adminwhether or not to cheat on his/her boss, to complex scenarios where organisations are faced with a value conflict that pits their short-term survival interests against their long-term interests and those of the community.
Giving employees skills with which to resolve complex workplace scenarios resulting from these ethical dilemmas should be the agenda of every manager and supervisor in any organisation.
Ethical dilemmas arise in conflict of interest matters, use of company resources, staff issues, etc. They are also inherent in the workplace as a result of conflict between the correctness and wrongfulness of our actions, and the goodness and badness of the consequences of those actions.
When ethical dilemmas are ignored or poorly managed they tend to negatively affect business operations and staff productivity.
Take for example the following scenario. A Human Resources officer was working for a giant manufacturing company in Bulawayo. An opening arose in the company and the job was advertised in the media. Among the interviewees was a relative of the company’s CEO who performed dismally during the interview.
A day after submitting his interview report to the HR manager the HR officer was politely asked by the HR manager to try to get the CEO’s relative through. The HR officer was troubled and did not understand why his boss could push for such an unprofessional and unethical move. Then two days later, an instruction came from the HR director of the company that the job should be given to the CEO’s relative.
The HR officer was put in a very difficult situation. How could the job be offered to someone who had failed the interview? What would be the reaction of other interview panellists and staff in general to this blatantly unprocedural and unethical act?
In another situation, a new employee full of zeal had just begun working for a large corporation in Harare. By securing a job with this firm, the new employee was under the impression that he would be part of a fulfilling work environment.
But much to his dismay, he found that he was wrong for he was teamed up with co-workers who did not have any clue about what it is to be ethical at work.
Dealing with these co-workers on a daily basis presented him with a serious ethical dilemma. The co-workers conducted personal business during working hours that included making personal phone calls, trading all sorts of goods ranging from vegetables to clothing items, and making endless errands outside company premises which clearly had nothing to do with company business.
The new worker also recalls a conversation he had with one of the co-workers who educated him on the fundamentals of taking sick leave. He was told how he could take up to five days off by feigning sickness.
Ethical dilemmas in the workplace can be resolved when organisations decide to incorporate ethics management processes in business operations.
An ethics management programme has the advantage of having clearly spelt out values and behaviour guidelines which operate as torch- bearers to direct employee behaviour and their decision-making patterns in situations of ethical dilemmas.
As part of the ethics programme, organisations can develop and document a procedure for dealing with ethical dilemmas as they arise, and these should be distributed to all employees and be periodically reviewed as circumstances change.
With such an instructive infrastructure in place, ethical dilemmas can be resolved without undermining business operations.
Here are a few sequential tips employees can follow when faced with an ethical dilemma in the workplace.
- State the background and context of the dilemma.
- Identify the main ethical issues causing the dilemma.
- List possible solutions to the dilemma.
- Consider the likely impact of each solution.
- Eliminate the totally unacceptable solutions.
- Consider which company values are upheld and violated by each of the remaining solutions.
- Identify your solution, state it clearly including why it is best, then justify and defend it against criticism.
Bradwell Mhonderwa is an ethics coach and trainer with the Business Ethics Centre. Send feedback to [email protected],or visit www.businessethicscentre.co.zw, or call 0772 913 875
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