Outcome Of Ethics In The Workplace

Outcome of Ethics in the Workplace

From the following case studies on ethics in the workplace, both the positive and negative side of what could happen will be shown. You will see two different results because of the ethics that management lacked or possessed. Even though the employee did the right things, without sound ethical judgment from management, nothing positive was accomplished; in fact a more negative outcome was achieved. The second study depicts the proper way to handle an ethics issue and shows various results because ethical practices were followed. The first study shows just the opposite. The goal of this paper is to represent the correct and incorrect ways that management handles ethical conflicts in the work place. Keep in mind for the purpose of our study, "The key to understanding our ethics is to understand our own belief system" (University of Phoenix [UOP], 1998-2006, 1)

Case Study: Steve wants to leave IT.

The Networking group has many responsibilities. The department performs development work for the many custom Remedy applications. The group also performs system administration of several UNIX, NT, LINUX, and Novell client/server systems. Another facet of this job is to perform the task of small-scale telecommunications engineering. Finally, the group is responsible for all administrative PC issues on the company network located in three buildings. All of this work is done with three people. Needles to say, the group needs help.

Steve does not like the IT department. He used to solve problems with PC hardware and software, but now he has been relegated to managing the 50+ Air Force mandatory Computer Security Plans (CSPs) and disposing of non-repairable IT hardware and old software. Both of these tasks are paperwork-intensive. Pouring over what seems to be an endless pile of paperwork is not what Steve had in mind when he took the job in IT.

Steve heard there was a job opening in the Networking group and expressed interest in the job. The job requisition stated that the qualified applicant was required to perform the administrative PC job. This was right up his alley. First though, he wanted to get some kind of idea as to how much money he would be making. Steve was worried that his boss Bob, the IT manager, might find out. Bob does not like losing people to other departments.

Steve went to Mr. B., the HR manager, to see what he could find out. Mr. B. then showed Steve a very personal offer letter that the Networking group manager had made to another employee for a completely different position in Networking. Mr. B. told Steve that this was the kind of salary Steve could expect if he took the position. The salary offered was approximately $10,000 a year more than Steve was currently earning. The money looked good to Steve so he applied.

When the Networking manager made the offer to Steve, he was disappointed to learn that the offer wasn't much more than what he was making now. Steve went to Mr. B. and asked him what happened. Mr. B. said some derogatory comments about the Networking management and said they were trying to low-ball him. He told Steve he should stay in IT.

When Steve told the Networking supervisor, Gene, what had happened, Gene was furious. He told his management but was told to drop it and look for someone else because Steve "belonged" to Bob.

Nothing was done about the unethical behavior of Mr. B and Bob. To this day, Steve is still working in IT doing the same laborious paperwork job that he so hates.

In the second case study nothing was resolved. Basically it seems as though everyone was told to shut-up and color. In other words, there will be no changes so just keep doing your job.

When a change was tried the management didn't want to hear anything about it so nothing was accomplished. Everyone had to stay in the same position they were assigned and tough it out.

If they had taken the information and made some changes then everything would have been much better. They could have moved Steve to where he wanted to be and Gene should not have gotten upset with the proposal. He should have supported Steve and made more of a point to work the issue. "In your day-to-day job, how often do you personally encounter ethical gray areas?" (Dolliver, 2005, 1) in this case study, many, so called grey areas were widened and improper decisions were made.

Case study two Peter is forced to quit his job

Peter worked in the bakery of a big box wholesale warehouse. This was Peter's first job and he was doing well making a good wage. Peter's supervisor was Fred. Fred had convinced the entire department that they were not doing a good job. Fred forced everyone to work through breaks and to clock out at the end of their shifts then return to finish more work. Of course this was against the law.

Peter, being a young worker decided he did not need to deal with this kind of grief as his first job and decided to quit. None of