Introduction and Summary
The subject of ethics in personal life and employment status has long been debated. Generally, the society places a high value on acceptable characters. Ethical standards are flexible, and this has been evident in the debates going on among experts and commoners on ethical concerns as influenced by changing the culture, technology, and other factors. The article by Cranford (1998) addresses the subject of drug testing in the work environment as a means of mitigating losses resulting on drug-related use such as accident costs, compensation, and other performance implications resulting from an employee team weighed down by drug use.
Authors Arguments and the Main Point
To begin with, Cranford (1998) justifies drug testing by arguing that drug use has negative consequences on the work product and working environment in ways that affect not only the workplace but also the society. He argues that drug testing should be carried out further for its economic and social benefits but should be conducted under the work contract as far as it allows. The reasoning controls the applicability of drug testing because work contract that does not include it as a recommendation would disallow the employer from doing it. Moreover, it permits and creates awareness among employers to include drug testing in their contracts and conduct it on their employees.
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Evidence Supporting the Main Point
The main point revolves around the ethicality and legality of drug testing. The Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution forbids the infringement of citizens’ privacy. Therefore, a work contract must be used and other societal concerns brought into discussion for the issue to be legal and ethical. Thus, the infringement of personal privacy is allowed if it has both social and economic implications on the economy and society.
How the Topic of This Article Apply to My Professional Life
Ethics is a broad subject. One topic influences another thereby resulting in a chain of related ethical issues. In this case, drug testing is justified for its economic benefit to the employer but is supported by its benefit to the society. Thus, the veil protecting personal life is pierced without a confrontation. The principle of cause and effect (one action resulting in another) can be adopted in other areas: the use of drugs among employees causes economic damages. Therefore, the need for regulation will warrant some investigation of the worker’s lives (Bayne, 2012). For example, the review of employees’ use of social media is a debated subject. If an employee’s use of social media affects the work environment negatively by causing a commotion among employees, disagreements between employee and employer or destroying the firm’s public image, the employee can use the principle of cause and effect to check the employee’s social media platforms and interrogate them for any violent act. Therefore, understanding how arguments are made in this topic is essential to handling cases in other crucial ethical concerns.
How the Topic Applies to an Organization, I Have Observed
This topic is crucial to an industry engaged in heavy metals such as steel industry and medicine. Under such environments, it is inevitable to do with drug testing to ensure the safety of the employees and patients alike.
The Role of Leadership in Corporate Culture
The leadership should undertake an active role of guiding employees on ethical practices as well as ensuring that terms and conditions at workplaces cover ethical issues that are acceptable and in line with societal norms. The strategy prevents the prevent leadership from exploiting employees or a careless introduction of ethical rules to serve the interest of the employer.
Leadership Styles and Effect on Ethical Decision-Making
Leadership style has much to do with the ethical decision-making process. Dictatorial, conservative, and liberal leadership will produce different decisions. Leadership styles will vary at each level. When generating an ethical practice, the leader should be considerate and listening. At the implementation stage, he has to be strict and authoritative to guarantee success although it might get serious when an employee has to be punished (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015)
Inherent Unethical Practices with Drug Testing, Though It Is Technically Legal
Drug use is a social problem as it affects not just the employer but the individual, family, and society as well. Conducting a test where the contract does not allow by using unsupported claims is unethical. Drug testing procedures serve to protect the economic interests of the employer as the primary function casts aspersion on the procedure.
Ethics at the workplace is an economy driver and goes farther to improve the social health of the community. Leaders and people of other calibers have a joint role in ensuring ethical practices abound in society. Generation and implementation of ethical practices should be at the same level as the legal and societal norms to avoid confusion at workplaces. Moreover, the community and leadership should be flexible to arising situations, which may necessitate a revision of long-held positions.
References
Bayne, S. M. (2012). Kant on Causation: on the fivefold routes to the principle of causation . SUNY Press.
Cranford, M. (1998). Drug testing and the right to privacy: Arguing the ethics of workplace drug testing. Journal of Business Ethics, 17 (16), 1805-1815. Retrieved from https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=12146315&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases . Nelson Education.
