Ethical Dilemmas in Business

This assignment delves into the realm of business ethics by examining various ethical dilemmas that arise in a professional setting. Students are expected to critically analyze these dilemmas, referencing relevant scholarly articles and journals provided. The analysis should shed light on the nature of these ethical challenges and explore potential solutions for navigating them responsibly.

Business Ethic

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
PART A...........................................................................................................................................3
Ethical Dilemma..........................................................................................................................3
Justification of Ethical Dilemma in business situation...............................................................5
Solutions proposed after Dilemma..............................................................................................7
PART B............................................................................................................................................9
Please refer to attachment “seminar 4” and P.3 of “Project Brief” ..............................................10
Please quote reference....................................................................................................................10
Appendix B...............................................................................................................................11
Appendix C...............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Ethical Dilemma is situation where the individual is unable to take decision because there
is conflict between moral values of two people (Gustafson, 2013) In part A, the report will
evaluate, business ethics which are required to followed in every organisation in order to avoid
the conflicts between management and employees. Moreover, The manager of the enterprise
should monitor and control over all the ethical values that are part of firm. Hence, the report
analysed that the business should maintain some moral values in order to give stable
environment to its employees and management.
PART A
Ethical Dilemma
Ethical dilemma is circumstance when there is debate between moral values of two
individuals. Further, it can also be said that in this situation people are unable to determine the
right and the wrong. Ethical dilemma is faced by the people in their both personal and
professional lives. In this situation the person is unable to take decisions on the basic problems as
their moral values coincide. It is necessary for the individuals to understand the circumstance of
ethical dilemma in order to understand the problem and their solutions. Moreover, the Dilemma
can be in any situation like, personal friendships, social dilemmas, business situation etc. The
ethical dilemma further have several instances in context to business ethics.
I am Lillee, a consultant in XYZ company, it is a consultancy firm. I am the person
beliefs and moral values because my father Johnson is an retired professor from ABC university
where he used to teach moral values and ethics to students in order to protect them from wrong
doings. I discuss my every dilemma and problem with him to reach and make effective decision
of my personal and professional life. My father taught me to stand by the right and ethical values
which he taught from the start, no matter what the situation is demanding at any moment. After
my graduation, I joined the XYZ consultancy because I believe that the firm works in ethical
situation and have the security of their employees. In XYZ cameras are set all over to monitor
over the functioning of every department. In my opinion, the advancement in the technology
assist the employers to monitor and review activities of staff members. Further, before doing in
cleared all the organisational practices and values to ensure effective and safe working
environment for me. However, with time I discovered that cameras are being misused by the
manager of company and the surveillance in XYZ is nothing less than spying. Moreover, after

few months, my manager asked to provide fake and wrong consultancy services to students and I
was amazed with this practice and providing wrong information to clients is beyond my moral
and ethical principles. Further, with time I did not follow the unethical orders of my manager
than he scolded me personally and this was the situation when I learned that the misuse of
cameras in organisation (Trevino and Nelson, 2016). In addition, I discovered that manager can
easily access over my personal emails, history of internet browser and web connection which is
hampering my personal space. The situation led to into two ethical dilemmas where I cannot
oppose the camera surveillance in organisation but at the same time it was hampering my
personal space. Apart from this, my moral values do not allow me to guide students the wrong
path just for the sake of making profits and good reputation in front of my manager. Apparently,
if I will not follow the order of manger than he warned me that he will screw my career and will
make sure that I won't get job in any consultancy firm which is my dream.
Hence, the situation led to business ethical dilemmas where XYZ Consultancy has set
camera in order to review the activities but it was effecting my personal space. In addition,
guiding the wrong path to students to save my job and career was the another dilemma which
turned the situation worse I was worried and therefore when my father asked me the reason I
shared each and everything because he is the man of ethics and therefore he is the only one who
can suggest me the right ethical solutions which can save me in this situation. (Hamington and
Sander-Staudt2011).
Justification of Ethical Dilemma in business situation
Ethical dilemma involves the sense is right and wrong in business. Organisational ethics
are the principles and morals which helps the individual in dealing with the problems of
professional life. Moreover, the business ethics are related to behaviour that the entity adheres in
the daily activities of the employees. Business ethics can come across in various situation like
financial functioning of the firm for example, misleading of financial analysis, criminal
manipulation, corruption activities within the enterprise. Furthermore, in human resource
management issues like, representation of employees, confidentiality of employee and employer,
fairness of contract with the staff members. Apparently, there are ethical issues which can arise
in sales and marketing department of the business like, price discrimination, price fixation, anti

