What Are Your Ethical Challenges?
As the financial manager of the organization, the situation leaves me in an ethical dilemma because I have either to save my career or to respect my professional ethical behavior. As such, the first challenge here is that I am in a conflict of interest. Ethically, conflict of interest is defined as a situation where an individual has to contend with two incompatible interests (Frederickson, & Rohr, 2015). In this case, the incompatible interests include my professional advancement, which depends on the financial stability of the organization, and serving in the best interest of the public and in accordance with my professional ethical guidelines. Secondly, as a financial manager, I am bound to work with the universal and organizational ethical principles. I must ensure that I work with high level of integrity and professional accountability. More so, I should also ensure that I work in a manner that inspires fairness and justice (Durkheim, 2013). However, using insincere means to code information to increase the Medicaid reimbursement is not only immoral but illegal. However, if I chose to show my professional ethics and legal requirements, the company will not receive enough amount of money to sustain it. The immediate implication will be that it will no longer pay me thus rendering me jobless.
Options
I can use several lines of options to bring this case to an end. First, I can choose to act unethically by complying with the demands of the administrator and consultant because after all "everybody does it and it goes unnoticed." As such, the company will make more funds, and the organization will have the means to sustain employees which I am amongst them. Secondly, I can choose to refuse to comply with their demands, wait for an official termination of duty or write a resignation letter. Thirdly and most fundamentally, I will stand my ground, refuse to engage in the shoddy dealings and use the available legal means of addressing this form of conflict of interest. One of the legal platforms that I could pursue is the whistleblower protection laws. After promptly understanding the federal and state laws applicable, I will whistle blow the unethical practices to the relevant authorities. The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 protects employees working in the federal government from any retaliatory action by the employer for their role in exposing illegal, dishonest or unethical tendencies in the organization. As such, this provides a valid route that I could pursue in dealing with the dilemma (Goel, & Nelson, 2014).
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Course of Action
My chosen course of action would be to whistleblow the case to the relevant federal authorities dealing with the Medicaid reimbursement. It is evident that the act is not only immoral but also illegal and also goes against my professional ethical guidelines as a finance manager. The federal agency or the employer will be prohibited by the law to take any action against me. According to the statute of whistleblowing, the law asserts that the disclosed information includes "mismanagement wrongdoing, the waste of funds, an abuse of authority, and potential risk to public health or safety” (Goel, & Nelson, 2014).
What Would Happen As A Result Of The Action?
The most appropriate thing that would happen is that investigations would ensue and the management of the organization will be reprimanded for their illegal and unethical actions aimed at selfishly boosting their revenues. The administrator will likely face fraud and misuse of authority charges. However, on my part, I might also suffer the threat of retribution from my fellow employees who will have possibly faced retrenchment as a result of lack of revenue. Furthermore, I will also lose my position as the financial manager due to revenue problems.
References
Durkheim, E. (2013). Professional ethics and civic morals . Routledge.
Frederickson, H. G., & Rohr, J. A. (2015). Ethics and public administration . Routledge.
Goel, R. K., & Nelson, M. A. (2014). Whistleblower laws and exposed corruption in the United States. Applied Economics , 46 (20), 2331-2341.
