Ethical Challenges: A Case Study Analysis of Management Dilemmas

This assignment presents a series of ethical dilemmas faced by individuals in leadership and management roles, primarily within an IT and organizational context. The scenarios include an IT manager dealing with a conflict of interest in vendor selection, a manager accommodating an employee's religious beliefs, a team leader facing consequences for financial misconduct, a process lacking quality assurance, and an IT consultant observing software use. Each situation is analyzed by identifying stakeholders, obligations, potential consequences, and relevant ethical theories such as utilitarianism, deontology and social contract theory. The analysis aims to determine the most ethical course of action in each case, emphasizing the importance of professionalism, organizational responsibility, and adherence to ethical codes of conduct. This resource is available for students needing assistance with similar assignments; Desklib offers a platform to access a variety of past papers and solved assignments.

Running head: QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
Step Situation 1 Possible questions and their answers
1 Set out the facts in a fair
balanced way
Rahul is IT manager in government department
which has 500 staffs and has several branches
across Australia. The organization is planning to
implement the ERP and for that RTF has
published in the newspapers. Two companies
responded to the advertisement. The offer of the
company A is better the offer of company B.
However, the offer and the planning for
company B is designed by Pradeep who is
accidently, the best friend of Rahul. The initial
cost for the offer made by company A is higher;
however, implementation of the plan of
company B needs tool-consultants and business-
consultant which raise the cost. Pradeep is very
keen to get the tender and contacted Rahul
regarding the offer. In this situation Rahul is
facing ethical dilemma.
2 List the main stakeholders The main stakeholders are Rahul, the employees
of Rahul’s company, company A and company
B.
3 Record the major ideas and the
rights that you see having a roll
in the decision.
At the present situation, Rahul has not taken any
decision that has violated the ethics. However,
he has to make a decision that would be ethical
and will serve truly for the organization he is

2QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
working for.
4 What obligations are they? To
whom or to what is an
obligation owed and what sort
of obligation is it?
According to the ACS code of conduct, the
decision making can be ethical if it reflects the
professionalism and it is necessary to serve the
organization with the right product. In this case,
Rahul, has been seen that the product and offer
of company A is more effective than product of
company B. Though general manager of
company B is best friend of Rahul, as a manager
he has to take the decision for greater goods.
5 What are likely consequences
for each stakeholder (Major,
short-term, long-term)
In case, if Rahul choses company B as the offer
is made by his best friend Pradeep, Company B
will get the most benefits. However, the ERP
implementation may not happen properly for
Rahul’s company. So, this organization will
suffer in long term.
6 Ethical theories The ethical theory used in order to evaluate the
situation is act of utilitarian. According to this
theory, the act can be described as ethical if the
result of the act can make most of the people
happy. According to this theory Rahul should
select company A as this company can full fill
all the requirements of ERP.
7 Summary Based on the discussion it can be said that as the
manager of the organization, it is the

3QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
What are the best action? What
should be done?
responsibility of Rahul to choose the product
that would serve best for the organization.
Step Situation 2 Possible questions and their answers
1 Set out the facts in a fair
balanced way
Ilnaz who originally belongs from Iran got a
job at CompuSoft, an Australian based
organization. After the recruitment, she found
out that she has to share office space with
another male colleague. However, Ilnaz has
come from conservative background and her
religion, she has to keep herself isolated from
unknown man. Naturally, the arrangement in
the office did not make Ilnaz happy.
2 List the main stakeholders The persons associated with this situation are
Ilnaz herself, her manager.
3 Record the major ideas and the
rights that you see having a roll
in the decision.
Currently, the manager has not taken any
decision regarding this matter. However, Ilnaz
is efficient employees and can add productivity
to the organization. Apart from that
encouraging women from her society will
inspire other women to join the workforce. In
this situation manager should take calculative
decision so that Ilnaz can work in the office
maintaining rules in her religion as well as, the

4QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
communication between the employees
working on the same project is present.
4 What obligations are they? To
whom or to what is an obligation
owed and what sort of obligation
is it?
According to the code of ACS the obligations
in this situation is to stakeholder of the
organization. In that case, it is the
responsibility of the manager to make a
decision that will assure Ilnazsuitable working
condition for her.
5 What are likely consequences
for each stakeholder (Major,
short-term, long-term)
In case, if the manager has not taken any
proper step for resolving the problem of IInaz ,
she may be forced to quit the job.
6 Ethical theories Social contact theory can be applicable in this
situation. According to this theory humans are
social animal so the ethical act should abide by
some rules and regulations of the society. In
this situation, the society of llnaz does not
allow her to work with a male co-worker. As
the social human being, it is the responsibility
of the manager to solve the problem of this
employee and respect her decision.
7 Summary
What are the best action? What
should be done?
In order to develop the project sharing of
knowledge is important. In that case, manager
can ask llnaz to work from a separate room. In
case, if any sort of communication is needed
that can be done through e-mail. This will
solve the problem of llnaz as well as the

5QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
sharing of the knowledge can be done in a
proper way.
Step Situation 3 Possible questions and their answers
1 Set out the facts in a fair balanced
way
Diana is a hardworking employee who is
serving ICT industry for many years. She is a
team leader of a team of software developers in
large company and also a member of ACS.
However, she joined in a local branch of the
Society as treasure. Due to her financial
problems she counterfeit the signature on the
cheques for drawing $5,000 for the treatment
of her child. After the investigation she proved
guilty and her ACS membership was
cancelled. However, she returned the money
she had taken. She continues to work in her
office as team leader. However, many of her
team members are member of ACS.
2 List the main stakeholders The main stakeholders are Diana, the ACS and
the members of Diana’s team.
3 Record the major ideas and the
rights that you see having a roll
in the decision.
Diana has unethically draw the money of
amount $5,000 from which cannot be
permitted. In this situation her ACS
membership got cancelled. The decision made
by ACS was right as there was lack of ethics in

6QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
her decision making process. However, she
was not terminated from her current job as she
has not done anything wrong in her work
place.
4 What obligations are they? To
whom or to what is an obligation
owed and what sort of obligation
is it?
According to the code of ethics of ACS to
foster professionalism is important in the
ethical act. The act of Diana, was not
professional. In case, if she needed money she
can ask that amount on lend for higher
authority. She could easily get the loan as that
money would spend on the treatment of her
daughter.
5 What are likely consequences for
each stakeholder (Major, short-
term, long-term)
Diana has a bright career and she is efficient at
her work. However, her act in taking the
money from the treasury has made her
reputation down to herself and her co-workers.
6 Ethical theories The act of deontology can be helpful to
evaluate the situation. In this case, the ethical
attribute is evaluated through the action itself.
Counterfeit the money from the treasury is not
an ethical action in this case.
7 Summary
What are the best action? What
should be done?
Diana has lost her membership at ACS due to
her unethical practice as treasurer. The
decision that has made against het is justified.
However, her role in the software development
company has not changed. This is because,

7QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
Diana has not done anything wrong in software
development organization she is working for.
Step Situation 4 Possible questions and their answers
1 Set out the facts in a fair balanced
way
Live data is used in the final testing of the new
system. The output of the testing is then
approved by the quality assurance team. After
that the report is produced to the client. In this
case, the output of the analysis of new system
directly generated as report to the clients
without the approval of quality assurance.
2 List the main stakeholders The main stakeholders in this situation are the
quality assurance team, testing team and the
clients of the organization. The generation of
the report has been done without the formal
approval of the quality assurance which is not
desirable. In this case the affected side can be
both client of the system development
company.
3 Record the major ideas and the
rights that you see having a roll in
the decision.
The development of the each process needs
proper stages to go through. Quality assurance
is one of those steps that plays an important
role in evaluation of the quality of the analysis.
Depending on the feedback, correction and
modifications can be done. However,

8QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
somehow, QA step has been missed and the
output is generated as report to the clients. It
indicates the lack of professionalism for the
organization which is not desirable.
4 What obligations are they? To
whom or to what is an obligation
owed and what sort of obligation is
it?
According to the ACS, Ethical act in the
professional practice should promote
professionalism and will help to eliminate
professional misleading acts. On the basis of
these two attributes it can be said that skipping
the quality step in the data analysis is not
ethical practice.
5 What are likely consequences for
each stakeholder (Major, short-
term, long-term)
The consequence of this negligence can be bad
for both the client and system development
organization. The client can complain about the
quality of the analysis. In that case, the client
can ask to revise the whole system. Company
will face loss in that case. The goodwill of the
organization will also be affected.
6 Ethical theories Act of utilitarian can be applied in this
situation. According to this theory of ethics an
act can be said ethical it its result or
consequence can produce greater good for the
most of the people. However, skipping the QA
testing will not produce good consequences for
both the organization and clients.
7 Summary Live data analysis is done and the outcome is

9QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
What are the best action? What
should be done?
not checked by the QA team. The direct
generation of report has been done to the client.
In this case, it can be said that the process is not
ethical as it is not making sure that the clients
are getting the right quality of the product. In
order to modify the process proper monitoring
is needed to be done.
Step Situation 5 Possible questions and their answers
1 Set out the facts in a fair balanced
way
As an IT training consultant in my firm my job
is to observe the use of new accounting
software by the junior management in large
accounting firm. The name and the information
of the junior managers who are working in the
firm would anonymous. The policy of the
company states that in case if the profit of the
company gets hampered due to the employees
their salary will be deducted.
2 List the main stakeholders The main stakeholders in this situation are the
IT training consultant, junior managers, the
organization they are working for. For the
mistakes made during the handling of the
systems by the junior managers, company’s
profit is affected negatively. So, in this case,
most affected stakeholder is the organization

10QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
itself.
3 Record the major ideas and the
rights that you see having a roll in
the decision.
The idea that I have regarding this matter is that
I must inform the management of the
organization that there is a lack of proper
training for junior management and in order to
make them more efficient proper training is
needed to be given. Giving training would be
the responsibility of the company. I can justify
my decision, as most of the employees are
making the same mistake implies that the
mistake is not done intentionally and there is a
lack of training and understanding.
4 What obligations are they? To
whom or to what is an obligation
owed and what sort of obligation is
it?
According the ACS ethical obligations include
the product of safe and quality product and
foster professionalism in the industry. The
mistakes done by the junior managers are not
reflecting their professionalisms along with that
company are losing its profit. However, this
situation can be solved through taking
necessary steps.
5 What are likely consequences for
each stakeholder (Major, short-
term, long-term)
The consequences are already faced by the
organization. In this case, I can feel that the
company is not monitoring the situation in a
proper way.
6 Ethical theories The act of utilitarian can be applied here.
According to this theory, an act can be regarded

11QUESTION AND ANSWERS REGARDING ETHICAL SITUATIONS
as ethical if the consequence of that act do
greater good for most of the people. The
decision I have taken regarding the mistakes
made by the management juniors will make the
organization to train them in a proper way that
will increase their efficiency. Apart from that
their salary will not be deducted that would
benefit them a lot.
7 Summary
What are the best action? What
should be done?
The junior managements are making a mistake
while using the newly implemented system for
the accounting organization. In this case, as
many of the employees are doing the same
mistake, it can be said that this mistake is not
intentional.
Step Situation 6 Possible questions and their answers
1 Set out the facts in a fair balanced
way
Simon is network engineer in an organization
and one day he discovered that his manager has
installed desktop sharing software in his
system. However, Simon was unaware about
this implementation and feels that management
does not trust him. However, manager said that
management has every right to monitor the
activities of employees
2 List the main stakeholders The people involved in this situation are Simon