Consequences of Ethical Decision Making

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1 Consequences of Ethical Decision Making Name Couse Institution Professor Date

2 Consequences of Ethical Decision Making Making the correct or bad choices that affect people or organizations intrudes into daily issues and living. Ethics refers to what a person believes to be morally appropriate conduct and moral character. Decisions made by leaders must be in the best interests of those who work for them and the people they lead. Leaders deal with values that affect the people they lead and the ideals of the companies they serve when practicing ethical leadership (Northouse, 2016). This paper provides an ethical dilemma faced by leaders at Johnson and Sons Company and the ethical framework the company applied to make the decision. Finally, the negative and positive consequences are examined, including the trade-off that the organization and leadership made in the decision-making process. The Ethical Dilemma In order to establish marketing strategies, be innovative, improve the quality of services, and even produce new products for the firm, employees frequently work in teams. However, not all team members are typically involved in the creation of the final product. Employees at Johnson & Sons were obliged to work in teams on a variety of initiatives, from creating product designs and rebranding to thinking up promotional campaigns, as the company was in the midst of launching a new product. The staff was divided into ten-person teams and got to work on the project. A challenge was presented to the team designing the items because only six of the ten team members completed the whole project. So when the end product was successful for the organization, the six employees that put in the most effort requested more recognition for their contributions while emphasizing that the other four team members made no contribution to the project’s success. Regardless of whether they were the business’s better-skilled employees, this marked out these personnel and caused discontent. They also ran the risk of promotion or

3 retrenchment. The four workers are awaiting a management decision after being placed on indefinite leave. Employees are discrediting their coworkers in this situation in an effort to ensure that they somehow get all the credit for the project completed. Employees that are singled out as a result of this act may experience resentment and perhaps face the possibility of losing their jobs because of their incompetence. The conundrum is whether to give appreciation to all participants equally or to the people who actually completed the effort while fining, waring, or firing the other four employees. Applicable Ethical Framework The ethical framework that should be applied by the company should be the consequential and non-consequential model after knowing the company values. The organization has formed a set of values, and it is required of every worker to uphold them. Integrity, honesty, diligence, respect, and discipline in the workplace are some examples of these principles (Hoover & Pepper, 2015). The consequential model holds that an individual or group’s activities will be assessed by the results; hence, if a behavior produces positive outcomes, it is morally right, but if it produces negative results, it is immoral (Gustafson, 2013). When presented with an ethical conundrum, the non-consequential model holds that one or more elements other than the results should be seen or taken into account (Gustafson, 2013). Gustafson (2013) suggests that the leaders of Johnson and Sons Company would like to reach a judgment that is fair to all parties without firing employees or demoralizing others based on the aforementioned framework. It is crucial that the business determines its values in terms of dedication and hard work before adopting the non-consequential model, which requires them to take into account additional factors in addition to the final results that may be attributed to the employees’ underperformance on the project (Albert et al., 2015).

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4 The decision-making process should lead the leadership to recognize that in Johnson and Sons Company, all workers should be prepared to accept equal appreciation even though only a few individuals executed the entire project; as long as the organization values unity and cooperation as its primary values, then equitable appreciation should supersede any other premise (Hoover & Pepper, 2015). Moreover, according to the non-consequential method, the leadership should decide that each individual is supposed to do certain duties and responsibilities inside projects and should be highlighted by members of the team so that the final outcome is the product of the team’s collaborative efforts. Only in this way can employees feel equally appreciated. Positive and Negative Consequences of the Decision The decision has both negative and positive consequences. The benefit of suspending the employees while they wait for the board’s decision is that the business will have plenty of time to review the four individuals’ credentials and determine whether they were employed on the basis of merit or because of some close connection to the human resources department. It is also a valuable lesson for the suspended workers to learn because they would not let their negligence and laziness show at work if they were allowed to continue working at the company. The business should view this as a chance to create a solid structure establishing team responsibilities, in which every member has participated in a certain way to finally minimize the level of blame or praise-seeking ( Hartog & Belschak, 2012). If a comprehensive review of the employees reveals that they have poor professional experience and record, the corporation can also take advantage of this by dismissing or retrenching the employees and finding suitable replacements.

5 The choice also has the disadvantage of putting the business in a vulnerable position because it may lead to staff turnover. If management decides to locate alternatives for the suspended employees, the business should be prepared to spend extra money advertising these positions and holding productive interviews. This choice could potentially take a lot of time away from the company’s operations as a result of the gap left by the four suspended employees. The decision to suspend or fire coworkers may have left some employees feeling discouraged since they now believe that if one person blows the whistle on another, there would be repercussions. The move might also lead to internal conflict amongst employees because it would be difficult for them to form teams going forward (Hartog & Belschak, 2012) because they would all be aware of individuals who could harm their careers or reputations. Every leader should possess high moral intelligence as a key leadership trait. Negative and bad behavior can occasionally be rewarded in the workplace, although this is a transient phenomenon. On the other hand, if good behavior is constantly practiced, there are numerous long-term advantages. Everyone has the potential to be a leader, but it is crucial to apply a framework while managing others, particularly when dealing with the moral dilemmas that face organizations (Northouse, 2016). Thus, in order to cope with ethical difficulties, leaders and managers should understand how to apply their principles, which should be consistent with the company’s values. Rights, utility, and justice trade-offs frequently occur in ethical decisions. The rights cover the right to a position, opinion, speech, or anything else. The value that is provided to the stakeholders in the business organization is referred to as utility. The fair distribution of suffering and pleasure is a component of justice. Given that choices tend to follow one another, these trade-offs will force leaders to resolve ethical dilemmas. As a result, each leader must choose a

6 strategy for resolving these moral dilemmas (Northouse, 2016). The leadership should take into account the importance these employees provide to the numerous company’s stakeholders because suspending them was unjust and discriminated against the workers. These four employees were given a second opportunity during the decision-making process and needed to be restored. In sum, ethics refers to what a person believes to be morally appropriate conduct and principled character. Decisions made by leaders must be in the best interests of those who work for them and the people they lead. In this case, it is seen that there is an ethical decision to be made by the company’s leadership. The decision made has negative and positive consequences for the company. Thus, the leaders could weigh these consequences before making the decision. Employee morale is essential, and they could apply the non-consequential framework to only suspend and then reinstate the employees with proper reprimanding or final warnings that would ensure that the issue is not repeated.

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7 References Albert, L., Reynolds, S., & Turan, B. (2015). Turning inward or focusing out? Navigating theories of interpersonal and ethical cognitions to understand ethical decision- making. Journal of Business Ethics , 130 (2), 467–484. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2236-2 Gustafson, A. (2013). In defense of a utilitarian business ethic. Business & Society Review (00453609) , 118 (3), 325–360. doi:10.1111/basr.12013 Hartog, D., & Belschak, F. (2012). Work engagement and Machiavellianism in the ethical leadership process. Journal of Business Ethics , 107 (1), 35–47. Hoover, K., & Pepper, M. (2015). How did they say that? Ethics statements and normative frameworks at best companies to work for. Journal of Business Ethics , 131 (3), 605–617. doi:10.1007/s10551-014-2255-z Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Consequences of Ethical Decision Making

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