Ethical Issues in the Workplace

Professionals today come across various kinds of ethical issues in the workplace. Read on to
know what these ethical issues and dilemmas are, and how organizations can help their
employees to deal with them.
Technically speaking, ethics is a branch of philosophy which deals with questions about a
person's morality and values. Ethical dilemmas occur when a person has to choose between right
and wrong or good and bad. In our personal lives, ethics such as honesty, loyalty, always doing
the right thing, and commitment are highly valued. But what about workplace ethics? Are the
same values upheld in organizations today? The basic goal of any business is to make profits and
the people working in organizations today can go to any length to achieve that, even if it means
compromising on one's ethics. Also, the success of an individual in an organization depends on
how much he is contributing towards this goal of the business, so employees for their personal
benefits may overlook ethics in many situations. At the same time, it is seen that businesses who
follow a culture of ethics, create a lot of goodwill for themselves in the market as well as among
their customers, thus making them highly successful in the long run. So what should businesses
today do - look at the short-term benefit or go in for a long haul by promoting a culture of ethics.

Examples of Ethical Issues in the Workplace

Ethical Dilemma #1
A client of the company is facing some financial problems. He buys certain products from your
company at a very high rate, which he can get at a much cheaper price from one of your
competitors. Now, the ethical issue is, should you communicate the same to your client?

Ethical Dilemma # 2
The company plans to launch a skin cream in the market and one of its ingredients may be
harmful for the health of the users in the long run. As an employee, should you be part of such a
project?

Ethical Dilemma # 3
The company is making losses but the management of the company inflates the profits in the
financial statements to appease the share holders, lenders and the customers. Is this ethical?

The list of ethical issues at the workplace, which the employees or their bosses encounter
everyday is endless. The question of ethics can arise in things as small as using the office
photocopy machine for personal use to as big as selling unhealthy or harmful products in the
market.

How to Handle Workplace Ethical Issues

Modern organizations today do focus mainly on profit-making, yet there is a new trend being
observed and that is bringing back ethics to the workplace. Various multinationals today have
incorporated ethics training for all their employees, right from those working at the junior level
to the CEO of the company, so that they can understand what are ethics and how can they benefit
the company in the long run. Many companies these days have designed their own workplace
ethics training programs which offer practical solutions to employees facing ethical dilemmas.
These programs focus on two things, i.e there is nothing wrong if an employee finds himself in
an ethical dilemma and secondly they offer written resources on how to work through these
ethical dilemmas. These resources give a kind of framework to the employees on the basis of
which they can take ethical decisions. Basing a rewards system on ethics and values, along with
on one's performance, is another way of ethics promotion among the employees, which is being
employed by many organizations.

It is seen that organizations which promote values and ethics, have many advantages vis-a-vis
other organizations. Its employees do not feel any stress as they do not have to compromise on
their values. Secondly, any kind of misconduct is immediately reported to the right person in the
organization. Thirdly, instances of misconduct get minimized and overall satisfaction of the
employees increase as such organizations offer a feel-good environment to its employees.

Ethical issues can be resolved if proper procedures for the same are in place in any given
organization. Upholding ethics promotes a better working environment, and at the same time a
good reputation for the business. Both of which contribute to high work productivity and profits.
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ethical-issues-in-the-workplace.html

What Is Meant by Ethical Dilemma?

Answer
An ethical dilemma is typically described as a complex situation that involves a conflict between
different morals. Ethical dilemmas are commonly found in medicine. For example, deciding
whether or not to install a feeding tube on a comatose patient could constitute an ethical
dilemma.
An ethical dilemma is a situation where one is in conflict between moral imperatives. Often
rejecting either solution has major consequences. It is also known as ethical paradox.
Ethical dilemma is also known as moral dilemma. Ethical dilemma is any situation in which
guiding moral principles cannot determine which course of action is right or wrong. To obey one
action, would result in transgressing another.
Q&A Related to "What Is Meant by Ethical Dilemma?"
what is ethical dilemma?
An ethical dilemma is a situation where there is a mental conflict between moral
imperatives. For example, if a woman is pregnant, does not believe in abortion, but
will die if she

An ethical dilemma is a complex situation that often involves an apparent mental conflict
between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another. This is
also called an ethical paradox since in moral philosophy, paradox often plays a central role in
ethics debates. Ethical dilemmas are often cited in an attempt to refute an ethical system or moral
code, as well as the worldview that encompasses or grows from it.[citation needed]

The terconduct, law and other similar concepts; sankat implies a trouble or problem.[1]
Contents
 1 Responses to the arguments
o 1.1 Roles within structures

 2 Examples

 3 References

 4 External links

Responses to the arguments

These arguments can be refuted in various ways, for example by showing that the claimed ethical
dilemma is only apparent and does not really exist (thus is not a paradox logically), or that the
solution to the ethical dilemma involves choosing the greater good and lesser evil (as discussed
in value theory), or that the whole framing of the problem is omitting creative alternatives (as in
peacemaking), or (more recently) that situational ethics or situated ethics must apply because the
case cannot be removed from context and still be understood. See also case-based reasoning on
this process. An alternative to situational ethics is graded absolutism.

Perhaps the most commonly cited ethical conflict is that between an imperative or injunction not
to steal and one to care for a family that you cannot afford to feed without stolen money. Debates
on this often revolve around the availability of alternate means of income or support such as a
social safety net, charity, etc. The debate is in its starkest form when framed as stealing food. In
Les Misérables Jean Valjean does this and is relentlessly pursued. Under an ethical system in
which stealing is always wrong and letting one's family die from starvation is always wrong, a
person in such a situation would be forced to commit one wrong to avoid committing another,
and be in constant conflict with those whose view of the acts varied.

However, there are few legitimate ethical systems in which stealing is more wrong than letting
one's family die. Ethical systems do in fact allow for, and sometimes outline, tradeoffs or
priorities in decisions. Some[citation needed] have suggested that international law requires this kind of
mechanism to resolve whether World Trade Organization (WTO) or Kyoto Protocol takes
precedence in deciding whether a WTO notification is valid. That is, whether nations may use
trade mechanisms to complain about climate change measures.

As there are few economies that can operate smoothly in a chaotic climate, the dilemma would
seem to be easy to resolve, but since fallacious justifications for restricting trade are easily
imagined, just as fallacious justifications for theft are easily imagined at the family level, the
seemingly obvious resolution becomes clouded by the suspicion of an illegitimate motive.
Resolving ethical dilemmas is rarely simple or clearcut and very often involves revisiting similar
dilemmas that recur within societies:

According to some philosophers and sociologists, e.g. Karl Marx, it is the different life
experience of people and the different exposure of them and their families in these roles (the rich
constantly robbing the poor, the poor in a position of constant begging and subordination) that
creates social class differences. In other words, ethical dilemmas can become political and
economic factions that engage in long term recurring struggles. See conflict theory and left-wing
politics versus right-wing politics.

Design of a voting system, other electoral reform, a criminal justice system, or other high-stakes
adversarial process for dispute resolution will almost always reflect the deep persistent struggles
involved. However, no amount of good intent and hard work can undo a bad role structure:

Roles within structures

Where a structural conflict is involved, dilemmas will very often recur. A trivial example is
working with a bad operating system whose error messages do not match the problems the user
perceives. Each such error presents the user with a dilemma: reboot the machine and continue
working at one's employment or spend time trying to reproduce the problem for the benefit of the
developer of the operating system.

So role structure sabotages feedback and results in sub-optimal results since provision has been
made to actually reward people for reporting these errors and problems.

See total quality management for more on addressing this kind of failure and governance on how
many ethical and structural conflicts can be resolved with appropriate supervisory mechanisms.

