Introduction

In the organizational context the presence of dilemmas, especially ethical dilemmas, is nothing new. Within the organization, owing to differences and due to the presence of different levels of and approaches towards decision making, employees, leadership, and the management are often faced with ethical dilemmas. Quite often it is seen that in order to compel the alignment between the goals and objectives of employees and the vision and mission of the organization, management and leadership of an organization have to resort to policies that may embody ethical dilemmas for the employees in terms of acceptance. Sometimes employee behaviors trigger ethical dilemmas for the management and for the leadership. Moreover, it is also seen that the nature of business of an organization/company can be a source of ethical dilemma for myriads of key stakeholders. Whatever might be the source of ethical dilemmas, the commonness between all such dilemmas is the emergence of a situation which is difficult to handle and which has the potential to instigate conflicts within the organization. Ethical dilemmas, within the organization, hence, have the potential to disrupt collaboration, alleviate the degree of cohesion, and if not addressed and mitigated in a timely and effective manner, ethical dilemmas can bring about loss of productivity among the employees and of the organization as a whole.

What is Ethical Dilemma?

Ethical dilemma can be defined as a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made out of two different courses of action and such actions have the capacity to bring about transgression of a specific moral principle (“Ethical dilemma”, 2021). In other words ethical dilemma denotes a core problem in the decision making process in the middle of two possible yet unacceptable options, and such unacceptability is from the ethical perspective (“Ethical Dilemma – Definition, How to Solve, and Examples”, 2021). Ethical dilemma which is also known as ethical paradox or moral dilemma embodies extremely complicated challenges that are not meant to be easily addressed and mitigated, and hence, in the organizational context, finding the optimal solution amid such dilemmas is considered to be critical for every organizational member (“Ethical Dilemma – Definition, How to Solve, and Examples”, 2021). Moreover, it has to be taken into account that in the context of running a business the moral quandaries that are often faced by the business organization are considered to be ethical dilemmas and the rise of such dilemmas, though might not be confronting law, can be the result of the conflict between what the businessperson thinks imperative for the interests of the business and what his or her personal ethical values really are (“Ethical dilemmas”, 2021).

Types of Ethical Dilemma

Ethical dilemmas can be usually categorized under two broad divisions, viz. absolute dilemma and approximate dilemma (Allen, 2012). Absolute ethical dilemmas denote those situations in which the stakeholders are provided with two or more ethical standards for application but the applicable ethical standards are antitheses to one another (Allen, 2012). Such situations embodying the ethical dilemmas are the toughest ones in terms of addressing and solving the problems as they entail the most difficult decision making processes for overcoming the concerned dilemmas. In this respect, it has to be noted that in order to overcome the absolute ethical dilemma the stakeholders might be required to refer to the organizational ethical code of conduct and standard codes of ethics that are universal and not relative (Allen, 2012). Approximate ethical dilemma, on the other hand, entails those difficult situations that ask for making a decision amid the ongoing conflicts between values, laws, and morals (Allen, 2012). In the context of mitigating such dilemmas one might have to differentiate between personal and professional perspectives on decision making. But despite the differences in the characteristics of the different types of ethical dilemmas, in the organizational context, the commonness between ethical dilemmas lies in the fact that all such situations are difficult situations, instigating uncertainties.

Ethical Dilemmas in an Organization

Within the organizations the organizational members are often faced with ethical dilemmas. It has been observed that unethical decision making on the part of the top management can become a source of ethical dilemma for rest of the organizational members. On the other hand, unethical behavior on the part of employees may trigger ethical dilemmas for the top management, the leadership, and the manager. Often it is seen that partiality of the management towards a particular group of employee can be a source of ethical dilemma for the majority of employees within an organization. Favoritism is often considered as a pivotal source of ethical dilemma in the organizational context and this is primarily because management, while favoring particular groups of employees often tends to undermine the negative implications of such partiality which eventually instigates jealously among other employees, resulting in destructive conflicts (Abun, 2014). And as such destructive conflicts have the potential to alleviate the degree of employee productivity; favoritism becomes a potential source of ethical dilemmas within an organization. Moreover, in the course of compelling employees to complete their tasks in certain specific ways favoring and appeasing some specific and personal interests of the manager, a manager of a business organization can eventually trigger ethical dilemmas organization-wide. Conducts like insider trade and dealings can also trigger ethical dilemmas because the involved employee or manager may compromise the ethics of the organization in such situations for meeting their personal needs and interests (“Insider Trading: What Would Rawls Do?”, 2021).
Furthermore, organizational culture can also be a source of ethical dilemmas within an organization. In this respect, it has to be noted that recruitment of culturally unfit employees can perpetuate bias and discrimination within the work culture of an organization, triggering ethical dilemmas that eventually can end up in conflicts that are harmful to the organization and all its stakeholders (“5 Common Ethical Issues in the Workplace”, 2019). Discriminatory approaches and biases give rise to toxic organizational culture that has the potential to steer the decision making process towards the wrong direction, instigating employees to resort to unethical and immoral practices that add to the existing ethical dilemmas within the concerned organization (“5 Common Ethical Issues in the Workplace”, 2019). Moreover, unrealistic goals set by the top management and the conflict in values of the management and the employees are also potential sources of ethical dilemmas in the organizational context (“5 Common Ethical Issues in the Workplace”, 2019). It has been observed that in many organizations the goals and objectives are so unrealistic that employees find it difficult to align their work pattern and approaches to such requirements, which give rise to dilemmatic situations (“5 Common Ethical Issues in the Workplace”, 2019). Besides, it is also seen that conflict between employee values and organizational values can potentially reduce employee productivity, putting employees under stress and anxieties.

Conclusion

In the organizational realm, owing to differences and due to the presence of different levels of and approaches towards decision making, employees, leadership, and the management are often faced with ethical dilemmas. At the organizational level, ethical dilemmas have the potential to disrupt collaboration, alleviate the degree of cohesion, and trigger unethical decision making that further jeopardizes organizational prospective. There are different sources of ethical dilemmas that have to be addressed and mitigated in a timely manner to sustain overall organizational productivity, growth, and development.

References

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