Ethical Dilemmas Are Part and Parcel of Decision Making in Almost All Organizations - Report Example

Business Ethics Name of Student Name of Instructor Course Institution Date of Submission Ethical dilemmas are part and parcel of decision making in almost all organizations (Fraser 62). In normal situations, ethical dilemma is evidently any complex case or situation which usually involves mental conflicts. In such a situation, once an individual decides to obey one moral imperative; then transgression of the other moral imperative must occur (Charlotte 116). This paper focuses to identify and explain the main ethical dilemmas in the HBR case study. The paper will also compare and contrast the utilitarian, libertarian, deontological and virtue ethics perspectives on the dilemmas that will be identified. Purposefully, this paper will identify, explain and justify an ethical perspective that is best in a single situation where ethical dilemma is evident. The diagram below shows the aspects that accompany business ethics. Source: http://www.gearbulk.com/business_ethics.aspx In this case study, there are several ethical dilemmas that are evident in the OptiMotors organization. To begin with, ethical dilemma is evident when Bob wants to expand his business yet the expansion will require him to take a lot of debt. Admittedly, in the case study, it came a time when Bob made great products comprising of high quality custom parts for motors. This resulted to a phenomenal boom of the business making the OptiMotors to have several customers. Bob had a waiting list but this did not turn away the customers. Roland, an accountant in Bob’s organization thus suggested for an expansion of the business. The expansion of the business required a lot of capital. Therefore, Bob was in a dilemma of either expanding the business and taking on a lot of debts or leaving the business the way it was and not taking on debts. Bob also figured out that expanding the business would introduce his organization to a whole new level of risks thus destabilizing the achievements and progress of the organization. Moreover, ethical dilemma is evident when Bob, the boss of OptiMotors wants to employ Galen McDowell as new boss of the sales team in the organization. Bob viewed himself as no salesman and that prompted him to look for a new salesperson in the organization. Bob had thoughts in his mind that the real key to success for the success of his company was a person who had good ability to express himself or herself by word of mouth and a person who had quality and ability to relate well with the customers. Bob thus had no choice but to pick Galen McDowell as a boss of the sales team. This was an indicator of good decision making in the company (Iain 245). However, Bob was in a dilemma. He had to choose between enhancing the sales of the company by employing Galen McDowell and pleasing the employees by not employing him as a new boss of the sales team. Bob would please the employees by not employing Galen because admittedly, the employees would not take Galen as their new boss. This would lead to lack of cooperation causing poor performance of the company at large. In this case, normally in business, a company can either accept or decline the opinions of employees (Fraser 62). This is shown by the diagram below. Source: Svensson & Wood (2003) Without question, Galen was an individual who knew how to sell. In addition, he knew how to get higher performance out of the sales people who were always under him. The sales team resisted his recruitment as the new boss because they also thought that it would be difficult for them to deal with Galen’s immediate expectation of raising their game. However, Bob decided to take a risk by employing Galen and fortunately, there were several benefits. Galen in his capacity as the new boss of the sales team employed more guys and struggled to make OptiMotors a national shop rather than just being a regional shop. Additionally, ethical dilemma is an evident aspect when Bob as the boss of OptiMotors , has to choose between stopping the deals that his company does with other companies in sleazy clubs such as the Red Ruby Club and loosing employees of his company like April who were against the idea of striking deals with other companies in sleazy clubs. The employees such as April saw the act as a waste of the company’s resources as so much money was spent in the sleazy clubs. Boss could not stop this idea so he lost April who was one of his employees as she saw that no accountability was shown during the striking of the deals in sleazy clubs. As shown in the diagram below, accountability is one of the key aspects in business ethics. (Source: corporate governance 2010) Although Bob feared losing more employees, he did not take any action but he recruited new members such as Joan whom he knew had the technical skills and ability of working with OptiMotors Company. In the first ethical dilemma where Bob wants to expand his business but fears taking a lot of debts, there are certain ethical perspectives that are evident. To start with, the utilitarian perspective of ethics is evident. Utilitarianism is an ethical perspective that holds that the preferable course of an action is that course which focuses on maximizing utility and reducing any kind of suffering that may occur at the long run (Sheng and Qinglai 170). In this case, Bob’s action of expanding his business is determined by its resulting outcome. Before he decides to expand his business, he gives consideration to possible consequences such as taking a lot of debts. On the other hand, libertarianism is also evident when Bob is in an ethical dilemma of either expanding his business or taking a lot of debts. Libertarianism is an ethical perspective that values liberty and individual freedom (David 22). In his case, Bob shows values of liberty and individual freedom by deciding to expand his business despite the threat of taking a lot of debts. To manage the expansion, he employs Galen who strikes deals with several companies such as the Kinan Company. Deontological ethical perspective is also evident when Bob is in a dilemma of expanding his business and taking a lot of debts. Deontology is an ethical perspective that will judge whether an action is moral or immoral basing on the adherence of the action to rules (Page 2008). In this situation, deontological ethical perspective judges Bob’s action of deciding to expand his business as it has adhered to rules of expanding a company. That is to say, he has stricken deals with other bigger and successful companies such as Kinan in order to expand his business. In addition, he has employed Galen who is an excellent salesperson to help enhance the profits from sales of the company. In return, the profits from the sales would help in the expansion of his business. The above ways of expanding the business are moral hence the deontological perspective of ethics is evident. Virtue ethical perspective is also evident when Bob is in a dilemma of either expanding his business or taking