MGT803 Aspects Of Managing Ethical Dilemmas Assessment Answer

Answer :

MANAGEMENT OF ETHICAL DILEMMAS

Executive Summary

The managing of the ethical dilemmas is the vital thing as this management needs in each of the business situation in the organization. While making the functioning of the system and the process, there is some decision that is needed to be taken for the fulfillment of the business as well as the user's requirements. While maintaining those functionalities, ethical dilemmas can occur. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the different aspects of managing ethical dilemmas in the organization. Apart from that, specific examples can be made regarding the ethical dilemma. The conclusions can be made from the factors indicated in the discussion. 

Introduction

The managing of the ethical dilemmas is the vital thing as this management needs in each of the business situation in the organization. While making the functioning of the system and the process, there is some decision that is needed to be taken for the fulfilment of the business as well as the user's requirements. While maintaining those functionalities, ethical dilemmas can occur.

The management of the ethical dilemma will help the managers and the employees in the business organizations to organize the functionalities in such a way that the ethical transparency can be maintained in the functionality of the organization (Jansen and Von Glinow1985).   In order to judge the ethical aspects of the act or the process, the use of the four ethical theories can be used. After evaluation of the proper act, rectification can be made for making the overall system or act more transparent. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the different aspects of managing ethical dilemmas in the organization. Apart from that, specific examples can be made regarding the ethical dilemma. The conclusions can be made from the factors indicated in the discussion. 

Discussion

The aspects of the ethical dilemma can be judged through the use of the four classical ethical theories.  These four classical ethical theories will help the managers and the employees in the organization to identify the different aspects of the action. Apart from that, it will also help to judge if the act is ethical or not. 

Four classical ethical theories:

The four classical theories for understanding the ethical aspect of the action are- act and rule of utilitarian, deontology theory, social theory, virtue theory.

Act and rule of utilitarian: According to this ethical theory, the action or the rule can be considered as ethical if the consequences of that act or rule is doing greater good for the most of the people. An example of the action can be mentioned to judge through this theory. It has been seen many of the organizations are using the commercialization of the data and information collected from the users/.  The users are providing personal information for a different purpose. However, those data and information are used for the other purpose like customization of the services (Wooten 2001). However, this customization is not known to the users and the owners of the data. Then reliving of the data may become a threat for the users as well as the organizations (Thiel et al. 2012). This shows that the customization of the data does not lead to the greater good for the people. So, according to this theory of ethics, this practice can be regarded as unethical. 

Act of deontology: The act of deontology does not judge the consequences of the action. Instead, it judges the logic behind the move. As for this, the above-mentioned example can be examined through the act of deontology. In this case, an action can be defined as ethical if the stages of the activities follow the proper logic (Trevino 1986). The commercialization of the data is done by the organizations. However, in this case, the users providing the data and information regarding them are not aware or informed about the commercialization. Apart from that, the organizations are making a profit from this commercialization by selling the personal data of the others. In this case, the act is not approved by the act of deontology as the proper information is not shared with the users.

Society: The act can be regarded as ethical if the act is beneficial for society and can get the approval of society. The right action will be accepted by the people of the society, whereas the wrong act will be dismissed by the society people (Cavanagh, Moberg and Velasquez 1981). After the breaking of the news regarding the commercialization of the data, most of the people in the society does not approve the fact of the commercialization of the data for the organization.

Virtue: The virtue theory is depended on the individual's inclination towards maintaining the ethical aspects in work (Anderson 1997). It is mainly dependent on the perception of the individual whether he or she will keep the ethical issues while performing the act. From this theory, it can be said that the organizations who are commercializing the information are violating the virtue theory.

Managing the ethical aspects of the organization:

Certain factors are needed to be maintained to avoid ethical dilemmas in the organization. These are as follows: 