competitive prices, manipulation of loyalty, back markets, grey markets, and advertisement of
harmful content in goods and products produced by the company.
Thus, as per my situation and discussion with my father, organisation monitor over
employees by setting up camera which allows them to visualize the activities of workers and to
protect the employees from hazardous incidences but if manager is misusing cameras, than it is
an unethical and illegal practice and a punishable offense. Moreover, asking to provide wrong
consultant practices is exploitation of students rights for the sake of making profits. Both the
situations are of business ethical dilemma, where the person like Lillie gets confused between
two situations that is, whether to complain or not. However, the situation is turning complex
from the time when the manger learned that I was not following the consultancy practices which
he asked me to.
In my opinion, technological advancement enables the organisation in effective
production of quality good and services which creates the chance of retrenchment of manpower
in the organisation. Further, after implementing the use of technology like cameras the manager
interrupts into personal space of employees like Lillee which is not ethical (McPherson 2013).
Moreover, forcing employees to guide students wrong path way just to make profits is another
ethical dilemma of the Business situation which is being faced by Lillee. Hence, after long
discussion of Lille and her father, according to Mr. Johnson, the practices are unethical and
needs to be stopped. Her father states that technology plays a major role in retrieval storage,
dissemination and gathering of information. In the enterprise its major ethical effect is related to
accessibility/inaccessibility and the manipulation of information. It establishes the chances of
simultaneous as well as wider access to private information of employees. However, the
implication of cameras makes it easier for management easier to access a person's private
information by more people. After long discussion of father and daughter, we analysed the
impacts of using electronic surveillance in XYZ consultancy firm are, electronic surveillance of
employees in the consultancy organisation turned in to spying over workers personal working
pattern and information which is beyond business ethics. Apart from monitoring the working
pattern of employees monitoring over employees so deeply turns into spying., In accordance to
business situation of XYZ Consultancy, Lille is not able to perform effectively because
according to Mr. Johnson she is bound to provide consultancy services according to the will of
manager which is not ethical.

Henceforth, Mr. Johnson states that, the development of software which enables the
individual in decoding employees personal information are all problems which arise due to
advancement in technology and lead to the business ethical dilemma where the employer gets
confused between his or her moral values and business values. Employees are asset to the entity
and the management cannot afford to hurt the sentiments and peep into someone personal life by
making illegal use of technology. When monitoring over employees with the use of
technological surveillance employer do not know when the electronic surveillance becomes
spying which is unethical. Moreover, forcing employees to practice unethical practice is illegal
and punishable offense therefore it is important for the manager to work under business ethical
values.
Solutions proposed after Dilemma
There are various problems faced by Lille, it has been evaluated that the major issues
arising in between manager and Lille are unethical use of advancement of technology that is
cameras and forcing Lille for wrong doings. In the above scenario the Lille is in ethical dilemma
where she is confused between its moral and organisational values. Ethical issues face in
organisation which have particular situation according to the moral values like to evaluate the
right and wrong in the situation.
According to the above analysis, the electronic surveillance is necessary for the
management in order to monitor over the activities of employees but the employer should
maintaining some ethics which aims at keeping the information of employees confidentiality.
Further, there are so many options available to business when it comes to monitoring and
reviewing. Hence, to avoid such practices which will lead to ethical dilemma the employer
should have written policies which should be given to employees at the time of recruitment to
Enact a code of ethics. This policy will ensure both employer and workers to understand how to
behave and carry out organisational activities at workplace.
 Inform employees: Lille should make full disclosure about the monitoring and reviewing
systems in the firm which is implemented to keep a check over productivity of staff members
and which the manager is following which is interrupting the personal space of employees.
 Uphold ethical standards: Lille should stick by her ethical standards which aims at
lodging complaint against manager for threatening her and guiding wrong to students by its
awful consultancy services.

 Encourage participation: Lillee should inform other colleagues about the unethical
business situation which are conducted by manager. It will assist her in analysing other wring
practices which are being conducted by manager (Michaelson 2017).
Henceforth, there are some basic ethics which assisted Lille in dealing business ethical situations
such as,
Normative Ethics: It the type of Ethic which helps the individuals in figuring out the right
ethical moral according to the situation.
Meta Ethics: It helps the person in seeking out the judgements and nature of ethical
properties like the reason behind the moral principals of the individuals.
Applied Ethics: This helps the person in applying theories to the moral values' ion order
to get the right and perfect solution to the problem.
Moral Ethics: In this branch of Ethics, person questions the aspects behind the
development of morality in them.
Descriptive Ethics: Description ethics is scientific approach to ethical dilemma in which
individual focus on the situations which they face in their business.
Apart from this, Mr Johnson, Lille father ask her to complaint against his manager
because providing wrong consultancy services to Students will spoil many careers therefore her
father asked to not think about her career instead she should think ethical for all the students
which will be on wrong path just because of wrong guidance (Wang and Calvano, 2015). Her
father believed that securing the interest of innocent people should be the foremost priority of
humans. According to ethical learning of father Lille should lodge complaint against XYZ which
will assist in stopping wrongful activities.

