Ethical Dilemmas in Workplace Prologue Many large organizations

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 1. 2. 3. 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 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 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 • • • • 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, 19 th Aug 1999) • An Ethical Organization: The need of the day – Article by N. R. Narayanmaurthy, (The Financial Express, Aug 10, 2002)