Discussion
Ethical dilemma or the Ethical Paradox is a situation where an individual faces problems related to making of decisions between two possible moral imperatives. Nether of this moral imperatives are unambiguously acceptable nor are they preferable. This type of complexities generally arises from a situational conflict. This is the situation where obeying one of the parties would result in transgressing the other parties. This type of dilemmas are generally invoked so as to refute a particular ethical system or a model code or for the purpose of improving the situation so as to resolve the particular paradox. So it can stated that ethical dilemma is a situation where the problems arises in the decision making process in between two of the possible imperatives. In case of ethical dilemma no straight forward can be taken so there is need of analysing the pros and cons of the individual system so as to take a decision which would be having less severity amongst the two ethical situations.
According to the case study Joe is working as an ICT technician for an organization in which there exists many employees who are the members of the Union as well. Now there exists a situation where is a need of negotiation between the union and the management regarding the payments and certain conditions. For this reason the management of the organization has suggested Joe to monitor the emails of this staffs secretly without their consent and without their knowledge. The major reason for taking this particular decision is for the purpose of reaching a finalized decision regarding the negotiation. But according to Joe this is entirely unethically as monitoring the emails of the staffs is one kind of breach of privacy of the staffs and reports this to the management. Joe cannot disobey the orders of the organization and besides this he also fells unethical to breach the privacy of the staffs. For all this reason a situation of ethical dilemma has arrived for Joe.
The major stakeholders involved in this particular case study includes the following
- The Staffs
- The Management of the Organization.
The major ideals involved in this case study have been provided below along with the role played by them:
The first and the foremost ideal which comes in front is the privacy of the staffs. That is in case if the mails of this staffs are being monitored without their knowledge is one kind of breach of their privacy. As the emails might contain several vital information which they do not want to share.
Stakeholders Involved
The second ideal is from the perspective of the management. According to them the any kind of email that is sent using the business account is the property of the business and hence the business is having the entire right of accessing the contents present in the emails. For all this reason they have been associated with directing Joe to monitor the emails of the members who are participating in the negotiation process.
The main criteria’s that are to be emphasized includes the privacy of the staffs which means it is entirely unethical to access the emails of the staffs. Besides this there also exists some also criteria which needs to be emphasized and this mainly includes the understanding the point of view of both the stakeholders involved. All this criteria if emphasized would be helping a lot in managing the conflicts present as well as the conflicts that are likely to arise. All the point of views are to be analysed in an efficient and effective way so as to reach a conclusion that would be beneficial for the staffs as well as for the management.
There exists two stakeholders that is the staffs and the management and the likely consequences of the situation upon the stakeholders have been listed below:
In case of the staffs their privacy would be entirely breached if the decision taken by the management is followed Joe. Privacy is important for every individual and if somehow they comes to know about the fact that their privacy have been breached by the organization then a certain disrespect and dissatisfaction would arise in their mind. Besides this each and every staff would be having a fear in their mind as if their privacy is also breached. This would lead to loss of man power in the organization as no one would like to work for an organization in which their privacy has been compromised.
In case of management, they would entirely be left alone and no one would like to compromise with them in any kind of matter. This would be leading to a state of chaos which would be very hard to manage. Besides this the decision would also lead to many more problems like less manpower, low production and many more. Besides this the decision would be having a long term affect as well because every individual who would be joining the organization would be having an confused and suspicious mind and this would also be affecting the organization as this new individuals might not work with their full efficiency. Taking actions against the negotiating staffs would be having a severe effect as the union might call for a strike leading to complete seizure of the organization.
Major roles played by the Ideals
The major harm would be caused to the staffs participating in the process of negotiation. The major reason is that their entire privacy would be breached and along with this if any of the staffs sends something using the business accounts that is against the companies’ terms and policies then might be terminated from the organization entirely. Besides this the management would also get affected because if this action taken by them is implemented is somehow leaked amongst the staffs then they might never become capable of gaining the trust of the employees. In addition to this different kind of conflicts would also arise as well due to all this.
The major benefits of the decisions would be gained by the management. As by monitoring of the emails of the negotiating members would be helping then in knowing certain things that the union wants and this would be helping them a lot in the negotiating process as the information would be helping them in finalizing the negotiating process. Besides this the management would also become capable of identifying the staffs who are engaged with the activities that are entirely against the policies of the organization. There exists no way by which the second stakeholder would be benefitting from the action taken by the organization. But certainly if some information taken from the emails are considered by the organization then would be able to gain the benefits.
The main thing that the stakeholders want is a proper negotiated decision that would be helpful for the staffs as well as the management. The staff wants the negotiating decision to reach such a position where all their payment related queries would be solved along with solving the problems related to the conditions. And the main thing which the management wants is the monitoring of the emails of the negotiating staffs so as to identify any staff who are engaged with any kind of work that is against the companies’ policies. Besides this the organization also wants to monitor the emails in order to have an overview of the fact that the negotiating members actually want. This is to be done so as to discuss about the facts amongst the management before they are put forward by the staffs. This would be helping them in reaching a finalized negotiation.
The best way of reaching a solution is to arrange a face to face conversation amongst both the stakeholders involved. By having a face to face conversation it would be very helpful in putting forward the point of view of each of them. Putting forward the terms would not be requiring any kind of secret monitoring as well and with would not lead to any kind of breach of privacy of the staffs. Besides this the organization should also make initiatives in order to understand their staffs as the staffs play a vital role in helping the organization reaching success. Besides this it I the responsibility of the staffs to make sure that they are involving themselves in certain actions which are entirely against the policies of the organization. This are the specific actions which are to be shown by both of the stakeholders in order to show respect and care for each other. This is the best action which can be taken in order to resolve the case of ethical dilemma for Joe. All this ideas need to be put forward in order to manage the conflicts.
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