Ethical Dilemma Case Study: Navigating Cultural Differences at Work

This case study examines an ethical dilemma faced by IInaz, a 22-year-old woman from Iran, whose cultural beliefs conflict with her work environment. She is assigned to work closely with a male colleague, Mark, in an isolated setting, which violates her cultural norms. The study applies Thomas White's methodology, involving analyzing consequences and actions, to resolve the dilemma. IInaz can either request a different working arrangement, potentially jeopardizing her job, or discuss the situation with her husband, risking family disagreements. The analysis considers the ACS code of professional conduct, emphasizing competence, professionalism, and respect. The recommended course of action is for IInaz to approach her boss, appealing to the organization's ethical obligations to enhance the quality of life for all stakeholders, as outlined in the Corporations Act. Desklib provides students with access to similar case studies and solved assignments.

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Ethical Dilemma
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Case Study 5
The case involves IInaz a 22-year-old female originally from Iran. This implies that the lady is
from a culture that is different as compared to the culture of the company she operates with.
After she is awarded the job opportunity, the working conditions where she is expected to work
alongside Mark a male employee makes the whole working arrangement complicated. The
situation ends up unfolding to an ethical dilemma case where according to her culture she cannot
stay in an isolated room of place with a man who is not her husband (LaRossa, and Bennett,
2018). While on the other hand this also becomes a major issue of concern to her husband. For
this case it is important to pick the best suited methodology to help IInaz resolve the dilemma.
According to Thomas white, such a situation requires a number of steps to get it resolved. These
steps are namely the analysis of the consequences, the next step being thee analysis of the actions
to be taken (Donaldson, 2016). Finally, the last step is the decision-making.
IInaz has the option of approaching the boss and requesting for different a working arrangement
that would cost her the job. According to the ACS code of Professional conduct, under the
competence value, IInaz will be failing to accept responsibility which got her the current job
position (Barry et al., 2014). This action may yield different outcomes such as her also getting
another employee assigned with her for the project although we have no idea of the possibility of
this to happen. The other course of action would be confronting her husband and specifically
address the nature of work that they will be working on. In this case she may utilize the code of
ethics on professionalism where respect of each other’s within the working environment is
maintained and relations within the working environments kept professional behavior
(Burmeister, 2010). This action may also end up bring family disagreements in the process while

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she tries to explain this to the husband which shows her integrity value. Both actions have
significant impact on her life.
As seen from the introduction, the second step involves analyzing the actions. As seen from the
first step slight review of the actions have been mentioned. For instance, talking to the boss for
reassignment or getting a new working partner. The action may be a hard request to make since
this assignment was the main reason that helped her get the opportunity. The arrangement plans
of her teaming up with her collogue Mike was as a means of helping her learn more about the
project and help her pursue her career According to the ACS code of professional conduct this is
seen as professional development since the company intends to grow her profession since Mike
is more experienced in the sector. Hence the process of approaching the boss to try and see if the
changes towards the arrangement could be made would interfere with her job opportunity. The
other set of action is to approach her husband and share with him her thought towards the job. It
is important to proceed to the next step which is referred to as the decision-making step. I would
advise IInaz to approach her boss and see if its possible for other working arrangements to be
made. The Boss is bound by the code of ethics where they are expected to enhance the quality of
life of all the stakeholders affected by the company.
Section 181 of the Corporations Act executes a civil requirement on directors and other officials
in an organization to implement their powers and discharge their duties in good faith, in the best
interests of the corporation and for a proper purpose. Failure to execute one’s duty as a director,
the director is open for civil or criminal or a hybrid of the two offences. This means that for IInaz
to work with Mike her quality of life will be affected bac at home since she is going against their
culture as well as the husbands wish (Burmeister, 2010).

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References
Barry, L., Blair, P.G., Cosgrove, E.M., Cruess, R.L., Cruess, S.R., Eastman, A.B., Fabri, P.J.,
Kirksey, T.D., Liscum, K.R., Morrison, R. and Sachdeva, A.K., 2014. One year, and counting,
after publication of our ACS “Code of Professional Conduct”. Journal of the American College
of Surgeons, 199(5), pp.736-740.
Burmeister, O.K., 2010. Applying the ACS code of ethics. Journal of Research and Practice in
Information Technology, 32(2), pp.107-120.
Donaldson, T., 2016. Values in tension. Business in Ethical Focus: An Anthology, p.198.
LaRossa, R. and Bennett, L.A., 2018. Ethical dilemmas in family research. In The psychosocial
interior of the family (pp. 139-156). Routledge.