Resolving an Ethical Dilemma

So you’ve got an ethical dilemma on your hands. How do you figure out what to do?
Generally speaking, there are two major approaches that philosophers use in handling
ethical dilemmas. One approach focuses on the practical consequences of what we do; the
other concentrates on the actions themselves. The first school of thought basically argues
"no harm, no foul"; the second claims that some actions are simply wrong. Thinkers have
debated the relative merits of these approaches for centuries, but for the purpose of getting
help with handling ethical dilemmas, think of them as complementary strategies for
analyzing and resolving problems. Here's a brief, three-step strategy that shows you how to
combine them.

(By the way, we’re going to assume that if there are any laws involved, you plan to obey them.
This isn’t to say that it’s always morally wrong to break laws. But in ethical dilemmas that arise
in business, the laws generally establish at least a bare minimum for how you should act.
Besides, if a business regularly breaks laws, it becomes an anti-social force in society. And no
matter how much money’s involved, at that point, there’s not a huge difference between a
business and organized crime.)

STEP 1: ANALYZE THE CONSEQUENCES

O.K., so you're going to stay on this side of the law. What next? It's probably easier to start by
looking at the consequences of the actions you're considering.
Assume you have a variety of options. Consider the range of both positive and negative
consequences connected with each one.

 Who will be helped by what you do?

 Who will be hurt?

 What kind of benefits and harms are we talking about? After all, some "goods" in life
(like health) are more valuable than others (like a new VCR). A small amount of "high
quality" good can outweigh a larger amount of "lower quality" good. By the same token,
a small amount of "high quality" harm (the pain you produce if you betray someone’s
trust on a very important matter) can outweigh a larger amount of "lower quality" pain
(the disappointment connected with waiting another few months for a promotion).
 How does all of this look over the long run as well as the short run. And if you’re tempted
to give short shrift to the long run, just remember that you’re living with a lot of long-
term negative consequences (like air and water pollution and the cost of the S&L bailout)
that people before you thought weren’t important enough to worry about.

After looking at all of your options, which one produces the best mix of benefits over harms?

STEP 2: ANALYZE THE ACTIONS

Now consider all of your options from a completely different perspective. Don’t think about
the consequences. Concentrate instead strictly on the actions. How do they measure up
against moral principles like honesty, fairness, equality, respecting the dignity of others,
respecting people's rights, and recognizing the vulnerability of individuals weaker or less
fortunate than others? Do any of the actions that you're considering "cross the line," in
terms of anything from simple decency to an important ethical principle? If there's a conflict
between principles or between the rights of different people involved, is there a way to see
one principle as more important than the others?

What you're looking for is the option whose actions are least problematic.

STEP 3: MAKE A DECISION

And now, take both parts of your analysis into account and make a decision.

This strategy should give you at least some basic steps you can follow.

Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in the

Workplace
Posted by A.C. Ping
In an earlier article entitled ‘An organic perspective on organisational ethics’ (AIM Management
Oct 1996), I outlined an overall framework for considering ethics in an organisational
perspective. The article emphasised the importance of an organisation’s Vision and Mission
statements in helping to foster an overall ethical climate. It also emphasised the need for a desire
within the organisation to ‘walk the talk’.

Since the article was published several people have asked what the next step is. That is, after the
organisation has thrashed out a good Vision and Mission statement, and has decided what the key
values are that give meaning to its purpose, how does it train its staff to resolve ethical
dilemmas? This article therefore attempts to outline a simple and effective strategy for resolving
ethical dilemmas in the workplace.

What is an ethical decision?

Ethical problems involve considering a range of actions and their corresponding consequences.
The thing that makes ethical problems difficult to deal with is that they involve making value
judgements, which by their nature are rarely clear cut. In coming to a decision about an ethical
dilemma you are required to make a decision which will uphold the values that you feel are most
important. However, in making that decision what often occurs is that some values may be
violated. The best solution to an ethical problem therefore will involve upholding the most
important values to the greatest extent possible whilst violating the least number possible. For
example, after joining a new company you discover that other, more senior employees, are
overstating their mileage claims to increase their pay packages. They encourage you to do the
same so that you don’t show them up.

