The Ethics of the Use of Corporate Resources - Essay Example

The ethical dilemma that I observed in a professional environment was related to the use of corporate resources. The ethical dilemma includes a situation of my colleague that had a habit of conducting personal business on company time. The particular team member used to spend much of his time conducting his business and affairs using corporate resources. The person spent hours using the company phone lines in setting up doctor’s appointments or making phone calls to their friends who are from different sides of the business on company time. Even when the person was in a state of using the internet on an office computer, he had an interest in surfing different social networking sites on the company’s valuable time. His friend was obsessed with his behavior because it resulted in low performance.

The same colleague used to have longer conversations with other colleagues which were irrelevant and had nothing to do with business. The situation did not offer his friend to report this unethical behavior to his supervisor because the person was his dearest friend and he did not want the company to take action against his colleague. Due to his positive nature, the colleague started to continue the behavior excessively and always made his friend involved in his conversations. This also hurt his performance as he was unable to meet deadlines with the work.

Answer 2:

If I put myself in the role of a team member that had to deal with his colleague’s unethical behavior, I would have reviewed the code of conduct and the company’s philosophy regarding the attitude of that team member. I would consult with my other colleagues about the particular situation without revealing the name of any person in the scenario. This would help me understand the rules of the company regarding unethical behavior to conduct personal business on the company’s time. Then simply I would pay a visit to my colleague and let him know of his unethical behavior which is ruining the culture and philosophy of the organization. I would make him understand that his particular behavior is inflicting my performance curve with greater margins. I would make him realize that the company pays its employees for the work they have performed instead of doing personal business (Rhodes, 1986).

If still, the matter persisted with consistency, I would approach an ombudsperson that is charged with the duty of handling informal complaints from the working staff. This would allow me to make complaints against any team member regarding their behavior without revealing my name. These complaints are made confidential and the company assures employees’ anonymity in the case. This is also considered the whistle-blowing concept in which a team member has a right to share the wrongdoing practices happening within the firm with his manager and supervisor. This act would only be possible if actions made by a colleague are recognized as unethical behavior. I would not be taking action if the behavior would not result in a decrease in my performance (Garber, 2008).

Answer 3:

Ethical dilemmas often do not have clear responses unless the person has broken the law or regulations that are governed by the organization. The concept of integrity is to make the correct choice between right and wrong. Individuals can make good decisions in this case if they have been prepared for the particular situation or their ethical base is strong. A person who commits to integrity will find himself in the right situation before it requires action against an ethical dilemma. In the above case of an ethical dilemma, a team member had to make corrections to the colleague’s behavior. He had to make up his mind that the behavior he was pursuing was unethical and resulted in low performance of employees (Garber, 2008).

People always face consequences for actions that they consider right. The consequentialist approach states that no action is considered to be good or bad, the consequence of an action determines the decision (Boshoff & Kotze, 2011). The person’s performance was decreasing for the decision he had taken not to consult with his colleague or an HRM manager. The consequence was negative when the decline in performance took place. If in a code of conduct of the company, it is specifically mentioned that a team member has to inform the management about the wrongdoing of the company, then it would have been the duty of a team member to take the matter up to the management. However, there are certain grey areas that a team member has to put light upon. If personal business on company time is critical and not continuous then a person has to take it up to the manager to decide about its moral values (Garber, 2008).