PART B
Appendix A
Mike is a person who follows his instincts which come from his learning of moral values
and ethics he is retired lecturer from Malmo, Sweden. He used to teach business ethics from past
many years. Further, he is the man of his words and values and follow his ethics in every
situation of his life. Moreover, he believed that business ethics comes from the top management.
Besides, he notices that the ethics enables the skills of decision making and good rules in
personal and professional life. Furthermore, he has one daughter who is working as fund
manager in Alfaraft AB. Mike also taught her daughter to believe in moral ethics which will
assist her in decision making in her entire life.
According to Mike ethical leadership in business starts from top level of management. He
also stated that working according to ethics helps the individual in good decision making and
establishing rules and standards which will help the person and organisation in entire their life.
Further, Mike believed that Ethical leadership in the business helps the enterprise in establishing
strong foundation for personal characteristics that guides the individual and the business ethical
beliefs values and decisions. In this case, Business ethics, Mike is not satisfied with the job of
her daughter she does not have even a single minute to spend at home as she is buy seeking for
bonus and working overtime.
Furthermore, Mike believes and have the ethical codes of conduct and good cooperate
governance in written and that is why he is confused that what kind of company is AB where his
daughter is working. His daughter Anna who used to care environment and social problems is
now just involved with her job and seeks for bonus. Mike is worried as according to him what
type of organisation is AB that her daughter is graduate from Business school and now turned to
bonus seeking executive. Hence, he is like what king of guidelines the company following that
the employee so not have time to eat and rest. Further, the code of governance followed by the
Mike states that the business should maintain some rules like, compliance with legal framework,
rules codes and standards of the country. According to Mike the Alfaraft AB is exploiting the
code of ethics which are governance of risk, corporate citizenship and ethical leadership.
Hence, Mike uses to follow and teach the principle of ethical leadership as he strongly
believed that it is important enhance the reputation instead of making profits or exploiting
anyone rights. Besides, he also used to teach this to his student because ethical leadership assist

the individual in boosting morale and loyalty towards people. Mike has followed this entire his
life because he understands that Ethical leadership enhances the principles which tend to guide a
person basic moral values and business codes of behaviour for its leader and staff members
working with the enterprise.
In case of her daughter, mike evaluated that the company is facing problems with
business associates and external stakeholders and that is why the Alfaraft AB is putting pressure
and workload on their employees. The company is exploiting the moral and values under human
rights which states the protection and quality of workers.
However, when Mike felt that the things are unacceptable and executives are seemed to
mouth the words of corporates codes but not actions he decided to stand for the right of his
daughter all the other executives working with Anna. Further, Mike protested and occupied the
ground floor of the company in order to stop the unreliable activities of business expansion.
Hence, the ethical dilemma plays a major role in deciding the right and wrong in situation like
this and also assist the individual in managing the directions of their lives so it is important for
the people to consider their ethical values instead of measurable outcomes in life.

Appendix B
According to the case, Borrie, the accountant executive planned holiday to his girlfriend
place to meet her parents but before one week, he got the call from his manager to be present at
the launch of the product. The organisation also said that they will reimburse his holiday cost.
Further, according to the situation, Borrie was in deep ethical dilemma as both the things were
important for him. In addition to this when his friend said that he is a coward he was
disappointed but at the same time he was confused as he was unable to decide the right and
wrong in both the situations (Silva, Till, and Adshead 2017).
Borrie had two choices, either he can ignore his business and can continue his holiday
plan or he can attend the business launch and cancel his holiday plan. The ethical dilemma
between both the situation is deep as the one circumstance is personal and other one is
professional. Besides, Accountant analysed the situation as the business is helping him to earn
livelihood whereas his girlfriend is his priority. Therefore, Borrie tried to talk to his girlfriend
Swee lan and she was very upset after hearing and even claimed that her parents will be
disappointed as he never met them because of cancelling the plan again and gain.
Hence, after all the confusion Borrie choose his business as he knew the opportunity
could benefit him for long run and he had faith on his family that they will understand his
situation. Further, after the decision his friend called him coward as he cancelled his family plan
but he ignored as he took the decision after evaluating various circumstances like he knew the
business has given him a lot and is even repaying for cancellation. Moreover, the understanding
between Swee lan and Borrie was good so after analysing he made his choices.
In contrast, I agree with the decision as I trust in believing the instincts and when Borrie
got confused between the two situation he examined the consequences of choosing one out of
two. Further, the decision of choosing professional life was perfect because he can make his
girlfriend understand, but if he had chosen his family first than it is possible that he could have
lost his job because his manager already cleared him, that this launch was important in order to
stand out of the competition (Congress 2017).
Ethical dilemma is situation of making ethical decision after identifying and managing
personal moral values. I also feel whenever there is conflict between the ethical principles,
individual should choose ethical decision making process between personal and professional
values. Moreover, the individual should seek supervision, self reflection and value clarification

