Moral (ethical) Dilemmas

Ethical Dilemmas in the Everyday Workplace

Frank J. Navran
Ethics Resource Center 1994

In every business decision we have to choose between alternatives. In many of these cases the choice is made difficult by what we call an ethical dilemma, where no matter which alternative we select, we will be subordinating one or more of our values.

In every business decision we have to choose between alternatives. Sometimes the choice is clear; there is a right answer and a wrong answer. In many of these cases the choice is made difficult by what we call an ethical dilemma, where no matter which alternative we select, we will be subordinating one or more of our values.

There is nothing new here. We started managing ethical dilemmas as children. A child receives a gift and has to write a thank you note to a distant relative. Suppose the gift was a perfectly awful shirt or blouse. The ethical dilemma is to tell a lie ("Thank you Aunt Martha. I love the shirt.") or hurt a loved one's feelings. Either choice has us violating a basic value.

Executives, managers, supervisors and employees routinely face ethical dilemmas. How they manage those dilemmas can have a significant impact on the success of the organization.

Consider these five ethical dilemmas. What would you do in each case? What would you want your employees to do?

1. The customer wants a refund. You agree that a refund is called for but company policy says "No." If you go to your supervisor, the customer's refund will be denied. If you act on your own authority, the customer will be satisfied, but you may get in trouble.

2. Quality is supposed to take precedence over everything else. The job you are finishing is acceptable but you know that you could do a "quality" job if you spent two more hours on it. If you take the extra time you will miss your deadline.

3. The company procedure is very clear but you know a "better" way to do the job. Your productivity results are a bit low this month. If you use your new approach (and violate the "rules") you can raise your results to an acceptable level.

4. A fellow employee is being harassed at work and is afraid to say or do anything about it. If you "blow the whistle" the company may retaliate against you. You could even lose your job.

5. You are working to correct a mistake that you boss doesn't know about. If you tell the boss you will be blamed for the mistake. If you don't tell the boss you could be chewed out for taking too long to do the job.

Ethical Congruence is the alignment of an organization's stated values, the decisions of its leaders, the behaviors that are encouraged by its systems and the values of its employees. The leader's responsibility is to give employees guidance: what values we expect/require employees to demonstrate, in what priority, and how "absolute" those priorities are.

Before a business can reach ethical congruence it must be clear on what it truly values. There must be a clear definition and articulation of those values, beliefs and ideals that the organization elects to exist under. We call this product the organization's operational philosophy.

Once articulated, this operational philosophy has to be tested for compatibility with the organization's mission, strategy, operational goals and operational behaviors. An organization cannot experience ethical congruence if its idealism conflicts with its basic mission or purpose and its methods for doing business. Any incompatibilities must be resolved before the organization proceeds to the next step.

Given a compatible philosophy, strategy and set of behaviors, it is important for the organization to develop strategic ethics goals and objectives that support the business purpose and the operational philosophy. Once goals and objectives have been established operational ethics policies and procedures can be developed to show people in the organization how they are expected to contribute to the ethics goals and objectives.

A program for building ethical congruence will also include:
- providing employees with guidelines for ethical decision making (a code of conduct).
establishing and implementing systems to measure the effectiveness of the organization's ethics initiative.
- establishing reward systems for individuals who contribute to the organization's ethics goals and objectives.
- building systems to support people in making ethical business decisions.
training employees on their ethics responsibilities.

There is no absolute right answer to these scenarios (although one could argue that some answers are "righter" than others). The ethically congruent organization however, provides its employees with guidance. Leadership's challenge is to ensure that there is alignment between what we say we require of employees, what values and priorities we imply through our own decisions and actions and what we reward. The consequence of ethical congruence is an employee body that understands what is expected and can consistently act in accordance with the organization's guiding principles, even in the absence of specific policy or direction.