- 20 Marks
Question
You work at a company that produces table water and you know that a colleague in connivance with one of the company‟s drivers, steals packs of water from the store and sells to customers. You are not sure if you should turn a blind eye to the ongoing theft or report to your boss?
Required:
a. Identify the technical term for your current situation in the scenario and briefly explain the term.
(3 Marks)
b. Explain the consequential and non-consequential theories of ethics and specify how these can be applied in decision making within the context of the brief scenario presented above.
(6 Marks)
c. What is the technical term for the decision to inform your boss about the theft and what considerations should you take before making this decision, going by the theory underpinning the technical term?
(11 Marks)
Answer
a. Ethical Dilemma:
- Situation where an individual faces a choice between two or more conflicting moral options, none of which is unambiguously acceptable. Explanation: Conflicted between loyalty to colleague and duty to company.
b. Consequential and Non-Consequential Theories:
- Consequential (Teleological): Focus on outcomes; right action is that producing best consequences (e.g., utilitarianism – greatest good for greatest number). Application: Reporting theft benefits company (greater good), not reporting benefits colleague but harms company.
- Non-Consequential (Deontological): Focus on rules/duties, regardless of outcomes (e.g., duty-based ethics). Application: Duty to report theft as per company policy, regardless of consequences.
c. Whistleblowing:
- Act of reporting wrongdoing in an organization to authorities.
- Considerations (based on deontological theory – duty to report):
- Verify facts.
- Assess severity.
- Consider internal vs. external reporting.
- Potential retaliation.
- Legal protection.
- Ethical obligations.
- Alternatives to whistleblowing.
- Impact on stakeholders.
- Personal values.
- Documentation.
- Support system.
- Topic: Ethical Issues in Corporate Governance, Ethics in Business
- Series: MAY 2024
- Uploader: Samuel Duah