What do you do? In coming to a decision you must consider: loyalty to your coworkers, fidelity
to your company, and honesty. Not all of these values can be upheld, one or more must be
violated in order to reach a decision. Most importantly therefore, an ethical decision must be one
that you are willing to stake your reputation on. It must be a decision that you can both justify
and recommend. It must be a decision that you think is right on the basis of ethical principles you
try to follow and that you believe others should also follow.

Ethical dilemmas in the workplace

As mentioned in the earlier article, organisational ethics deals with the ‘ethos’ of an organisation.
It examines the shared set of beliefs, of the group of individuals that make up the organisation,
which determines ‘the climate of opinion that sets the standard by which right and wrong is to be
judged’. In many organisations these ‘beliefs’ are not openly stated, the ‘culture’ of the
organisation is hidden and new employees are left to determine for themselves what is
‘acceptable’ behaviour. Often this means employees learn by their mistakes and consequently
may defer tricky decisions to management. This not only inhibits productivity but also leaves
employees feeling unsure about what the organisation stands for. However, if an organisation has
gone through the process of clearly stating the values that give meaning to its Vision and Mission
(i.e. what it stands for), then it is in a position to train staff to deal with ethical dilemmas in a
uniform way. This is important because it empowers staff to make down the line decisions which
are in line with overall organisational thinking. It also presents a uniform front to the customer
which is particularly important if there are many people in the organisation who deal with the
external environment.

The BELIEVE IT Strategy

Training in resolving ethical dilemmas should therefore apply to all individuals throughout an
organisation. It should also be done in a uniform, clear and relevant way. One way of doing this
is a simple step by step process represented by an easily remembered acronym BELIEVE IT. As
noted earlier, when resolving ethical dilemmas it is important that you BELIEVE in your
decision and that others will BELIEVE your decision. For instance, how often do you here
Managers questioning subordinates and saying “I can’t believe you did that!”

The BELIEVE IT strategy for resolving ethical problems is a step by step process so that others
will be able to BELIEVE and understand your decision. It is based on assessing the principles
and values relevant to a particular problem and results in a decision which is believable and
defendable. The BELIEVE IT strategy is not dependent on whether you have a utilitarian,
universalist or religious approach, it concentrates on the situation at hand and is aimed at
reaching an outcome.

Faced with an ethical dilemma, the following steps can be taken:

Background
 State the background of the case including context, its origin and any other important details.
What is the history of the problem? Who is involved? Is there any missing information which you
need to solve the problem?

Estimate
 Make an initial estimation of the ethical dilemma present, that is, what the core issues are. What
is the main ethical conflict?

List
 List the possible solutions to the problem.

Impact
 Consider the likely impacts of each of the initial solutions. What are the outcomes of each
solution? Who will they affect? How will each solution harm or help people?

Eliminate
 Eliminate the totally unacceptable solutions eg significant harm to people.

Values
 With the remaining possible solutions, assess which values are upheld and violated by each
solution. What are the significant values and principles which are upheld or violated by each
solution? What are the stated organisational values?
Evaluate
 Evaluate the solutions considering the likely impacts and the values which will be upheld or
violated. Must determine which values are most important. Why is one solution better or worse
than another? Is there another solution you haven’t considered?

Decision
 Make a decision, state it clearly including why it is best, justify it and defend it against criticism.
How will you carry it out? Who will object to the decision? What are the weaknesses of the
decision? How will you defend the decision?
Using the BELIEVE IT model, an organisation can train staff to incorporate a set of key values
into their decision making. That is, when assessing the values involved in the dilemma, staff can
make reference to what the organisation has stated that it wishes to be the most important values.
In this way, the approach to resolving ethical dilemmas in an organisation becomes less reliant
on individual value judgements and more reliant on stated organisational values. Additionally, it
gives staff a step by step approach which enables them to resolve ethical dilemmas quickly and
in a way that is entirely justifiable.

