Ethical Dilemma in the Workplace: To Disclose or Not to Disclose

Running head:MANAGEMENT
MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1MANAGEMENT
Part 1
In this essay, I will highlight one of the instances of an ethical dilemma that I have
recently faced at my workplace.
Last week, while I was passing the cafeteria of my workplace during the lunchtime, I
heard my team lead and my manager talking. Initially, I thought it was regarding a specific
client project, the deadline issue, or some other regular issues. However, I overheard Mia’s
name in the conversation and stopped to listen further. Mia and I have been working together
from day one. We joined this organization on the same date and we were given the same role
and designation. Our friendship grew with time and we soon became more than just
colleagues. We began to hang out together after office hours.
Events leading to dilemma - I overheard the conversation of my team lead and my manager
that they are going to initiate termination of Mia. To put it simply, Mia was going to be laid
off at the end of the quarter, which is, within the next two weeks. I was shocked to hear the
news since Mia has been one of the best performers throughout the previous season. I did not
understand why they chose her name for termination.
Honesty, fairness and caring are the values that were in conflict in the given scenario.
The value of fairness was at conflict because it was not fair on part of the manager to plan
Mia’s termination since she has been an excellent performer and there was no justification for
her termination. The personal value of caring in this situation was in conflict because I was in
a dilemma being her friend as to whether let Mia know about this news or wait for the event
to take place and let her know on her own. Honesty as a value was in conflict because the
team lead and manager, both were not being honest to Mia as to why they were terminating
her.

2MANAGEMENT
At first, I did not know what to do – should I go and tell Mia now or should I just
confirm the news further? Ultimately, I decided to stay quiet for the time being and wait for
further confirmation about the news. I thought if I tell Mia, now then she might try to confirm
this by talking to my team lead or my manager, which would not be a good thing for me. On
the scale of 1-10 regarding how happy I am with my decision, I would rate myself 6.
Part 2
Although I had resolved my ethical dilemma by keeping quiet for the time being, I
was not feeling comfortable having to hide this news from Mia’s knowledge. While on one
side, it was my dear friend’s career and breaking the news to her might be helpful to give her
the time to initiate her search for a new and better opportunity within the upcoming two
weeks. On the other side, I knew that overhearing the conversation was unethical on my part
and if Mia exposes my name to the manager then my job might be in danger as well. I kept
mum, decided not to disclose the information to Mia and followed the ethical principles
towards my company. I preferred adhering by the norms of workplace integrity by following
the ethical and moral principles of an honest employee over being a mere friend to Mia.
Out of 10, I rated my decision to keep quiet, six. The reason is I personally feel that
though I kept shut keeping in mind the emotional nature of my friend and to save myself
from being fired from the job, somewhere down the line I feel that I violated the norms of
morality. First, I overheard a conversation that I was not supposed to do and second, I hid the
shocking news from the person who was the topic of the discussion.
In the sections that follow, I will be analyzing my ethical dilemma from the
perspective of two ethical theories that fall under consequentialism and non-consequentialism
theories.