Ethical Issues of Drinking at Work - Essay Example

number and Paper Ethical Issues of Drinking at Work Introduction The habit of drinking alcohol is considered as an exercise of personal freedom and choice of any adult, which does not demand approval from others. However, when the consumption of alcohol becomes mixed with work and professional responsibilities it turns into a delicate topic that can raise the long list of ethical problems, questions, and dilemmas for both those who resort to drinking as well as co-workers, managers, and executives. The problems lies in the fact that drinking in the workplace can be regarded among the leading issues that can result in a poor quality of work, inefficient productivity, increased medical costs and safety concerns. Due to it, drinking can be defined as contradictory of the ethical conduct at work and especially in the field of engineering as far as it is directly linked to the well-being and quality of life of the public. Ethics defined Prior to narrowing the following discussion to the topic of the issue of drinking in the workplace, it is essential to explain what is commonly understood under the term ethics and how it applies to the work setting. In the most general sense, ethics can be regarded as a particular system of moral principles that influences decision-making and behavior of people. Richard Corrigan in his guide to ethics reminds in this regard a definition suggested by Manuel Velasquez and Claire Andre who concluded that the notions of ethics can be associated with “well based standards of right and wrong which prescribe what people ought to do in relation to obligations, rights, fairness, benefits to society, or specific virtues”. (41-42) Subsequently, the list of ethical standards is sure to include the ones concerned with compassion, honesty, or loyalty as well as those that touch upon the freedom of injury or the right to privacy. Moreover, it is important to mentions that ethics is commonly associated with both the individual and social context. At this point, it would be useful to resort to the etymology of the word ethics that can, in fact, be traced to the Greek ethos which stands for character or custom. (Corrigan 41-42)The following exemplifies that by its origin, ethics is aimed at focusing on not only an individual, his/her actions and character, but on the scope of essential social rules which guide behavior and actions, such as those related to evil and good that constitute human morality. Ethics in the Workplace Serving as a system of morally right and socially acceptable system of the standards of behavior and conduct, ethics is recognized as an extremely important component of human relationships that guides decision-making and attitudes in all possible spheres of life; and labor relationships are among such. The essence of ethics at a workplace makes no difference to the general meaning of ethics, as it was mentioned above. Namely, professional ethics also refers to the acceptable norms of behavior and conduct and is associated with human character and decision-making. However, the area of affairs is focused specifically on the issues related to one’s professional work and duties. (Alavudeen, Rahman, and et al 8-10) By this, it is essential to realize that sticking to the ethical conduct is more than simply obeying some set of rules, but is about actually committing oneself to acting in a right way. Putting it in other words, ethics at a workplace is concerned with the obligations to stick to the moral principles while functioning in a professional environment, carrying out work and corresponding responsibilities. Value and Role of Ethics in the Workplace The importance of professional ethics cannot be overestimated for both a person and organization since it is targeted at maintaining healthy and productive atmosphere in the workplace, which is essential for preserving interests of all parties involved. Firstly, promotion of the ethical conduct among employees is helpful for maintaining productivity and high quality of the work performed by means of establishing friendly, open, and warm relationships among workers. As a result, it would be easily for them to cooperate and work together towards reaching the set goals and brining a company profit. Secondly, appreciating ethics at the workplace leads to the increased levels of professionalism and enhanced personal development. For instance, knowing and committing oneself to ethics, a person is likely to work diligently and efficiently, which can guarantee respect and appreciation of the colleagues and executives. In addition, ethics helps to resolve situations in which decision-making can a challenge, when persons are not sure as to the right way to behave in order not to cross the limits of the accepted behavior. