Ethical Dilemmas In An Organization

Ethical Dilemmas

Introduction

Ethics is considered one of the major branches of philosophy that mainly deals with the theories related to moral values. Ethics can be defined in a number of ways, but it is principally connected with the human conduct as well as character. In the present time, ethics is one of the major and important considerations to run the business successfully. It means business organizations have to maintain ethical norms, values, standards in order to run the business operations successfully. Ethics help a company in building as well as maintaining good business practices, improving business reputation, creating strong & well run organization, avoid ethical violation etc. Ethical dilemma is also called or moral dilemma or ethical inconsistency. It is a type of problem related to decision making among two possible options. Today, a range of ethical issues or moral problems are arises in day to day business operations which affect organizational and individual productivity. But, such issues are avoided by using alternative solution to problems. For example, Ethical dilemma is a more typical and complicated situation at the workplace that have to face by different level of employees and managers and results in conflict of moral imperative. Ethical dilemma suggests that people will stand by the communal norms such as codes of rules to make the choice morally not possible. In this paper, the concepts related to workplace ethics and ethical dilemma would be analyzed. Moreover, common issues of Ethical dilemma would also be analyzed. Finally, specific strategies would be suggested to manage and deal with such ethical issues.

Major Ethical Issues in the Workplace

• Unethical Leadership: It can be defied as decisions taken by the leaders of a company which are illegal and violate moral standards. Such unethical decisions affects organisational polices and structures and results in unethical conducts by followers. A leader may have personal issues with any followers. It may create ethical issues or dilemma at the workplace. For example, if a leader spends money on inappropriate activities, it promotes unethical behavior at the workplace. Past studies suggest that, most of leaders and managers are accountable for more than 60 percent of misconduct.
• Toxic Workplace: These types of culture reflect lack of enthusiasm, Invisible leaders/managers, unfair polices/norms, unsatisfactory Execution of Policies etc. hence, toxic workplace may promote unethical practices at the workplace and results in ethical dilemma. It is also negatively affect a company’s ethical reputation in the market. So, it is responsibility of the top leaders to adopt appropriate actions to deal with such issues.
• Discrimination and Harassment: Today, it is not only important but also essential for the organizations to follow the ethical laws and rules such as: employment opportunity laws. It is fund that, there are several companies that discriminated their employees based on their age, sex, religion etc. Such types of activities are responsible for the ethical issues in the workplace. So, companies should hire a diverse workforce and provide equal opportunity to employees to avoid ethical issues. Harassment and discrimination of workforce based on ethnicity, race, and disability is not only an ethical issue but also legal issue. Most of companies avoid costly legal and ethical polices related to discrimination so they face ethical issues at work. So, it is important to suggest the managers to maintain their personal values.
• Unrealistic and Conflicting Goals: A company may set goals and objectives based on production level, sales figure that seems unattainable and unrealistic. These types of companies force their employees to achieve such types of goals and results in dissatisfaction among the employees. For instance, impractical objectives put the pressure on the employees and they may cut corners.
• Questionable Use of Company Technology: The improper use of company’s technology is also an unethical act because company spends huge money on the technology. Based on the past studies, it is found that, more than 65 percentage employee visit non work related websites during the workdays. It is not only misuse of company’s technology and tools but also misuse of time of the company.
• Bad Accounting Practices: Ethical issues may be faced by a company due to its improper and unethical accounting practices. It is seen that, most of companies use old accounting methods in order to save taxation cost. So, it is important to a company that it should maintain and conduct proper accounting practices because unethical accounting practices may damage the business reputation and image in the market. Along with this, new and updated methods of bookkeeping should be used in order to deal with upcoming and current ethical issues.
• Nondisclosure: Many employers are at risk because of their past employees. For case, company’s data can be used by them or their new company in the direct competition. So, todays companies should adopt mandatory nondisclosure agreements.

Ethical Dilemmas in Business

Ethical dilemmas have more values in the professional life because these occur very fast in day to day work life. All the companies are strictly required to develop specific codes of conduct and ethical standards. But, most of companies don’t pay too much attention on using and developing ethical norms. They violate ethical and legal standards to attain their goals and objectives. So, it is important for a company to have possible ground for ethical dilemmas. For instance, they should develop strong relationships with the clients, suppliers and business partners. But, most of companies fail to develop relationships with the stakeholders so to avoid such issues; organizations should develop strict ethical norms, standards and policies for their employees. It will help in dealing with the current and upcoming ethical issues in an effective and proper manner. Apart from this, it is also important to address ethical issues in the workplace by adopting ethical policies and strategies. For instance, a company can develop and implement strict ethical policy to deal with the ethical problems. Moreover, it is also responsibility of the company to provide effective resources as well as education to employees about the ethics so that they can understand the value and importance of ethics in the professional life. On the other hand, employers should care about the growth of individual employee by focusing on their carriers. For case, a company can provide a number of facilities to its employee in order to make them satisfied. Hence, a range of ethical practices and strategies can be used to deal with ethical issues.

Conclusion

On the basis of above analysis and discussion, it can be concluded that, Ethical dilemma is one of the major issues for the companies that not only affect a company’s growth and reputation but also productivity. Moreover, it is also analyzed that, there are a number of specific factors responsible for ethical issues at the workplace. So, it is important to a company to adopt and develop best and effective ethical policies, norms, standards and guidelines in order to deal with a range of ethical issues in an effective and proper manner. 

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