process. Hence, in case of Ethical dilemma person should make possible framing's which will
them in evaluating the right decisions (McWha, Frost and Laing 2017). Ethical values and
decision of the individual is sometime depends on his or her upbringing of the person like what
moral values he or she has learned in their entire life.
Henceforth, analysing the ethical dilemma is not easy as Borrie was conflicting between
his personal and professional life. It was hard to choose his business first because it would have
affected his personal relationship but he risked it and tried to make her and other people
understand the reason behind his choices. Moreover, choosing one out of two situation does
mean that the individual do not respect the other situation or person but it is that, the Borrie
thought it is easy to deal with his personal life instead of professional. In contrast, Borrie even
replied to the comment COWARD that he was just trying to do his best as he is working with the
organisation from a very long time.

Appendix C
The role play activity helped me to analyse the situation of ethical dilemma. Moreover,
working in team assisted me in leaning interpersonal skills like measuring the ability to operated
within the business through interaction and social communications. Besides i even managed in
team as it was the first time when I took initiative to working in team. Team work helps in
guiding various strategies of mentoring, group work, decision making, delegation, and
collaboration.
I even identified the importance of team work in personal and professional life like,
working in team assist in managing time, learning new things, adapting and adjusting. Whereas,
interpersonal skills like, verbal and non verbal communication, listening skills, negotiation,
problem solving, decision making and assertiveness helps in dealing with personal and
professional lives ethical dilemma. Moreover, I noticed that the these skills enhances the
knowledge resolving conflicts between two situation which leads to Ethical dilemma (Johnson
Liu and Burgess 2017).
Henceforth, the situation of Ethical Dilemma in Role play helps me in examining the
consequences of various situation which can affect the lives. In contrast, working in team
assisted me in analysing various aspects like, setting personal and shared goals. Earlier it was
very hard for me to manage my meetings and task but after the role play activity everything turn
out to be easy for me. Besides the activities enhanced my presentation, time management,
problem solving and reflective skills. The major change in me after the role play was that, I
started keeping records of my work and meetings which helps me in measuring my performance
in personal and professional life. Hence, I will say that it is important to take part in extra
curricular activities in order to stand out in the market competition and also to deal with Ethical
Dilemma.
Virtue Ethical theory
 This ethical theory considers the individual ethical rights which are based on his or her
character.
 Secondly it includes characteristics of person when working like in professional life.
 Lastly it considers the professional ethics in the individual which can be when working
and when not working

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Albrecht, C., and et.al., 2010. Business ethics journal rankings as perceived by business ethics
scholars. Journal of Business Ethics. 95(2). pp.227-237.
Congress, E.P., 2017. What social workers should know about ethics: Understanding and
resolving practice dilemmas. Social Work Ethics. p.1909.
Wang, L.C. and Calvano, L., 2015. Is business ethics education effective? An analysis of gender,
personal ethical perspectives, and moral judgment. Journal of Business Ethics. 126(4).
pp.591-602.
Trevino, L.K. and Nelson, K.A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Gustafson, A., 2013. In defense of a utilitarian business ethic. Business and Society Review.
118(3).pp.325-360.
Hamington, M. and Sander-Staudt, M. eds., 2011. Applying care ethics to business. Springer
Science & Business Media. (Vol. 34).
Johnson, R.L., Liu, J. and Burgess, Y., 2017. A model for making decisions about ethical
dilemmas in student assessment. Journal of Moral Education. 46(2). pp.212-229.
Koehn, D., 2013. East meets west: Toward a universal ethic of virtue for global business.
Journal of business ethics. 116(4). pp.703-715.
McPherson, D., 2013. Vocational virtue ethics: Prospects for a virtue ethic approach to business.
Journal of Business Ethics. 116(2). pp.283-296.
McWha, M., Frost, W. and Laing, J., 2017. Sustainable travel writing? Exploring the ethical
dilemmas of twenty-first-century travel writers. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. pp.1-
17.
Michaelson, C., 2017. Virtual Special Issue on Humanities and Business Ethics. Journal of
Business Ethics. pp.1-4.
Nedelko, Z., Mulej, M. and Potočan, V., 2017. How to requisitely holistically consider internal
gaps of business ethic. Kybernetes. 46(6).
Silva, E., Till, A. and Adshead, G., 2017. Ethical dilemmas in psychiatry: when teams disagree.
BJPsych Advances. 23(4). pp.231-239.

Online
Mann, T., 2015. What Causes an Ethical Dilemma in Conducting Business? [Online]. Available
through: <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/causes-ethical-dilemma-conducting-business-
23439.html>. [Accessed on 14th August 2017].