you defined the problem accurately
How would see this from the other side of the fence
How did the situation occur in the first place
To whom and to what you give your loyalty as a person
What is your intention in making this decision
Match your intention with the probable results
Who is the decision going to injure
Can you discuss the decision with the affected party before you make the
decision
Confident of the long term validity of the decision
Can you share the decision with your loved ones
What is the symbolic potential of your decision of your action if
understood and / or misunderstood
Under what circumstances would you allow exceptions to your stand
Unethical behavior – some safeguards
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Central Vigilance Commission
Fear of punishment
Ostracizing the corrupt
Healthy activism against corruption
Fighting organized crime
Good laws and timely enforcement
Protecting whistle blowers
Active media
Personal integrity
Conscience of and equality before law
Judicial stake
Target unethical conduct at the top
Reject unethical offers
References
• The Ethical Organization by
Alan Kitson and Robert Campbell
• Business Ethics – Concepts, Crisis and Solutions by
Shyam L Kaushal
• Business Ethics – facing up the issues
Edited by Chris Moon and Clive Bonny
• Why is Indian Business Interested in Ethics – an article
by N.Vittal, CVC (The Economic Times, 19th Aug 1999)
• An Ethical Organization: The need of the day – Article by
N.R. Narayanmaurthy, (The Financial Express, Aug 10,
2002)