a lot of debts. Virtue ethics is a perspective that emphasizes on the role of an individual’s character and the virtues that an individual’s character has in order to determine behavior (Pojman and Fieser 146). In this case, Bob’s character is seen because taking debts is not a good action, but he decides to take a lot of debts just for the benefit of his company. In the second ethical dilemma where Bob wants to employ Galen as the new boss of the sales team at the expense of causing resistance from his employees, there are certain ethical perspectives that are evident. To start with, the utilitarian perspective of ethics is evident. This is because Bob decides to employ Galen since he knows him as an individual with an ability of raising performance in any organization. Therefore, Bob overlooks the possible resistance from the employees but decides to employ Galen as the new boss of the sales team in order to enhance the sales of the OptiMotors Company. Moreover, libertarian perspective of ethics is evident in the situation where Bob wants to employ Galen as the new boss of the sales team at the expense of causing resistance from the employees. This is because Bob shows values of liberty and individual freedom by overlooking the possible resistance from the employees (David 22). By doing that, Bob has exercised his individual freedom as the boss of the OptiMotors Company. Furthermore, deontological perspective of ethics is also evident when Bob wants to employ Galen as the new boss of the sales team at the expense of causing resistance from the employees. As earlier discussed, deontology is an ethical perspective that will judge whether an action is moral or immoral basing on the adherence of the action to rules (Page 2008). In this case, Bob has adhered to rules since he has employed Galen with the sole aim of enhancing performance and sales in the company. That means that Galen was recruited for positive reasons rather than negative reasons. Virtue ethical perspective is also evident when Bob wants to employ Galen as the new boss of the sales team at the expense of causing resistance from the employees. In this case, Bob’s character is identified as an individual who like success and great performance. This is because he decided to employ Galen since he had the ability to bring great performance to the OptiMotors Company. In the third ethical dilemma where Bob as the boss of OptiMotors , has to choose between stopping the deals that his company does with other companies in sleazy clubs such as the Red Ruby Club and loosing employees of his company, there are certain ethical perspectives that are evident. To begin with, utilitarianism is evident as Bob focuses more on the benefits of striking deals with companies in sleazy clubs rather than losing his employees. Striking deals in sleazy clubs was found to attract more companies who were customers that helped to expand the OptiMotors Company. Additionally, in this case, libertarian ethical perspective is also evident. This is because Bob and Galen despise the opinions from the employees such as April and decide to apply their liberty and freedom in deciding on how and where to strike deals with companies (David 22). Fortunately, the way they decide to use their individual freedom attracts more customers to work with the OptiMotors Company. In this case, deontological perspective of ethics is not evident as Bob and Galen do not consider morality by taking customers to sleazy clubs such as the Red Ruby Club. In the same situation, by taking their customers to sleazy clubs, the characters of Bob and Galen are seen. They thus come out as people who would rather use any means in order to enjoy benefits from others. For example, they decided to take the customers from the Kinan Company to Red Ruby Club to benefit their company. This is an evidence of the virtue ethics perspective. According to the situation in the case study, the major objective of Bob as the boss of the OptiMotors is to expand and have great performance in the company. This is indicated by the dilemmas he experiences when he wants to expand his business yet he does not want to take a lot of debts. Furthermore, Bob wants to employ Galen as a new boss of the sales team. This is because he believes that Galen has the ability to rapidly change the performance of the OptiMotors Company for the better. At the end of the case study, Bob and Galen are seen to be on the contrary with the opinions of other employees of striking deals with other companies in sleazy clubs where a lot of money was wasted and was not accounted for. With all these indications, the major objective of Bob was to expand his business and make it a national player. Therefore, the ethical perspective that will work best in this situation is the utilitarian perspective of ethics. This perspective focuses on actions that maximize utility with an aim of bringing happiness and reducing any kind of suffering in organizations. With the utilitarian perspective of ethics, Bob will be able to take a lot of debts from other organizations without considering the effects in order to expand his business. In the long run, profits will be incurred and suffering will be reduced. Moreover, happiness will be brought in the company (Kidder 2002). Additionally, with the utilitarian perspective of ethics, Bob will be able to recruit Galen McDowell without considering the effects of losing the employees of the company. This is because Galen is an individual who has the ability of enhancing the performance in any organization thus reducing suffering and bringing happiness to the organization (Kidder 2002). Finally, with the utilitarian perspective of ethics, Bob will be able to hold and strike deals with companies without considering the consequences such as losing the employees of the company. In the long run, this will reduce suffering and bring happiness to the company (Kidder 2002). Works Cited Charlotte Vardy. Ethics Matters. London: Hymns Ancient and Modern Ltd. 2012. Print Corporate governance. 7 Steps to Corporate [America] Governance. 2010. Web. David Boaz . Libertarianism a Primer. London, United Kingdom: The Free Press. 1998, pp. 22–25. Print Fraser, Chris. The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy. London: Oxford University Press. 2011. Print Iain King. How to Make Good Decisions and Be Right All the Time. Sydney: Continuum. 2008, Print Kidder, Rushworth M. How to succeed in Business? Try Ethics. Los Angeles Times, 2002. Print. Page, James S. Peace Education: Exploring Ethical and Philosophical Foundations. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing. 2008. Print Pojman, L.P. and Fieser, J. Virtue Theory. In Ethics: Discovering Right and Wrong. 2009, (pp. 146-169). Print Sheng C. L and Qinglai Sheng. A defense of utilitarianism. New York: University Press of America. 2004, p. 170. Print Svensson, Göran and Wood, Greg. "The dynamics of business ethics: a function of time and culture – cases and models", Management Decision, Vol. 41 Iss: 4, pp.350 – 361. 2003. Web. Read More