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that among the main roles of ethics in the workplace is to fulfill a regulatory function, serving as a reference to a model of acceptable and desirable conduct. Drinking Alcohol and Working Ethics After making an insight into essentials of the workplace ethics, it becomes obvious that the workplace ethics excludes the possibility of resorting to activities that can undermine the productivity or decrease the quality of work, as it is in case of drinking alcohol in the workplace. Precisely, drinking alcohol remains one of the issues that contradict the working ethics and raises concerns about significant social costs of the following activity. ("National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence") For instance, following more positive scenario, drinking at work is likely to result in poor job performance and decision-making; increased absenteeism and higher turnover; increased probability of having conflicts with colleagues and managers; or certain disciplinary procedures. In these cases, the list of consequences would consist mainly of the economic losses or the loss of reputation. (Whitbeck 249-255) However, often, there is also a significant risk of the appearance of much more negative outcomes of drinking, the ones, which are concerned with health and safety issues. ("National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence") In fact, drinking alcohol either right before or the night before the working day as well as during the working hours is proved to generate the mentioned above problems. Drinking as an Ethical Concern in Engineering Profession It follows that the implementation of the ethical standards of conduct is to the great extent concerned with preventing any harm to be caused to the parties involved, clients or employees. Subsequently, the most morally obliged to follow the principles of ethical conduct are people working in the spheres that are closely related to health and well-being of people as far as any mistake that could be done by a professional who violated working ethics, such as consumed alcohol at work, can result in a threat to one’s health, well-being, or even life. Among the occupations that presuppose the raised degree of responsibility and dedication from a person can be named healthcare, military, the ones related to law enforcement and emergency service, and engineering. (Whitbeck 249-255) Although, it may be not as obvious as with other mentioned occupations, engineering, in fact, places significant responsibility on professionals, whose skills, knowledge, quality of work and professionalism are directly linked to the well-being and safety of the general population. A bright example in this regarded can be found in the book Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases by Harris, Pritchard, and et al., as they remind on the case of Hurricane Katrina after which the American Society of Civil Engineers found a list of engineering and organizational failures that led to significant destructions in the city of New Orleans (p. 4). Consequently, it is obvious that as far as engineers bear responsibilities for the lives and well-being of people, they are morally obliged to follow the accepted code of ethical conduct and abstain from such detrimental violations as drinking in the workplace. In order to illustrate in details the ways in which drinking in the workplace an issue raising ethical concerns, it is crucial to first discuss some of the fundamentals of the engineering code of ethical conduct, a set of requirements which professionals are obliged to follow. To start with, Harris, Pritchard, and et al stress in their book that engineering ethics is about what engineers are ought to do in order to bring benefits for the humanity (p. 7). Therefore, at the very beginning of the code it is stated that “safety, welfare, and health of the public” are recognized as paramount values for professionals working in the sphere. ("American Society of Civil Engineers") Noticeably, perseverance of these values depends on the way engineers “exercise judgment” and solve problems as far as engineering is much more than simply an “algorithmic process” guided by mathematical and natural sciences. (Harris, Pritchard, and et al) Indeed, a great part of the engineering duties consist of making experienced decisions and logical conclusions, which means that the clear and sound mind is imperative. In contrast, the consumption of alcohol is inconsistent with the working duties since it brings impairment and significantly reduces the ability of one to make adequate judgments, realizing and accepting the range of responsibilities an engineer is required to carry out. Taking into consideration the fact that the ethical requirements included into the code are compiled in correspondence to the fact that engineering has “direct and vital impact on the quality of life for all people”, it is clear that drinking in the workplace contradicts ethical conduct. (Harris, Pritchard, and et al) It reflects the inability of a worker to recognize the degree to which the public safety and well-being become affected by alcohol consumption. Ethical Issues of Drinking at Work Apart from directly contradicting the norms of ethical conduct, drinking in the workplace can also be a cause of the list of subsequent ethical concerns and dilemmas that both a person who drink and his/her colleagues may encounter. Among the most obvious ones is a moral conflict which professionals are likely to face when working with a person who appears under the influence of alcohol during the working hours. As a result, there may arise a dilemma of whether to report or not. From one side, the code of ethics clearly states that engineers have the duty to inform authorities in case they have learned about serious misconduct or ethical violations, such as drinking in the workplace. ("American Society of Civil Engineers"; Harris, Pritchard, and et al) The rationale behind the rule is preventing possible harm to be done to clients and the company itself. However, in practice, it can be difficult to make prognosis concerning the outcomes of the situation, especially when a person, who is suspected of drinking has never shown the disturbing signs before while it is clear that reporting would damage the violator’s reputation, relationships with authorities, and career as a whole. Moreover, there could be situations in which it is known for sure that the today’s impaired