Ethical Dilemmas in Workplace

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Ethical Dilemmas in Workplace

• 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.

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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 can 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.

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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.

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The Three Elements of Moral Courage
Principles
Courage that quality of mind which enables one
to encounter danger difficulties with
firmness or without fear or fainting of heart
Moral courage
Two types of courage Physical- Principle
related Moral- Principle driven
Endurance
Danger
Moral courage is the courage to be moral
whatever adheres to five core moral values of
honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness and
compassion
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Moral Courage in Practice

• Why should moral courage matter so much these
  days? In part because we see so many examples of
  its lack in corporate settings and legal
  proceedings, in politics sports, entertainment
  and in personal and social relationship.
• But there is another deeper reason. The
  proving of ones courage has long been a rite of
  passage from youth to adulthood. With physical
  courage less obviously in demand as we move onto
  the 21st century, the young could begin testing
  themselves against a courage that is moral rather
  than physical. If the need for physical courage
  is dwindling in everyday life, the opposite is
  happening for moral courage and soon be an
  indicator of MATURITY

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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 organizations 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

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Resolving an Ethical Dilemma

• Generally there are three major approaches that
  we use in handling ethical dilemmas. They are
• Focusing on the practical consequences (results
  oriented Utilitarian) of what we do --
  Teleological ethics
• Focusing on the fact that actions have intrinsic
  moral value some actions are good (telling the
  truth, honoring promises) while some are bad (
  dishonesty, coercion). No matter how much good
  comes out of lying, the action will never be
  good. Deontological (action oriented
  --Universalism)
• Philosophical / Moral / Virtue ethics by
  conducting through rational and secular outlook
  that is grounded in the notions of human
  happiness and well being

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Thinkers have debated the relative merit of these
approaches for centuries, but for getting help
with handling ethical dilemmas, think of them as
complementary strategies for analyzing and
resolving problems.It is however, assumed that
the relevant laws and regulations are duly
complied with.Three steps are involved1.
Analyze the consequences2. Analyze the
actions3. Make a decisionWhile the theories may
look conflicting at some stages, they actually
complement one another in practice. Each acts as
a check on the limitations of the other.
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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 nights episode
  in the disco, new policy for space allocation),
  or what one may know but not casually and
  promiscuously disclose (Xs marital problem, Ys
  alcoholism, Zs state of health)

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Contd

• It also matters how one came to be in possession
  of such information. Many social positions and
  occupations require one to be 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 Intellectual Property Right
  IPR)

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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
  employees skills and knowledge which form a part
  of the employees ability which he or she is
  entitled to use for the furtherance of their
  careers.
• Case of Rati Kanta Basu taking employment with
  STAR immediately after retirement from IAS (DG /
  Doordarshan)

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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,
  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. (A new law is in the offing for
  the protection of such whistle blowers.)

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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 ignored
  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.

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Life Event Stress and Consequent Dilemmas

• Life events stress are concerned with
  situational encounters and the importance that
  the person attaches to that event. It refers to
  our feelings that something of importance to us
  is being jeopardized by the events in our daily
  lives.
• The most common events producing stress
  are, pressure to work hard, major events,
  vacation. Major stressors are deterioration of
  health of a family member, relocation at work,
  arguing with spouse etc. However, they are
  Culture Specific

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Dilemmas of the college years

• Clustering of life changes
• Separation from parents
• Reintegration Developing new relationships
• Love and sex life
• Daily hassles
• Financial uncertainty
• Grade pressure
• Fear of failure / success
• Role difficulties (role overload, role conflict,
  role strain, role ambiguity)
• Life script, Identity formation and Career choice
• Anticipating post college challenges (selecting
  and starting a career, adjusting to career
  changes, striving for financial security,
  preventing affluenza disease, living lightly on
  earth, creating stable and satisfying family,
  raising children, balancing work and family,
  dealing with blended families, adjusting to new
  work and community network, dealing with ethnic
  and racial diversity, coping with high tech
  demands, making time for exercises and relaxation
  etc )

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Ethics, Economics and Law

• The ethics of hardball
• The cases of Toys R U and Child World
• Home Depot Good Ethics or Shrewd Business
• Business are economic organizations that
  operate within the framework of law and are
  critical to business decision making. But the
  view that they are only relevant considerations
  and that ethics does not apply is NOT TRUE. Even
  hard fought games like football have a code of
  sportsmanship in addition to the rule book.
• A good test of moral point of view is whether
  we would feel comfortable if our colleagues,
  friends and family were to know about a decision
  e have made.

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Advising Managers

• 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 adopt
• The goals they set for themselves
• The organizational structure they belong to
• The language / methods 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.

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Dozen issues to encourage managers to be ethical

1. Have you defined the problem accurately
2. How would see this from the other side of the
   fence
3. How did the situation occur in the first place
4. To whom and to what you give your loyalty as a
   person
5. What is your intention in making this decision
6. Match your intention with the probable results
7. Who is the decision going to injure
8. Can you discuss the decision with the affected
   party before you make the decision
9. Confident of the long term validity of the
   decision
10. Can you share the decision with your loved ones
11. What is the symbolic potential of your decision
    of your action if understood and / or
    misunderstood
12. Under what circumstances would you allow
    exceptions to your stand

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Unethical behavior some safeguards

• 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 activism
• Target unethical conduct at the top
• Reject unethical offers

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Indian Wisdom and the Workplace

• The Indian wisdom absorbs the supreme truth, the
  essentials of infinitude and holiness of the
  souls, the essential oneness and solidarity of
  the universe as expressed in the Upanishads Aham
  Brahamsmi.
• Swami Vivekananda emphasized the idea of
  education and all training programs should be
  character building. Education is not the amount
  of information overload that runs riot in the
  brain, but should aspire to inculcate the habit
  of analysis, action and moral response. Atmano
  Mokshaya Jagat Hitaaya Cha Yagnayacharithartha
  karma Parasparam Bhavayanthu

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Promoting Ethics at Workplace

• Managers in most organizations strive to
  encourage ethical practices. The litmus test for
  the ethical practices are
• The golden rule act as the way you would expect
  others to act towards you
• The Utilitarian Principle act in a way that
  yields greater good for the largest number of the
  people
• Situational but Natural action taken under
  circumstances could be universal law or behavior
• Professional Ethics peer reviewed by
  professional
• The TV test Can you share with a large audience
• The Legal Test Should be in conformity with the
  laws
• The four way test Is the decision truthful /
  fair / beneficial to all concerned / generate
  goodwill and foster friendship

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Examples of Ethical Dilemmas -1

• Your supervisor enters your office and asks you
  for a check for Rs.2500.00 for expenses he tells
  you he incurred entertaining a client last night.
  He submits receipts from a restaurant and lounge.
  At lunch, your supervisors girlfriend stops by
  to pick him up for lunch and you overhear her
  telling the receptionist what a great time she
  had at dinner and dancing with your supervisor
  the night before.
• What do you do?

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Examples contd. - 2

• You have a student who is from a single parent
  family. The student must work to attend college.
  However, the job is interfering with the
  students performance and several assignments
  have not been turned in. You are determined that
  a D is all that the student can make when a
  counselor informs you that the student need a C
  to qualify for an academic scholarship.
• What do you do?

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References

• The Ethical Organization -- Alan Kitson and
  Robert Campbell
• Moral Courage R.M. Kidder
• Ethics Thomas White
• 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)