Conclusion

Training staff in ethical decision making is one way that organisation can foster an overall ethical
climate. The simple process of going through such training makes staff better able to recognise
and discuss ethics and ethical dilemmas. This in turn leads to a more in depth analysis of the
behaviour of people within the organisation and of the organisation itself. The result of this is
often a constant reminder to all involved to ‘walk the talk’. Remembering, of course, the old
Chinese proverb which says:

“To know and yet to do is yet to know”.

More Resources

If you enjoyed this article you may be interested in the E books:-

"Sensitive Chaos - A guide to ethics and the creation of trust in the third millennium" (1999)

"The Second Coming of Capitalism and the Secret to Business Success in the Third Millennium"
(2001)

"Engage: A research report into US corporate social responsibility trends and the implications for
progressive corporations and regulators" (2003)

Ethical Dilemmas In Workplace

Each person has his/her own unique moral imperatives and personal ethics which compel him/her to act in a
particular unique way. A dilemma arises when there is a conflict between these individual opinions. Therefore, an
ethical dilemma may occur either within the person or between two or more people. For example, abortion, for
some, is ethically wrong as it means depriving an unborn of its life while some consider it socially correct,
especially in cases where the embryo is either detected with an incurable illness or the parents are otherwise unable
to provide or care for it. A workplace is considered a breeding ground for ethical dilemmas between individuals as
they all come from different socio-economic backgrounds and beliefs. There are cases of ethical dilemmas between
an employer and an employee. Let us consider an example. During recruitment, it is the duty of an organization to
explain its current state to the candidate. Mr. X loses his job after 1 year of employment because the company was
acquired by another organization and he was not aware of it. This is an absolute breach of professional ethics. In the
same way, this article deals with some common ethical issues at office and some tips to avoid these dilemmas. Scroll
down and learn about them!

Ethical Issues In Workplace

Ethical Issues Of Employees

  Making long phone calls at the company’s cost. Some organizations provide a refund for the phone bills of
the employees, especially if the employee is dealing with a job which that involves using the telephone.
Taking advantage of the fact and making personal phone calls is unethical.
 Taking home the company’s assets. Some employees pocket tools and stationery such as staplers, pins,
papers etc. to use them at home. This would have probably gone undetected by the cameras, but definitely
doesn’t say much about their behaviour.

 Taking excessive leaves beyond the allowed number is a breach of ethical code. It not only leads to losses
for the company but also brings you a bad name. Sounds unethical, doesn’t it?

 Improper usage of machineries. Some employees make use of office computer and printers for personal
uses such as taking lengthy print outs, heavy downloading and even unnecessary net surfing etc. Personal
work needs to be kept personal!

 Taking advantage of the travel benefit. These are applicable to employees who have to constantly be on the
move such as the marketing personnel. More than ethical codes, common sense can tell you not to use this
for personal benefits!

 Breach of rules and regulations of the company. Accepting terms and conditions are usually done as a part
of joining procedure. Violating any of these rules may leads to undesirable issues between the company and
you. Failing to maintain the privacy policy of the company is another sort of breaking of rules. Each
company has its own privacy policy. An employee is entitled not to give out the company’s data and other
particulars to another company/competitor.

 Offensive communications. Employees are not allowed to use offensive language in the office. But
anything that goes on beyond company walls cannot be taken into consideration.

 Working for multiple organizations. An employee cannot work in more than one place simultaneously –
literally and ethically! If ever caught doing so, the person can be prosecuted and debarred from being a part
of either organization in the future.

Ethical Issue Of Employers

 Favoritism. This means that the employer may favor a particular person with regard to promotions and
bonuses and evidently neglect other eligible employees. This conduct is considered highly unethical on the
part of the employer.
 Sexual harassment is not legal/ethical/moral whether in the workplace or out of it. Harassing an employee
sexually, or refraining from taking action against those who are involved in such offences, is strictly
forbidden.

 Terminating an employee without any notice. In some cases, for reasons like budget management,
companies opt for mass firing to reduce the number of employees. Such terminations should be done after
prior indications and notice of at least a month or two, so that the person can find another job. Notice
periods must be served to avoid confusion.

 Unnecessary delay in paying employee’s provident fund and gratuity after leaving the organization is a
breach of professional ethics.

