Ethical Dilemma

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a subdivision of philosophy, dealing with questions about morality. Societies, religions, professional groups all around the globe have their own principles or standards of conduct, which are followed by their members (Davis, Fowler, & Aroskar, 1997). Ethics is concerned with what is right, and what is wrong, good or bad, fair or unfair, responsible or irresponsible, it relates to what we ought to do in terms of rights, obligations, and benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. It is not just about what the case is or what is most acceptable or convenient (Preston, 1996). In the case study The Typo, writer is placed in a head of marketing position in a small, struggling, pharmaceutical company, which is introducing very promising drug to the market. The future existence of the company depends on successful placement of that drug. However, there is a typographical error in all print material about site effects of that drug. Marketing manager has an ethical dilemma, stop the marketing campaign and correct the “typo”, consequently future existence of his company will be in jeopardy, or to take a risk and go ahead with campaign without letting anyone know about the “typo”. This essay will describe ethical dilemmas and their characteristics, continuing by ethical dilemma marketing manager are confronted with. Discussion on defensible moral judgements after that will be followed by introduction of two consequentialist theories namely egoism and utilitarianism and Kant’s ethics as one of non-consequentialist theory, which should assist marketing manager in making a justifiable moral judgement.
Ethical dilemmas are placing individuals in complex situations were no obvious solution is clear (Shaw, Barry & Sansbury, 2007). When we are confronted with two or more moral principles, and we are equally dedicated to all of them then we are dealing with moral dilemma. MacNiven (1993, p. 3) identify, ’If both

References: Davis, A. J., Fowler, M. D., & Aroskar, M. A. (1997). Ethical Dilemmas & Nursing Practice. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc. Desjardins, J. (2009). An Introduction to Business Ethics. (3rd ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Ghillyer, A. (2010). Business Ethics: A Real World Approach. (2nd ed.). Boston: Mcgraw-Hill Higher Education. Klein, E. R. (2003). People First! Professional and Business Ethics without Ethics. Oxford, UK: University Press Of America. MacNiven, D. (1993). Creative Morality. London, UK: Routledge. Narveson, J. (1998). Egoism and Altruism. In R. Chadwick, Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (pp. 15-21). London, UK: Academic Press Limited. Preston, N. (1996). Understanding Ethics. Sydney, NSW, Australia: The Federation Press. Shaw, W. H., Barry, V., & Sansbury, G. (2009). Moral issues in Business. (1st Asia-Pacific ed.). South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited.