Ethical Decisions
MGM365 : Week 1– Assignment: Ethical Decisions
Scenario: You have worked at this organization for over 10 years and feel totally unappreciated. You have not received a promotion or pay raise in over 5 years, and you work long days and typically take work home with you to stay caught up. Your supervisor—who you despise because of the way he treats you and because he does not authorize any promotion or raise, whereas other departments do—climbs the staircase in front of your cubicle every day to get to his office. This particular supervisor has been with the organization for over 30 years and can essentially retire at any time, but he chooses to continue to work. You happen to notice that a portion of the staircase is rotting out and you are fearful of stepping on it yourself. You don’t particularly like your supervisor, so you don’t report it to your maintenance manager. Last Monday, your supervisor fell down the flight of stairs and did substantial damage to his back, necessitating his retirement. You found out that you are being promoted to his position. Your promotion will provide you with a handsome pay increase and allow you to get your family to live in a nicer and safer neighborhood that is closer to work and has better schools. Have you violated any legal laws by your actions or inactions? Have you made any ethical violations?
Ethics is defined as the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group, and the methods for applying them (Pearson Custom Business Resources, 2009 p. 118). In the workplace we all have some level of responsibility towards our co-workers, in some respects especially in a small organization like my previous employer it was like a family. Relationships with co-workers whether they are your supervisor or direct report are important and can affect the types of decisions we make concerning someone else.
Employees or rather human beings in general should be motivated by altruism. In the scenario I am an employee feeling
Scenario: You have worked at this organization for over 10 years and feel totally unappreciated. You have not received a promotion or pay raise in over 5 years, and you work long days and typically take work home with you to stay caught up. Your supervisor—who you despise because of the way he treats you and because he does not authorize any promotion or raise, whereas other departments do—climbs the staircase in front of your cubicle every day to get to his office. This particular supervisor has been with the organization for over 30 years and can essentially retire at any time, but he chooses to continue to work. You happen to notice that a portion of the staircase is rotting out and you are fearful of stepping on it yourself. You don’t particularly like your supervisor, so you don’t report it to your maintenance manager. Last Monday, your supervisor fell down the flight of stairs and did substantial damage to his back, necessitating his retirement. You found out that you are being promoted to his position. Your promotion will provide you with a handsome pay increase and allow you to get your family to live in a nicer and safer neighborhood that is closer to work and has better schools. Have you violated any legal laws by your actions or inactions? Have you made any ethical violations?
Ethics is defined as the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group, and the methods for applying them (Pearson Custom Business Resources, 2009 p. 118). In the workplace we all have some level of responsibility towards our co-workers, in some respects especially in a small organization like my previous employer it was like a family. Relationships with co-workers whether they are your supervisor or direct report are important and can affect the types of decisions we make concerning someone else.
Employees or rather human beings in general should be motivated by altruism. In the scenario I am an employee feeling