Ethical issues are a common sight in companies. Studies reveal that the overall commitment level of the employees
has declined considerably since 2002. This article deals with the common breach of ethics in the workplaces.

Common Ethical Workplace Dilemmas

Most people spend a great deal of their weekdays at their offices or job sites. It's not surprising,
then, that employees face ethical dilemmas there. Several of these dilemmas pop up on a regular
basis. With some common sense and a bit of analysis, employees can resolve common workplace
dilemmas without losing their jobs or bringing harm to their employer.

Conducting Personal Business on Company Time

Because employees tend to spend so much of their weekday hours on the job, they often are
tempted to conduct personal business on company time. This can include setting up doctor's
appointments on company phone lines, making vacation reservations using their employer's
computers and Internet connections or even making phone calls for a freelance side business
while on company time.

At first glance, this ethical dilemma is fairly clear: It is an abuse of your employer to conduct
personal business on company time. But there are shades of gray here. What if your spouse calls
to tell you that your children are ill? Is it OK for you to schedule a doctor's appointment? A good
rule of thumb is for an employee to check with his manager or human resources supervisors to
clarify what counts as an actionable offense in the company.

Taking Credit for Others' Work

Employees often work in teams to create marketing campaigns, develop new products or fine-
tune services, yet rarely does everyone in a group contribute equally to the final product. If three
members of a five-person team did all the work, do those three members demand to receive
proper credit while pointing out that two members of the team did not pull their weight?

This is a thorny question. If employees single out their co-workers in a negative light, it could
foment resentment. The same thing could happen, however, if all employees accept equal praise
even though only a select few did the real work. The best way to resolve this ethical dilemma is
to not let it happen. Team members should insist that all employees perform specific tasks to help
complete a project.

Related Reading: Common Types of Ethical Issues Within Organizations

Harassing Behavior
Employees often don't know what to do if they see one of their co-workers harassing another
employee, either mentally, sexually or physically. Employees may worry for their jobs if they
attempt to report a superior for harassment. They may fret that they'll be labeled a troublemaker
if they report co-workers who display inappropriate behavior toward other employees.

The best way to resolve this ethical dilemma rests with the staff members who develop the
company's employee handbook. It is their job to include specific language that spells out that
employees won't be punished for reporting the harassing behavior or inappropriate actions of
their co-workers.
5 workplace ethical dilemmas

Good business practices aren’t just about the bottom line — they’re also about morality.

Savvy professionals understand how to balance profit with ethics, and do it consistently. “To me,
if you are ethical, you act the same way whether you’re being watched or not,” says Jim Lipot, a
human resources consultant and instructor in the University of Phoenix MBA program.

He shares five sticky office situations and how to handle them:

Shady HR decisions
Managers are responsible for hiring, firing and promoting people, and it’s important they do so
ethically. “Many managers are not prepared to go through an [objective] ranking process of
candidates,” instead relying on personal bias, Lipot notes.

He shares several examples of improper human resources practices. “I’ve seen managers
consider factors like the staff member’s age, family or ability to locate another job [when
firing],” he explains. “I even saw one manager use employees’ religious affiliation and medical
conditions [against them]. All were unethical.”

Instead, Lipot recommends that supervisors consider only qualifications and performance when
making decisions.

Nepotism
Business is often “all in the family,” but Lipot believes that’s not always a good thing. “There
are still a few company owners who want to provide work to family members, even if it is
detrimental to the company,” he says.
Instead, Lipot recommends that businesses hire only the most qualified personnel — blood
relation or not. “If you must hire relatives, the supervisor must have the authority to discipline
them. Otherwise, you set a poor example.”

Bending the rules

Company policies exist for a reason, and employees shouldn’t abuse them, Lipot notes. “A
common dilemma is what to do when you see another employee taking [unfair] advantage.”

He offers this example: “Many companies allow employees to take smoke breaks, but sometimes
workers will take a cigarette break while also holding an impromptu outdoor meeting. That’s not
only unhealthy for the other people attending; it also effectively gives the smoker another
cigarette break.”