state of a colleague would not cause any harm, but rather bring inconveniences to a person who is the only one knowing about the violations. For example, both individuals were given task to prepare a report, but a person realizes that he/she can hardly count on any useful aid from a colleague. Thereof, there appears a question of whether reporting would be the ethically right decision or it is unnecessary as it would have no positive or preventive outcomes, but rather in doing so a person would follow his/her own interests, such as stressing personal contributions to the corporate goals. At the same time, a dilemma is likely to occur when a person has no direct evidences as to the fact that colleague is under the influence of alcohol, but he/she has some reasons to suspect the fact, such as strange behavior or state that resemble impairment appearing as a result of drinking. (Stellman) In this case there could be the conflict of interest between the discussed above duty to report and another principle of the engineering ethics that demands from professionals to be “objective and trustful in statements, reports, and testimony” ("American Society of Civil Engineers") In contrast, the wrong judgments can delude executives and undermine the atmosphere of trust and ethical conduct within an organization. What is more, the suspected colleague can be recognized as a leading specialist in the sphere, whose work has always resulted in recognition and profit for the company and providing the wrong information about his/her conduct can ultimately result in a loss of profit for the company. Furthermore, authorities and executives are also likely to face ethical dilemmas as result of employees drinking alcohol being at work, before the work, or the night before, which negatively influences productivity and efficiency of one’s work. In this situation, according to specialists, employers can face one the most difficult issues, which is choosing between disciplinary or treatment options as a response to an accident of alcohol use. (Stellman) From one side, it is understandable that the primary interests of employers are concerned with the performance of an employee, and therefore, has the ethical and legal right to resort to disciplinary sanctions or dismiss the violator due to safety and economic concerns. From another side, a person can consume alcohol in the workplace partially due to the working conditions that either encourage drinking or do not have a string policy strictly prohibiting and raising awareness of employees about consequences of thee habit. Namely, as the National Institute on Alcohol and Abuse and Alcoholism reports, the working conditions, such as the raised levels of stressfulness, aggressive attitudes, disrespect, and other factors contribute to the levels of alcohol consumption among employees. ("National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism") Similarly, the wrong workplace culture can also create an atmosphere of alcohol tolerance. Consequently, it can be unethical to punish people for what appears to be the result of organizational and management mistakes. In addition, ethical issues are likely to appear as a result of the need to implement specific interventions with the goal of detecting workers who have been drinking at work. As a whole, the variety of methods are available in this regard, however, none of them is without its unique flaws and ethical issues. For example, supervisor’s observation and monitoring can be effective and it demands no additional devices, therefore, it is widespread. However, as it was already explained above, the subjective factor can play its negative role when a supervisor would make wrong conclusions or speculate about an employee’s state on purpose. In this context, the most problematic is considered to be testing of bodily substances. Although can be useful to ensure that ethical standards are not violated in the workplace, its essence creates other ethical concerns, such as the rightness of invading one’s privacy, threatening civil rights and freedom. A person can be humiliated by the demand to pass tests as well as his/her overall image would be undermined. As a whole, both the methods of revealing and dealing with drinking alcohol in the workplace can pose the range of ethical concerns and issues, the righteous resolution of which depends on both professionalism of the people involved and environment within an organization. Conclusion To sum up, drinking in the workplace is a serious problem that can lead to the variety of ethical issues and safety concerns. Due to resulting in a considerable physical and mental impairment, drinking contradicts the working ethics as a set of moral obligations to commit oneself to taking the right decisions and applying efforts in order to benefit society and organization. Subsequently, the most serious concern arising from alcohol consumption is creating the risk of injuries and physical harm that can be caused to clients and colleagues. In this regard, engineering remains among the areas of occupation that presuppose the increased responsibility over actions and decisions made at the workplace. Thereof, drinking alcohol is not ethical. At the same time, its consumption is sure to cause the variety of issues for colleagues and executives of a person who resorts to drinking. As a whole, all of them are concerned with finding the most ethically appropriate way out of the situation, which is always challenging and problematic for all the parties involved. . Works cited Alavudeen, A, K Rahman, et al. Professional Ethics and Human Values. Firewall Media, 2008. 8-10. Print. Read More