Luke is an employee of ABC who is currently working on a project to build an adult entertainment retail store on a land recently acquired by the company. According to the plan of the land, the adult entertainment store is to be brought up on the corner neighborhood where his brother, Owen resides. However, it is common knowledge that as soon as the store’s plan are made public, the property values around that neighborhood will decrease significantly. Luke’s brother is considering selling his house for an average price in the current estate market. However, Owen has not made a decision on whether he wants to sell it now for the current market price or wait for a few more years with the hope that the market price will appreciate. The project plans are to be made public only a month from today.
Ethical issue
The ethical issue in Luke’s situation is his dilemma to either maintain the trust of his company or his brother. Luke has an obligation of confidentiality towards his company. On the other hand, he has a responsibility towards his brother. He is conflicted on whose confidence to break. If he tells his brother about the company’s plan, he is breaking a confidentiality code and may cause huge losses to the company; in addition to this, he may be liable for any legal actions that the company may decide to take against him. On the other hand, if he decides to keep the company’s plans, he will break a relationship that he has built with his brother for many years; furthermore, due to the subsequent fall in the market price caused by the construction of the adult store, Owen will have to sell the house at a throw away price and this will further deteriorate his relationship with his brother.
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Analysis
In the situation that Luke is in, he may decide to use the golden rule or virtue ethics to help him make a decision. According to the golden rule, people should only do to others what they expected to be done to them if placed on the same position. By the same token, virtue ethics as an approach concentrates on an individual’s character as the principal element of virtuous thinking rather than the rules about the acts to be committed or the consequences thereafter. Both theories focuses on the inner ability of a person to make the right choice not just because the rules force them to or because they will be punished or rewarded for making the decision but because they know in their minds that the decision made is the right decision and incase the tables turned, they would be happy with the decision made. In Luke’s situation, both theories can be approached to find a solution to his dilemma.
Recommendation
In Luke’s situation, I would first recommend him to talk to the company and explain his conflicting situation. By doing so, his participation in the project will be terminated and this may provide him with the chance to talk to his brother about the plans. However, if he signed a confidentiality agreement with the company and therefore he has no authority to divulge the information to anyone, then he will have to crush his brother’s hope of estate prices ever going up in the market and persuade him into selling his house immediately before the plans are publicized. On the other hand, if Luke has no binding confidentiality agreement with ABC and he trusts his brother not to spread the news, he will have to tell him about the upcoming project and the depreciative effect it will have on the estate’s market price. This will help Luke maintain the trust with his brother and the same he will not have committed any crime as far as the company and the law is concerned.
