Ethical Dcisions

This paper will go over two different ethical dilemmas; I will determine what I would do if I were to be faced with these problems, and why. In addition I will go over what I should do, and if they are different, say why. I will discuss the criteria of each decisions and how I came to that decision. In conclusion, I will discuss my final thoughts on the matter and hopefully, I will be able to justify my decisions as ethical.

The first ethical decision I will discuss is problem of drugs. “A crew member from the night shift’s manufacturing group has come to you as her personnel liaison with a concern about drug use on the production line. She won’t give you any specific details for fear of those involved finding out who has turned them in. she suggests that you investigate immediately but warns against involving her in any way. She asks you not to tell the other personnel liaisons because the grapevine has it that one of them may be involved” (Shockley-Zalabak, 2006, p. 132).

I have been faced with this particular dilemma at my current position, and I find that this can be a fairly sticky subject. To start off with, there could be several things going on here. In my case at work I found out the particular person was just trying to get someone else in trouble, therefore you have to be careful when accusing someone of something that could also backfire and make you look stupid.

If this is really happening, the problem seems to be with the company culture, because as she explained, one of the managers could be involved as well. If this were indeed true, there is a much more serious problem than one or two of the production crew partaking of drugs while on the job. If an employee sees someone a little higher up the management ladder doing this, they see it as the behavior is being condoned.

In this dilemma, I see the decision as clear-cut, and what I would do is also what should be done. First of all, I would pitch for a drug-free environment in the work place. Being on a production line can sometimes be dangerous as it is, not to mention the lowering of the quality of product that is being produced. Therefore, I would have a meeting to ensure that everyone understands this, and I would also put into effect a random drug test procedure. This way I am not targeting any one specific individual, and am taking the threat of slander off of the table. As in any organization, problems are not fixed overnight. However, if there is indeed a problem, it will come to light in the future under these procedures.

As with any problem in an organization, it is important to not make matters worse; therefore lowering morale. So I see this answer to the drug problem as being solved, by just changing the culture of the company, therefore letting everyone know that drug use is not condoned, and immediate termination will follow a positive drug test. This will also act as a deterrent to anyone who is thinking of using drugs