Ethical Issues in the Workplace

Technically speaking, ethics is a branch of philosophy which deals with questions about a person's morality and values. Ethical dilemmas occur when a person has to choose between right and wrong or good and bad. In our personal lives, ethics such as honesty, loyalty, always doing the right thing, and commitment are highly valued. But what about workplace ethics? Are the same values upheld in organizations today? The basic goal of any business is to make profits and the people working in organizations today can go to any length to achieve that, even if it means compromising on one's ethics. Also, the success of an individual in an organization depends on how much he is contributing towards this goal of the business, so employees for their personal benefits may overlook ethics in many situations. At the same time, it is seen that businesses who follow a culture of ethics, create a lot of goodwill for themselves in the market as well as among their customers, thus making them highly successful in the long run. So what should businesses today do - look at the short-term benefit or go in for a long haul by promoting a culture of ethics. Let us discuss a few of these common ethical issues in the workplace.

Ethical Issues in the Workplace: Examples

Before discussing ethics further, let us see a few examples of ethical issues in the workplace.

Ethical Dilemma #1
A client of the company is facing some financial problems. He buys certain products from your company at a very high rate, which he can get at a much cheaper price from one of your competitors. Now, the ethical issue is, should you communicate the same to your client?

Ethical Dilemma # 2
The company plans to launch a skin cream in the market and one of its ingredients may be harmful for the health of the users in the long run. As an employee, should you be part of such a project?

Ethical Dilemma # 3
The company is making losses but the management of the company inflates the profits in the financial statements to appease the share holders, lenders and the customers. Is this ethical?

The list of ethical issues in the workplace, which the employees or their bosses encounter everyday is endless. The question of ethics can arise in things as small as using the office photocopy machine for personal use to as big as selling unhealthy or harmful products in the market.

Ethical Issues in the Workplace: How to Handle

Modern organizations today do focus mainly on profit-making, yet there is a new trend being observed and that is bringing back ethics to the workplace. Various multinationals today have incorporated ethics training for all their employees, right from those working at the junior level to the CEO of the company, so that they can understand what are ethics and how can they benefit the company in the long run. Many companies these days have designed their own workplace ethics training programs which offer practical solutions to employees facing ethical dilemmas. These programs focus on two things, i.e there is nothing wrong if an employee finds himself in an ethical dilemma and secondly they offer written resources on how to work through these ethical dilemmas. These resources give a kind of framework to the employees on the basis of which they can take ethical decisions. Basing a rewards system on ethics and values, along with on one's performance, is another way of ethics promotion among the employees, which is being employed by many organizations.

It is seen that organizations which promote values and ethics, have many advantages vis-a-vis other organizations. Its employees do not feel any stress as they do not have to compromise on their values. Secondly, any kind of misconduct is immediately reported to the right person in the organization. Thirdly, instances of misconduct get minimized and overall satisfaction of the employees increase as such organizations offer a feel-good environment to its employees.

Ethical issues in the workplace can be resolved if proper procedures for the same are in place in any given organization. Upholding ethics promotes a better working environment, and at the same time a good reputation for the business. Both of which contribute to high work productivity and profits.