Corporate Ethics

With some common sense and a bit of analysis, employees can resolve common ethical workplace dilemmas without losing their jobs or bringing harm to their employer. 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.

Examples of Ethical Issues in Business

 

1.      Discrimination in the Workplace

Every business needs to be aware of anti-discrimination laws and regulations. A business owner doesn't need to receive a complaint from an employee or customer to be fined for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. In what are called "drive-by lawsuits," businesses are targeted for potential lawsuits by people who drive or walk by a business and note the violation. Violations might include not having doors with appropriate widths, the lack of handicap accessibility, or failure to provide handicap parking. People who file the complaints don't need to be handicapped to receive settlements of $4,000 per violation.

2.      Unsafe Working Conditions

Employees have a right to safe working conditions based on regulations outlined in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. While many OSHA citation violations deal with fall hazards, respiratory protection and chemical exposure, there have been lawsuits regarding the safety of inane items such as the signs that twirl at street corners for marketing. The violations stemmed from the sharp points of the signs and unprotected edges, which created lacerations. Businesses have restricted what twirlers can do with signs and provided safety features for signs. Many businesses moved away from twirlers entirely to avoid problems.

3.      Whistleblowing or Social Media Rants

Business owners must respect and not penalize employees who are deemed whistleblowers to either regulatory authorities or on social media. Essentially, employees are encouraged and cannot be penalized for raising awareness of workplace violations. A Yelp employee wrote an opinion piece on a blog website that described the poor working conditions at Yelp. The employee was fired for her negative views on the company. However, states are increasingly passing off-duty conduct laws to protect employees for stating opinions on social media when they are not at work.

4.      Accounting Practices

A business must maintain accurate bookkeeping practices. The oil giant, Enron was exposed in 2001 for "cooking the books" to misrepresent profits. The deception affected stockholder prices, and many public shareholders lost huge amounts of money because of the ethics violation. The company went bankrupt as a result, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was established to protect public shareholders with stricter financial reporting laws. Even small privately held companies must keep accurate financial records to pay appropriate taxes and employee profit sharing or to attract business partners and investments.

5.      Nondisclosure and Corporate Espionage

Employers are at risk of employees and former employees stealing information. This might be client data used by organizations in direct competition with the company. When intellectual property is stolen or private client information is sold on the black market, it is corporate espionage. Employers may require employees to sign nondisclosure agreements with stiff financial penalties to discourage these types of ethics violations. One of the biggest violations of corporate espionage exists with manufacturers who outsource technology products in China where the patents are stolen, re-engineered, and sent into the markets to compete with the companies that originally hired the factory.

6.      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.

7.      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.

8.      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.

First, understand what constitutes harassment. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an occasional comment, slight or incident -- unless it's very serious -- isn't characterized as harassment. It's when the pervasiveness of such actions creates a work environment that would seem hostile, intimidating or offensive to most reasonable people.

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 other inappropriate actions of their co-workers, and to make sure everyone knows and understands the policy and the consequences of violating it.

9.      Stealing on the Job

We all know embezzling from the company -- taking money and hiding it by altering the records -- is against the law. But what about taking home an occasional box of staples?

Just because the supply room is well stocked with boxes of everyone's favorite pens doesn't mean it's okay for employees to help themselves to a pack for home. It may seem like a small thing, but when every employee takes something, it does add up against company profits. It is stealing, and an astute office manager will notice things going missing too fast.

Falling profits affect everyone in the company, even future raises, bonuses or layoffs. Regardless how small, taking something without paying for it is unethical.

Ethical Dilemmas In Business

Business Ethical Dilemmas

There are three questions you need to ask yourself as an employer before hiring someone. One, is it legal and in accordance with the company and civil laws? Two, does it seem like a balanced decision that keeps in mind fairness and creates a win-win situation for the organization and the employee? Three, is it right i.e. how does it make you feel and what do you think other employers would do in your position? With these examples of a business ethical dilemma, it will be easier to understand what we’re talking about.

Example 1

An employer X has been running a consulting business for a long time and needs to hire a person to help her manage it. She does several interviews and finally employs a candidate Y for the job who is asked to start work from the following week. In the mean time, X gets a call from her friend who recommends her Z – an extremely talented and deserving person for the job. Although X refuses, her friend insists. Z comes in with the perfect resume and is liked by the employer. Now, what? Dilemma lies in choosing someone who is best for the business or someone who ethically has the first say.

Solution:

The solution to the above issue can be handled by referring to the three basic questions of ethical dilemmas in business.

·         Is it legal? There are two ways to look at this. If Y has already resigned from her previous job, it makes it legal for the company to hire her and because she has already been made the offer, the company is actually legally bound to make good the offer. If Y is still a part of her old job, then there is ambiguity on her employment by X.

·         Is it balanced? Yes. It is technically right for Y to start working but it might not necessarily be a win-win situation for both since Z can bring better business for the company compared to Y.

·         Is it right? It is right to employ Y as the word has already been given about her joining date and hiring her can make the employer X feel that she’s doing the correct thing.

Example 2

A new technology is being launched which is good for the company as well as the clients. But, if this is brought into use, a lesser man-power is required for the organization. The entrepreneur is now in an ethical dilemma whether he wants to better his clients with good services or be loyal to his employees who have helped the company grow. The unpleasantness of the situation arises when neither the clients nor the employees deserve to suffer and it is the entrepreneur’s call to take.

Solution:

The three questions are again brought into the picture here

·         Is it legal? This decision needs to be cross checked with the company seniors and policies. Both can be legally correct, depending upon the agreement that the firm has with its employee union.

·         Is it balanced? A win-win situation is attainable if the new technology adopted by the entrepreneur benefits the clients and business. Afterall, what matters in the end are profits and customer satisfaction.

·         Is it right? Desperate times call for desperate decisions. There is nothing wrong about growing and automating your firm. Technological backwardness cannot lead you anywhere hence adopting the technology here will not be a wrong choice. However, the employer must take steps to mobilize his human resources and transfer them to other areas to maintain his/her reputation – the company’s goodwill might suffer a major setback in the job market owing to the mass retrenchment.

These two examples are typical business ethical dilemmas. Some decisions in business, as in life, are extremely difficult to take but remember – you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do – there’s no indecisive way out of such dilemmas!