Chapter Five of Linda Klebe Trevino and Katherine A. Nelson’s book, Straight Talk About How To Do It Right , talks about how a person can best deal with the most common ethical problems. According to the authors, if people consider all of the perspectives concerning ethical problems and rehearse what they would say or do in those situations, their chance of dealing with the problems effectively and standing up for their own values sets is greatly increased. Chapter Five is designed in a very structured manner to present five areas of ethical conflict that people are most likely to encounter, with examples and discussion for each area, including people issues, conflicts of interest, customer confidence issues, use of corporate resources, and blowing the whistle. For each common area of ethical problems, the chapter discusses “what it is (a definition of the issue), why it is an ethical problem, how we can think about the issue, professional costs and possible penalties for ethical or legal transgressions, and ppecial notes and some topics that may include important information” (111-112).
When it comes to people issues, discrimination and harassment are the two common issues described in this chapter. They key word that the authors discuss in dealing with discrimination issues is “fairness” (114) and it is defined as when things other than job qualifications are used to decide how to treat an employee. Although harassment is not always sexual harassment, that is the main ethics problem discussed in the chapter. It offers terms like hostile work environment and quid pro quo so that readers can understand common legal language regarding the issue. The authors point out legislation that affects these issues in the workplace and the great costs to companies and individuals if laws regarding discrimination or harassment are ignored. A surprising point the authors make is that when it comes to law regarding harassment, the law is more concerned with how a person who is making an accusation of harassment is made to feel than it is with the intent of the accused harasser.
Conflicts of interest deal with ethical problems that surface when such as overt bribes, kickbacks, subtle bribes, influence, and privileged information are involved. The authors emphasize that trust is of chief importance in all kinds of relationships and that not behaving ethically when conflicts of interest can corrode relationships with both customers and employees. The chapter also brings up the term “fiduciary responsibilities” to describe the special relationship of trust and professional code of ethics followed in the medical, religious, law, and financial professions (126). Like discrimination and harassment, the costs of not observing ethics in situations of conflict of interest have legal ramifications, including being fired or even arrested.
Customer confidence issues deal with areas such as confidentiality, personal responsibility, and telling the truth. It’s easy to understand why confidentiality has become a big deal with the publicity Facebook receives each time it makes a change to its privacy policy. A good method to use in determining how to act in customer confidence ethical issues is for people to ask themselves if a certain action is questionable whether or not the potential costs outweigh the benefits. It is also important to take a long-term view of costs, which may be significant not only from a financial point of view, but also concerning a businesses’ and a person’s personal reputation.
Use of corporate resources is a fairly straightforward ethical issue, in which an employee’s responsibilities to their employers is of chief concern. Use of corporate reputation, use of corporate financial resources, and providing honest information are the key ethical issues. A basic way to think about this is that making resources available to employees requires an employer to trust that the employees will follow company rules, laws, and common sense when using the resources. A fair and trustworthy employer expects fair and trustworthy employees.
Finally, the chapter covers whistle blowing, which is a term used to describe reporting serious ethical issues. The authors offer in-depth questions that people can ask themselves to decide whether or not to blow the whistle, because doing so can be extremely stressful for people who decide to do it. Although there is some legal protection offered for whistle blowers, this protection can vary from state to state and relies upon people consulting legal counsel and going about things in a particular way. If a person is wrong about the situation in which they choose to blow the whistle, they can lose their job and reputation.
After reading this chapter, it is clear that ethical problems are quite common but that there are some effective strategies for dealing with them. Although the chapter cannot possibly cover every possible ethics dilemma, it provides good examples that stimulate a lot of thought about ethics situation and the importance of practicing what to do before these problems occur.
Works Cited
Treviño, Linda Klebe, and Nelson, Katherine A. Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk About How To Do It Right. 5th Ed. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print.