• Proper leadership: The leader or the manager of the organization should be aware maintain the ethics while implementing the plans or the projects for the organization. In case, if the managers in the organization manage the ethical aspects, it will make the other team members follow the rules and regulations accurately. Apart from that, to maintain the law, managers can adopt different ethical standards for the organization.  
• Right obligations: While making the decisions, the decision maker for the organization should not be biased towards an individual concept. Instead, he or she should evaluate the whole process from a neutral point of view. This will help him or her to maintain the clarity and the ethical values for the organization.
• Identification of the unethical process: Another aspect of maintaining the ethical aspect of the organization is the identification of the unethical aspects of the organization. It has been seen that sometimes, it become difficult for the organization to specify or differentiate between right and wrong (Suen, Cheung and Mondejar 2007). In the organizational decision-making process, there is no right and no wrong. The concept of the right and wrong is relative to the person to person (Malloy and Agarwal 2001). In that case, there is a need for the organization to propose some basic rules and regulations that are needed to be maintained by all the employees in the organization. Apart from that, the logical aspects of the action can be judged through the use of these laws.
• Decision-making process: The decision-making process is needed to be done properly. The right decision-making process will help to maintain the ethical aspects of the decision. Apart from that, it will also maintain the ethical aspects of the action, which are the consequences of the decision-making the process. It can be said from the discussion that there specific steps in the decision making the process for the organization. These steps are-

1 Identification of the ethical issues:  all the functionalities in the organization needed to be evaluated from the different aspects. In this situation, the identification of the ethical issues is needed to be carried out in a proper way. In case if the decision of the manager affects the employees, that decision needs to be appropriately evaluated. Apart from that, the decisions are needed to be made based on the requirements maintaining the logic. 

2. Identification of the alternative course: The alternative courses can be identified for respective actions. The comparative discussion between the possible alternatives can be done to choose the best alternative. The selection of the alternative can be based on the various aspects, and one of the aspects is the ethical aspect in this situation. 

3. Using ethical reasoning in order to understand the ethical aspect: In order to evaluate the ethical aspect of a particular course, the use of ethical reasoning can be applied. In this course, the classical theories of ethics are applicable. Apart from that, there are other ethical standards which can be maintained during the decision making the process for the organization.

Courses of action raising the ethical dilemmas:

Some of the courses of actions can be responsible for raising the ethical dilemmas in the organization. Some of these factors are-

Inappropriate behaviour of the manager in the organization: Sometimes, it has been seen that the behaviour of the manager in the organization is not appropriate. Apart from that, the decisions made by the manager and the leader is biased and is offending the stakeholders in the organization. In this situation, there can be a lack of ethical aspects in the decision or action taken by the managers in the organization.

The egoism of the leaders: Sometimes, it has been seen that most of the leaders are facing a problem due to the ego regarding their work.  In that case, they can feel that what are they doing is the right and the best thing for the organization, which in reality is not. In that case, there is a chance that the decision made by the leader is not covered all the ethical aspects in a proper way.

Inappropriate leadership quality: Another aspect of the leader that can raise the ethical dilemma in the organization is that the inappropriate leadership of the leader. In this case, the leadership of the managers or the leader may not let the members and the employees in the organization speak about their opinion. In that case, proper evaluation of the situation is not done, and the decision-making process lost the ethical aspects.

The need for closure: The individuals in the organization should be aware of the need for closure. In case, if any employee in the organization is nor particular about the ethical aspect of any work or action, he or she should discuss the matter with then fellow co-workers. After the brainstorming process of the respective action, if any fruitful result is not shown, the action should not be taken by the employee.  This identifies that the unsure actions should not be taken by the employees in the organization.

Conclusion

The discussion is regarding the management of the ethical dilemma in the organization. It has been seen that there are certain factors that can be responsible, raising the ethical dilemmas in the organization. Apart from that, the decision-making process is also responsible for holding the ethical aspects of the organization.

It can be said, for an institute or the organization maintain the ethical aspects is essential as it will help the organization to maintain the goodwill. Apart from that, there are individual chances that through the proper implementation of the ethics can cause the improvement of the quality and standard of the organization. In this case, it can be said that maintain ethics and managing ethical dilemmas for the organization is essential.  

In order to manage the ethical dilemma in certain proper steps can be maintained. From the discussion, it has been found out that in this case, maintain the ethical reasoning can be helpful. For maintain the ethical reasoning, the use of the four ethical aspects of the ethical theories can be used. 

From this discussion it can be concluded that the use of the ethical aspects and managing the ethical dilemma is important for maintaining the functionality of the organization. Apart from that, it is the responsibility of the manager to maintain the ethical aspects of the organization.

Recommendations

There are some recommendations that can be made for managing the ethical aspects of the organization. These recommendations are as follows- 

• The managers and the leaders in the organization should maintain the right behaviour and approach for the development of the decisions.
• The ethical aspects of the decisions are needed to be judged in a proper way.
• The use of the four ethical theories is needed to be implemented while decision making.
• The employees in the organization are needed to be aware of the value and the significance of maintaining ethics. In that case, they have to incline to maintain the ethical values in the organizational work.