You should report abusive behavior like this to your human resources department, according to
Lipot.

Waste and theft

If you’re on the corporate clock, all your actions should benefit the company.

“When you waste resources and time, you are effectively stealing from your employer,” Lipot
says. This can include swiping office supplies, browsing the Internet and making personal calls.
Ethical employees use work materials wisely and conduct personal business on their own time.

Breaking the law

Although rare, some companies place their employees in impossible positions. If a supervisor
demands that you do something you find unethical or even illegal, such as fabricating financial
data or violating federal employment laws, you have options.

“In these situations, make reports to the appropriate governing bodies,” such as the Securities
and Exchange Commission, the EEOC or law enforcement, Lipot says. Don’t quit if you can
avoid it, but be prepared to get fired or find another job quickly.

“Get an attorney and document everything,” he recommends. “Be honest but discreet.”

Ethical Dilemma Examples

Ethical dilemmas, also known as a moral dilemmas, are situations in which there is a choice to
be made between two options, neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable
fashion. In such cases, societal and personal ethical guidelines can provide no satisfactory
outcome for the chooser.

Ethical dilemmas assume that the chooser will abide by societal norms, such as codes of law or
religious teachings, in order to make the choice ethically impossible.

Ethical Dilemma Situations

Personal Friendships

Michael had several friends including Roger and Daniel. Roger has recently met and started
dating a wonderful lady named Phyllis. He is convinced this is a long term relationship.
Unknown to Roger, Michael observed them at a restaurant several days ago and realized Phyllis
is the wife of his other friend Daniel.

Michael is deciding whether to tell Roger that Phyllis is married when he receives a call from
Daniel. Daniel suspects his wife is having an affair and since they and Michael share many
friends and contacts, he asks if Michael has heard anything regarding an affair.

To whom does Michael owe greater friendship to in this situation? No matter who he tells, he is going to
end up hurting one, if not both friends. Does he remain silent and hope his knowledge is never
discovered?

Societal Dilemmas

An article on ListVerse compiled a list of Top 10 moral dilemmas and asked readers to consider
what they would do in those situations. Here is an example of one of the Top 10 ethical dilemmas
they proposed:
A pregnant woman leading a group of people out of a cave on a coast is stuck in the mouth of
that cave. In a short time high tide will be upon them, and unless she is unstuck, they will all be
drowned except the woman, whose head is out of the cave. Fortunately, (or unfortunately,)
someone has with him a stick of dynamite. There seems no way to get the pregnant woman loose
without using the dynamite which will inevitably kill her; but if they do not use it everyone will
drown. What should they do?

The Institute for Global Ethics also proposed the following ethical dilemma to promote a global
understanding of ethics and to promote ethical decision making:

The mood at Baileyville High School is tense with anticipation. For the first time in many, many years, the
varsity basketball team has made it to the state semifinals. The community is excited too, and everyone
is making plans to attend the big event next Saturday night.Jeff, the varsity coach, has been waiting for
years to field such a team. Speed, teamwork, balance: they've got it all. Only one more week to practice,
he tells his team, and not a rule can be broken. Everyone must be at practice each night at the regularly
scheduled time: No Exceptions.Brad and Mike are two of the team's starters. From their perspective,
they're indispensable to the team, the guys who will bring victory to Baileyville. They decide—why, no
one will ever know—to show up an hour late to the next day's practice.

Jeff is furious. They have deliberately disobeyed his orders. The rule says they should be suspended for
one full week. If he follows the rule, Brad and Mike will not play in the semifinals. But the whole team is
depending on them. What should he do?

Harverford.edu also presents a series of dilemma called Kohlberg dilemmas as part of one of
their psychology classes. These are named after Lawrence Kohlberg, who studied moral
development and who proposed a theory that moral thinking goes in stages.