In this case, normally in business, a company can either accept or decline the opinions of employees (Fraser 62). This is shown by the diagram below. Source: Svensson & Wood (2003) Without question, Galen was an individual who knew how to sell. In addition, he knew how to get higher performance out of the sales people who were always under him. The sales team resisted his recruitment as the new boss because they also thought that it would be difficult for them to deal with Galen’s immediate expectation of raising their game.

However, Bob decided to take a risk by employing Galen and fortunately, there were several benefits. Galen in his capacity as the new boss of the sales team employed more guys and struggled to make OptiMotors a national shop rather than just being a regional shop. Additionally, ethical dilemma is an evident aspect when Bob as the boss of OptiMotors , has to choose between stopping the deals that his company does with other companies in sleazy clubs such as the Red Ruby Club and loosing employees of his company like April who were against the idea of striking deals with other companies in sleazy clubs.

The employees such as April saw the act as a waste of the company’s resources as so much money was spent in the sleazy clubs. Boss could not stop this idea so he lost April who was one of his employees as she saw that no accountability was shown during the striking of the deals in sleazy clubs. As shown in the diagram below, accountability is one of the key aspects in business ethics. (Source: corporate governance 2010) Although Bob feared losing more employees, he did not take any action but he recruited new members such as Joan whom he knew had the technical skills and ability of working with OptiMotors Company.

In the first ethical dilemma where Bob wants to expand his business but fears taking a lot of debts, there are certain ethical perspectives that are evident. To start with, the utilitarian perspective of ethics is evident. Utilitarianism is an ethical perspective that holds that the preferable course of an action is that course which focuses on maximizing utility and reducing any kind of suffering that may occur at the long run (Sheng and Qinglai 170). In this case, Bob’s action of expanding his business is determined by its resulting outcome.

Before he decides to expand his business, he gives consideration to possible consequences such as taking a lot of debts. On the other hand, libertarianism is also evident when Bob is in an ethical dilemma of either expanding his business or taking a lot of debts. Libertarianism is an ethical perspective that values liberty and individual freedom (David 22). In his case, Bob shows values of liberty and individual freedom by deciding to expand his business despite the threat of taking a lot of debts.

To manage the expansion, he employs Galen who strikes deals with several companies such as the Kinan Company. Deontological ethical perspective is also evident when Bob is in a dilemma of expanding his business and taking a lot of debts. Deontology is an ethical perspective that will judge whether an action is moral or immoral basing on the adherence of the action to rules (Page 2008). In this situation, deontological ethical perspective judges Bob’s action of deciding to expand his business as it has adhered to rules of expanding a company.

That is to say, he has stricken deals with other bigger and successful companies such as Kinan in order to expand his business. In addition, he has employed Galen who is an excellent salesperson to help enhance the profits from sales of the company. In return, the profits from the sales would help in the expansion of his business. The above ways of expanding the business are moral hence the deontological perspective of ethics is evident. Virtue ethical perspective is also evident when Bob is in a dilemma of either expanding his business or taking a lot of debts.

Virtue ethics is a perspective that emphasizes on the role of an individual’s character and the virtues that an individual’s character has in order to determine behavior (Pojman and Fieser 146).

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