Ethical Issues in the Workplace: How to Address Them

The scenario involves an ethical dilemma revolving around the conflict of interest. The issue pertains sexual harassment where an executive at company X caresses the back of a new employee. Such action is an immoral and unethical practice in the business which requires the management to handle with care ( Ferrell, 2016) . The manager is faced with a conflict of interest; hence need to make an ethical decision that will protect the employees from harassment by the executive of company X and the same time retain a good relationship with company X. Understanding of personal and company’s values will help in defining the guiding principles and beliefs in business that inform of ethics. The values that are in conflict include integrity, loyalty and professionalism. Every business or organization has the value of integrity, which governs ethical behaviours. Integrity shows the guiding principles that are followed by the organization and create an environment that supports ethical behaviour ( Hejka-Ekins, 2019) . In the scenario above, fondling of employees is unethical behaviour that is against the value of integrity and needs to be solved to avoid damage to reputation. Loyalty is another value under conflict in this scenario. The manager is faced with a dilemma on whether to show loyalty to the new employee, who is an essential external stakeholder or the client who is a vital extremal stakeholder. The decision has to satisfy every side without favouritism. Another value under conflict is professionalism which guides the working relationship between various stakeholders ( Hejka-Ekins, 2019) . While solving ethical issues, professionalism has to be observed to avoid future problems. 

When solving ethical dilemmas in the business, identification of potential stakeholders is crucial for the making of the right decision. Involving stakeholders prevent making of unethical choices which affect the future operation of the business ( Ferrell, 2016) . For this case, the stakeholders include the employees (internal) and customers (external) stakeholders. Involving the affected stakeholders is crucial in the prioritization of claim, visualizing of changes and improving performance. 

References 

Ferrell, O. C. (2016). A framework for understanding organizational ethics. In  Business ethics: New challenges for business schools and corporate leaders  (pp. 15-29). Routledge. 

Hejka-Ekins, A. (2019). Ethics in in-service training. In  Handbook of administrative ethics  (pp. 105-130). Routledge.