ETHICAL DILEMMA PROJECT: POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS AND IMPACTS

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Week 4 Ethical Dilemma Project – Application of Ethical Theory

Student Name

Ethics 232

Professor

27, September 2020

Ethical Dilemma Project –Application of Ethical Theory

The Ethical Dilemma

The key ethical dilemma of the case is should the employees be held accountable for the impacts of dating in the workplace or should they be permitted to continue making the workplace uncomfortable for everyone around them.

Three Ethical Theories

Duty-Oriented Ethics

Kant stated his categorical imperative as “we should engage in an action only if we would accept that everyone engages in the action or that the action should become a universal law for everyone.” (Week 1 Lesson, 2020) The decision here being to act or to let the situation play out, one must consider the implications under each of the elements that make up that imperative. Universal application would imply that, should we choose to act, we would demand of ourselves, and expect of others, that the same action would be taken in all future cases like this one. The same holds true should we choose to let the situation play out. We would be stating that we would accept the circumstances this creates in the future involving these or other parties. The means/ends criteria in this case means that we need to choose our action, not just in the interest of the good of the store, but with the best interests of those involved in mind. We cannot make a decision on what to do with them without considering how what we choose impacts them. The final category is demanding an action. In this particular case those involved have made the workplace an uncomfortable environment for everyone, themselves included, so we are duty bound to take some form of action to correct the situation. We have a duty, as managers, to all of the employees, to provide them a safe and respectful environment to work in, and this situation has not contributed to that.

Using Kant’s categorical imperative, we can determine that the management team should choose to step in. We are clearly duty bound to do something to correct the environment that has been created. A decision can be made to separate the schedules of the parties involved, so the behavior can be managed without terminating anyone. The decision to correct the circumstance by actively helping the parties involved without hurting anyone is one that I would feel comfortable becoming a universal law.

Consequentialist Ethics

Consequentialist ethics looks more at the results of an action rather than the rules when determining the right and wrong of it. British philosophers Bentham and Mill suggested that “the most ethical action is always one from which the greatest number of people benefit and the least are harmed.” (Week 2 Lesson, 2020) The circumstances of this case have resulted in the actions of two individuals ruining the environment of more than thirty employees, and an undetermined number of clients. Choosing to act may result in the possible loss of employment for both of the involved parties but would result in the betterment of the environment for all others. Choosing not to act would leave many people unhappy, and only the two would benefit by retaining their employment. Under Consequentialist ethics “The decision to act or not act should be directed to producing the greatest good for the greatest number of people”(Week 2 Lesson, 2020), and so it seems simple that the decision should be made to remove the two employees causing the problems. Granted, not all consequences are created equally, and therefore the individual loss of paycheck for the two in question should be compared at greater value than the individual peace of mind others would be gaining. However, with the sheer number of people this case has impacted I feel the needs of the many still holds true.

Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics suggests that “people should cultivate certain virtues and avoid certain vices in order to ensure an excellent character.” (Week 4 Lesson, 2020) By this it means that our decisions in this case should be based on upholding virtues that make an excellent person who would make ethical decisions by default, or habit. The problem here I think lies in the virtues that could be looked at when examining this case. The ones that stand out to me would be compassion and justice. In looking at these two individuals, and the circumstances they have created, it seems to me that the two virtues we could examine this case under would come to directly opposing conclusions. Under the virtue of justice, one could argue that they created this situation themselves, have impacted many others with their behaviors, and that it being deemed necessary to remove them would be right and good. Under compassion though, they would be losing their income, and even though it means a great deal of discomfort and inconvenience for a large number people, the effort should be made to help them work through it. As explained in our lessons though, while it may not be useful in making an actual decision in this case due to ambiguity, it can help in organizing and understanding the principals to finding an ethical solution(Week 4 Lesson, 2020).

My Choice

My choice in finding a solution to this particular case would be duty-based ethics, though using a bit of the virtue ethics in understanding the principles behind my decision. I feel like virtue ethics helped me to see the difference between the duty based and consequential based ethics. Either way the ethics of the situation demand that the other managers and myself must take some form of action. I feel like duty-based ethics led me to a more compassionate form of action while consequence based led toward a more justice influenced action. If we, according to Kant must accept our action as leading to a universal law (Week 1 Lesson, 2020) I think our society would benefit from more laws based in compassion.

References

Devry University. (2020). Week 1: Lesson. Devry. https://devryu.instructure.com/courses/60369/pages/week-1-lesson?module_item_id=7458503

Devry University. (2020). Week 2: Lesson. Devry. https://devryu.instructure.com/courses/60369/pages/week-2-lesson?module_item_id=7458541

Devry University. (2020). Week 4: Lesson. Devry. https://devryu.instructure.com/courses/60369/pages/week-4-lesson?module_item_id=7458617