Week3 Ethical Decision Making - Essay Example

The case of Alex Sharkey will be analyzed first by using Badaracco’s right-right framework. It is believed that Sharkey’s action is unethical. What he is doing is actually spreading gossip. Whether it is true that Cypher and Sharpe has an affair, it is still unethical to spread about it among their co-workers. Based on Professor Badaracco’s right-right framework (2002), one has to determine who are going to win and who are going to lose in the situation presented. Obviously, Cypher and Sharpe stand to lose in this case because even if the affair is not true, they have already been victims of office gossip.

They are victims of office gossip because they were being talked about behind their backs by their other co-workers.Their reputations have already been tarnished because of the gossip being spread by Sharkey. Sharkey does not gain anything in spreading the gossip because even if he has evidence to prove it, he should have gone to the HR and discussed the issue instead of talking to his co-workers about it. The HR will be in a better position to investigate the matter. HR should handle the problem because they can directly confront both Cypher and Sharpe without being subjective.

They will be more objective in handling the case unlike Sharkey who has an ax to grind against Sharpe because she got the promotion he wants.Applying the second question of Professor Badaracco, one sees that the rights of Cypher and Sharpe have been violated. Sharkey’s right to question the promotion is something which he can exercise but he must go through the proper channels. The proper channel is to go to the HR department and raise his concern to them. He can also go to his immediate supervisor to ask the reasons why Sharpe was promoted instead of him.

Assuming that Cypher and Sharpe has no relationship as construed by Sharkey and the HR is faced with a decision of whether to fire Sharkey as proposed by Sam, the HR should weigh the consequences of its decision. As Professor Badaracco suggested, it should be guided by the question of “what will work in the world as it is?” (2002). The HR should resolve the issue by taking into account its decision’s effect on the organization as a whole and how its decision will impact on all the concerned individuals.

If the other office workers will find out that the promotion of Sharpe is due to her relationship with Cypher, then the morale of the other office workers will be affected. They will think negatively of management because of the questionable criteria for promotion. It might encourage an “immoral” culture in the company and other workers might follow what Sharpe did to get a promotion. Furthermore, if HR decides not to punish Sharkey for spreading office gossip, other employees might think that it is alright to engage in office gossip.

Applying Bagleys ethical business leaders decision tree, the decision to fire Sharkey may be legal depending on the state where the organization is located (Bagley, 2010). If it is legal, the next question is whether it will maximize shareholder value. Firing Sharkey or not firing him will have an effect on the employees. Firing Sharkey means that management does not tolerate office gossip, so the employees will be careful on engaging on it. If Sharkey is not fired, the workers might think that office gossip is an acceptable norm in the company; thus, the employees will just keep on doing it without fear of being reprimanded.

It will show them how management will react to similar situations in the future. The next question is whether it is ethical to fire Sharkey. This is where management opinions will differ because it is very subjective. I think that management should just give Sharkey a first warning for his misconduct and for engaging in office gossip. His offense is not so grave as to warrant his termination. However, if the rules of conduct of the company strictly prohibits office gossip and it is written that anyone engaging in office gossip will be fired, then management should do the appropriate thing and follow the rules of the company and fire Sharkey.

There should be no exceptions to the rule, no matter how valuable he is for the company.