Some examples of Kohlberg dilemmas presented to students at Haverford include the following:

Joe is a fourteen-year-old boy who wanted to go to camp very much. His father promised him he could
go if he saved up the money for it himself. So Joe worked hard at his paper route and saved up the forty
dollars it cost to go to camp, and a little more besides. But just before camp was going to start, his father
changed his mind. Some of his friends decided to go on a special fishing trip, and Joe's father was short
of the money it would cost. So he told Joe to give him the money he had saved from the paper route. Joe
didn't want to give up going to camp, so he thinks of refusing to give his father the money.In Europe, a
woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might
save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was
expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid
$400 for the radium and charged $4,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz,
went to everyone he knew to borrow the money and tried every legal means, but he could only get
together about $2,000, which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying, and
asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, "No, I discovered the drug and I'm
going to make money from if." So, having tried every legal means, Heinz gets desperate and considers
breaking into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife.Judy was a twelve-year-old girl. Her mother
promised her that she could go to a special rock concert coming to their town if she saved up from baby-
sitting and lunch money to buy a ticket to the concert. She managed to save up the fifteen dollars the
ticket cost plus another five dollars. But then her mother changed her mind and told Judy that she had to
spend the money on new clothes for school. Judy was disappointed and decided to go to the concert
anyway. She bought a ticket and told her mother that she had only been able to save five dollars. That
Saturday she went to the performance and told her mother that she was spending the day with a friend.
A week passed without her mother finding out. Judy then told her older sister, Louise, that she had gone
to the performance and had lied to her mother about it. Louise wonders whether to tell their mother
what Judy did.

Information Access

The advent of email in the business world surely has created new ground for moral dilemmas
involving information access and privacy.

Tony, a data analyst for a major casino, is working after normal business hours to finish an important
project. He realizes that he is missing data that had been sent to his coworker Robert.Tony had
inadvertently observed Robert typing his password several days ago and decides to log into Robert’s
computer and resend the data to himself. Upon doing so, Tony sees an open email regarding gambling
bets Robert placed over the last several days with a local sports book. All employees of the casino are
forbidden to engage in gambling activities to avoid any hint of conflict of interest.

Tony knows he should report this but would have to admit to violating the company’s information
technology regulations by logging into Robert’s computer. If he warns Robert to stop his betting, he
would also have to reveal the source of his information. What does Tony do in this situation?

Professional Life Versus Family Life

Another example of an ethical dilemma involves professional ethics versus the best care of your
child:

Alan works in the claims department of a major hospital. Paperwork on a recent admission shows that a
traumatic mugging caused the patient to require an adjustment in the medication she is prescribed to
control anxiety and mood swings.Alan is struck by the patient’s unusual last name and upon checking her
employment information realizes she is one of his daughter’s grade school teachers.

Alan’s daughter seems very happy in her school and he cannot violate patient confidentiality by
informing the school of a teacher’s mental illness but he is not comfortable with a potentially unstable
person in a position of influence and supervision over his eight year old daughter. Can Alan reconcile
these issues in an ethical manner?

Branches of Ethics
You can study ethics from both a religious and a philosophical point of view. There are five
branches of ethics:

 Normative Ethics - The largest branch, it deals with how individuals can figure out the correct
moral action that they should take. Philosophers such as Socrates and John Stuart Mill are
included in this branch of ethics.
 Meta-Ethics - This branch seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties and judgments
such as if truth values can be found and the theory behind moral principals.

 Applied Ethics - This is the study of applying theories from philosophers regarding ethics in
everyday life. For example, this area of ethics asks questions such as "Is it right to have an
abortion?" and "Should you turn in your friend at your workplace for taking home office
supplies?"

 Moral Ethics - This branch questions how individuals develop their morality, why certain aspects
of morality differ between cultures and why certain aspects of morality are generally universal.

 Descriptive Ethics - This branch is more scientific in its approach and focuses on how juman
beings actually operate in the real world, rather than attempt to theorize about how they should
operate.

Knowing how to best resolve difficult moral and ethical dilemmas is never easy especially when
any choice violates the societal and ethical standards by which we have been taught to govern
our lives.