Ethical And Moral Issues Faced By Managers


Before even asking someone what are the ethical and moral issues faced by managers, do we actually know what does the term ‘ethical’ and ‘moral’ mean? Have we ever searched the meaning somewhere or are we simply using it because everyone else uses it, without bothering to know what it means. According to the Webster’s dictionary, “Ethics is the part of philosophy that studies foundations of the morals; it is the set of moral principles which is the basis of someone’s conduct”.

 

Moral Issues in Knowledge Management System

The ethical and moral issues faced by managers will differ from profession to profession. Even in same profession since no two situations are same hence, the issues faced will be different each time it occurs. The issues may be similar but they will never be the same. For example, in knowledge management industry, one has to deal with Knowledge Management strategy and systems. When we leave an organization, we leave all official documents in the office. But what do we do about the information which is stored in our brain? Is it morally or even ethically right for us to divulge that information once we join a new place of work or even use it to start one’s own?

 

Moral Issues in Health care Industry

Similar issues happen in the health care industry. The manager in the hospital prohibits the nurses or the doctors to give any kind of sedative or pain killers to the people without signing the consent letter. This is done precisely to make sure that the patient is not under the influence of drugs while signing the letter. The ethical and moral issues faced by managers in this case are how correct is to do this or follow such a procedure when it may happen that the patient may sign the consent letter for the want of that medicine to subside the pain.

 

Moral Issues in Corporate World

Even in the corporate world, one may find a lot of examples of ethical and moral issues faced by managers. But it happens so that a lot many people tend to give in and over a period of time one’s conscience stops posing these questions to you. One very common scenario is of cracking sexual jokes in the office where members of the opposite sex and supposedly, targets of the joke are present. Sexual joking is a very unpleasant form of harassment. The individual harassed in such a scenario does not know whether to protest or to succumb. They tend to feel that if they participate, it will lessen the impact, but there have been incidents when this behavior has had a negative impact. In such cases, justice has been denied knowing fully well that though the victim participated, his intention was definitely not to enjoy.

 

During the time of performance evaluation, we see that negative feedback is very prompt but positive work is denied such a gesture. Why is that so? If a manager is not delaying in giving negative feedback to a subordinate then it also must to give prompt positive reactions. This would give him immense pride and confidence. Here the dilemma is that when an employee is treading the correct path, do I have to praise him or not. The ethical and moral issues faced by managers giving performance evaluations, if not addressed could make a person loose interest in his work and leave the organization.

 

Though not that easy but the ethical and moral issues faced by managers can only be solved by the managers themselves. This debate has been going on for quite some time and it’s the time that one asks his own conscience as to what is correct and should be done in this situation. The solution should be such that in future, no problems are encountered. This means one has to devise a long term solution.

 

These are merely a few examples for illustration. Day in and out, one may encounter many situations where his values are questioned. Don’t get scared by the ethical and moral issues faced by managers which are listed above. These are part and parcel of every job and everyone goes through it. The result is dependent on what decisions you take in the face of such situations. Your actions will decide the course of subsequent events.



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