Ethical Dilemma: A Case of Workplace Harassment

Running head- ETHICAL DILEMMA
Ethical Dilemma
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author Note

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ETHICAL DILEMMA
Dilemma Issue
The aim of this paper is to discuss the ethical dilemma faced in the life for being a
woman. In such aspect, the case of sexual harassment will be discussed that has been a part of
my work life for a long period of time. A situation of an ethical Dilemma in workplace is
when a female employee is facing harassment in the workplace. It is clear that workplace
harassment is extremely depressing and mostly not addressed by senior managers.(Tangem ,
2017) This kind of behaviour is surely intolerable for me and I want to raise voice against it
but the manager is from top level management and is really powerful. Another issue is that if
I file any complaint against the senior managers, this will affect the reputation of the
organization as it would give it a lot of negative publicity. Apart from that, I will also have to
face a lot of challenges in proving my claims and I fail to do that, I will have to face
consequences. Under such situation, I have to decide whether I will raise voice against it or
will stay quiet.
Personal Dilemma
This is a case of Indefensible Ethical Dilemma because both the choices can land the
employee in problems. If I follow my ethics and complaints about the situation, I can have to
face challenges from the upper level of management and even my job can be at stake. It is a
fact that complaint of harassment can lead to consequences and the employee can even lose
my job (McDonald & Charles worth, 2016). On the other hand, if I stay quiet, I will continue
facing the same harassment which will lead to a state of depression. Here, I will have to
choose between ethics which demands me to raise voice against any injustice or harassment
towards me or act according to the situation and keep quiet. In both the situations, I am
gaining something and losing something. Both the choices are challenging and none of them
is easy.

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ETHICAL DILEMMA
Ethical Dilemma for the Colleagues
The Ethical Dilemma for the colleagues is that whether they should support the
employee or not. If they don’t support me, it would be against their ethics as they would not
be raising their voice against the injustice towards the employee. On the other hand, if they
raise their voices, they may land into trouble as they can face the wrath of their seniors.
Ethical Dilemma for the Company
When such types of situation arises, not only the employees but the employees also
have to go through a lot of problems. Such kind of behaviour towards a female employee is
against the business ethics of an organization (Rich 2016). Apart from that, it is also violation
of the contract where it claims to give a secured environment to its employees. According to
these facts, it should support the employee and take proper actions against the senior
manager. It will increase the faith of employees on the company but if the other side of the
situation is taken into account, it will be facing negative publicity because when a senior
manager of a reputed organization is accused of such kind of allegations, media makes it a
big controversial news (Rich, 2016). This kind of situation will cause a negative impact on
the business as the value of shares will also be effected. On the other hand, a negative
publicity of being a company where a female employee has been harassed will problems in
further acquisition of talent for the organization. In addition to that, the organization will also
have to take action against a top level manager who may know internal secrets of the business
which can create problems for the organization in the coming future. This will lead to an
internal conflict inside the organization where the employees will have a difference in
opinion. This will be a situation of Debatable ethical dilemma for the organization where the
decision will be taken after a debate between the deciding members of either choosing their
business ethics or their market reputation (Mikkelson 2014). The decision panel will have to