Work Place Ethical Dilemma

Workplace Ethical Dilemma

December 12, 2011

Kathleen Roberts

Workplace Ethical Dilemma

In society today both employers and employees alike will face ethical dilemmas in the

workplace. Ethics is described as a branch of philosophy that deals with values relating to our

conduct or behavior with respect to right or wrong. In a diverse workplace there will be

occasions when ethics do not agree and ethical dilemmas arise. Each employee has a personal set

of principles that defines our individual moral values and rules that guide our actions and

behaviors that we choose to follow to enable us to work in harmony with others (Freeman,

2000). In most situation people tend to realize that we have a standard of ethics in our individual

lives and there are ethics that we apply when we are in the workplace. Often we don't stop

to realize that there should be no difference between our individual ethics and ethics that we

apply in the workplace; ethics should be the same regardless if at work or in our personal lives At

work we may make the statement that the boss is not available because he or she told us to tell

the person on the phone that he or she was not there. After all, ethics are about making choices

that may make us feel uncomfortable or good or seem as if they in someway benefit us. Ethical

choices are the "right" choices to make based on the information that we have available at the

time of the decision and are examples of rules to live by.

A workplace ethical dilemma occurs when employees are forced to choose between what is right or wrong according to their own principles (Mayhew, 2011). An ethical dilemma occurs when a person behaves in a way that violates or goes against another persons trust, loyalty, and integrity or destroys a person's sense of worth and value. In the workplace it is important for individual's values and ethical integrity be displayed with honest behavior at all times" (Amico, 2011).

To Tell or Not to Tell

My ethical dilemma in a workplace occurred a few years ago when I worked at Aladdin's Castle an arcade gaming facility at the mall. Recently divorced and working a full time job I had taken a part time job at the arcade to earn extra money to help pay bills. My job at the arcade included assisting customers, repairing machines, making change, and cleaning up the building before closing. One evening when working I notice an envelope crumpled up on the floor between the arcade machines. I picked up the envelope and place it in my pocket until I got in the office. My hands were shaking as I opened the envelope as I saw money inside. When I counted the money I found these was a large number of 10 and 20 dollar bills that totaled more than $600. I had been busy that night with a large number of people and had not noticed what customers