Solving an Ethical Dilemma in the Workplace

Throughout our lives, we often must confront very challenging workplace ethical dilemmas and must make difficult decisions that can bear significant consequences for us and for other people in our lives.  Concerning the complex and hypothetical situation of me seeing sexually explicit images on the computer screen of my fellow company manager, the best ethical model to follow would be the utilitarian line of reasoning.  Utilitarian ethical reasoning asserts that the best course of action regarding ethical conflicts would be the action that yields the least harm and the most benefit to the majority of people involved in the situation (Andre & Velasquez, n.d.).  Following utilitarian reasoning, the best course of action to solve this ethical dilemma is to refrain from firing my fellow manager of the company and to instead issue a strict warning to assure my partner that he will certainly be terminated if he ever repeats the transgression.

An important aspect of the situation is that, despite the company’s zero-tolerance policy, I was the only person to witness my partner’s transgression.  Because the sexually explicit images were not seen by any other employees or any outside clients, the isolated incident and single violation of my partner did not cause much harm to me or the company, and thus firing him would not cause much benefit to the company.  Additionally, the lack of evidence that the behavior was consistent and frequent prevents me from being able to conclude that the behavior was a pattern or that my partner had wasted a significant amount of company time using the computer for entertainment purposes.

While my partner’s violation did not evidently cause much harm to me or the company, the drastic action of abruptly terminating him would cause a significant amount of harm to all of the parties involved in the situation (Davis, 2001).  My partner and fellow manager would of course lose his job, lose his source of income, and might suffer an embarrassing situation that could jeopardize his future professional endeavors.  I would also personally be harmed by his termination, for without the assistance and superior skills of my partner to help me, this loss would deem it much more difficult for me to produce high quality work and would dramatically impair my ability to complete this current project or future projects effectively.  Additionally, the entire company would be harmed by the termination of my partner, for the employees of the company would be demoralized by suddenly and unexpectedly losing their manager, and the company would most likely suffer from losing his advanced leadership abilities and his exceptional contributions to the company.  Following the utilitarian line of ethical reasoning, because firing my fellow manager would cause much more harm than benefit to all of the parties involved, it would be a mistake to dramatically terminate my partner (Andre & Valesquez, n.d.).

However, my response to my partner and to the ethical dilemma would also have to include a stern warning accompanied with an unequivocal assurance that repeating the offense of having sexually explicit images on his computer will result in his termination.  Although the isolated incident did not cause much harm to the company, a repeat offense would demonstrate a consistent pattern, and this pattern would be very harmful to the company.  A continual and habitual pattern of using the computer to view sexually explicit images would harm the company in several ways, for the behavior could result in my partner wasting valuable company time, lawsuits being filed for sexual harassment, and embarrassing situations that would diminish or eliminate the reputation and credibility of the company.  Because repeating the violation would demonstrate a pattern that could severely damage the company, according to utilitarian reasoning I would have to assure my partner that I will have no tolerance for a second violation and that he will absolutely be terminated if he ever repeats the behavior. 

Although utilitarian reasoning is often an effective method of solving complicated ethical dilemmas such as physical privacy, sometimes it can be difficult to determine which course of action would be most beneficial for the majority of people involved.  To successfully employ the method, we often must consider the different available options and predict the possible consequences of each decision (Davis, 2001).  In the situation of my partner committing the violation of having sexually explicit images on his computer, it is important to consider that it was an isolated incident and that the sudden termination of my fellow manager would cause more much more harm than benefit to all of the parties involved.  Thus, the best course of action that would cause the least harm to me, my fellow manager and the company would be to avoid firing my partner and to instead deliver a very strict warning that he will be terminated if he demonstrates a pattern by repeating the violation. 

References

Andre, C., & Velasquez, M. (n.d.).  Calculating Consequences: The Utilitarian Approach to Ethics.  Santa Clara University: Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.  Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v2n1/calculating.html

Davis, M. (2001).  Utilitarianism.  Illinois State University:  Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions.  Retrieved from http://ethics.iit.edu/teaching/utilitarianism