Ethical Dilemmas

Ethical Dilemmas

1. Trust

   • Trust requires openness, vulnerability and assumption of duty. Trust in a business can help it to become very competitive and have a good overall effect on the workplace. Unlike the other ethical dilemmas, there is no legal or ethical laws pertaining to trust, however, "trust is nevertheless inextricably linked to ethical concerns because it existence in the workplace is dependent on the ethical behavior of corporate management." Unfortunately, the Sentencing Guidelines once again are counteractive to trust. Because the Guidelines hold businesses accountable for their employees actions, the more trust an employers puts in their employees the more they are making them self vulnerable to criminal sanctions.

2. Ethical Self-Assessment

   • Ethical self-assessment refers to managements ethical obligations to the business and their employees. In order to be the best manager of a company they must actively seek out information and not just rely on a few people's perspectives as these perspectives can be swayed by a person's interest in career advancement. A manager goes about gathering information through the company attorney, hotlines, ombudsmen and other channels set up to keep employee's confidentiality. Unfortunately, again this creates an ethical dilemma for management as if they find out any incriminating information they are legally required to report it. However, doing so would make it much more difficult in the future to get employees to come forward with information as they fear investigation and possibly prosecution.

3. Organizational Justice

   • Organizational justice sets the employer against the employee many times. The three principles of justice are reciprocity, the presumption of innocence and the right to due process. Reciprocity refers to the obligation to honor one's commitment to a mutually beneficial relationship so long as the other party has met their commitment to you. The presumption of innocence is the notion that organizations aren't to assume their employee is guilty without adequate evidence. Due process refers to the requirement that a person be judged by a fair process. Businesses are required to comply with the requirements of the Organizational Sentencing Guidelines therefore the business is caught in between defending their employee and cooperating with the investigation into the employee. If the business cooperates with the investigation they are going against the three principles of justice. However, if they don't comply with the investigation then they could also be charged in the crime.

4. Confidentiality

   • Confidentiality is ethically important is all business however, the liability for their employees offenses puts them in a difficult position. Most businesses try there very best to uphold confidentiality in the workplace. This is especially important when it comes to gathering sensitive information through hotlines or organizational ombusmen and to encourage employees to provide information to corporate counsel. If the employee doesn't feel their name and information given will be kept confident then they are less likely to come forward with an information they may have. Again, this ethical dilemma is at odds with the Sentencing Guidelines as they "imply that organizations can avoid indictment or reduce their exposure to financial penalties only by cooperating with the government investigation of their employees." The government hopes this will make businesses waive attorney-client privileges and divulge any information the attorney may have received from the employees being investigat

5. Privacy

   • Privacy is another ethical dilemma of employers. Privacy is protected legally by a person's constitutional rights however, there is an ethical dimension in the business place that legal protections don't necessarily cover. Like the organizational justice dilemma, the privacy dilemma is also made more difficult because of the "standard for corporate criminal responsibility makes organizations strictly liable for the offenses of their employees, organizations can avoid criminal liability only by preventing their employees from violating the law." Businesses are pressured to violate an employees moral right to privacy in an effort to learn as much about them as possible because if the business doesn't and the employee breaks the law the business will also be held responsible.